Guns for Hire: The Making of 'The Magnificent Seven' (2000) (TV)

Director:

Louis Heaton

Release Date:

13 May 2000 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The behind-the-scenes story of the making of the classic Western.

Plot Keywords:

Behind The Scenes | Making Of | Interview | Then And Now | Casting

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Neile Adams	...	Herself
John A. Alonzo	...	Himself
Bob Benecke	...	Narrator
Elmer Bernstein	...	Himself
Walter Bernstein	...	Himself
Yul Brynner	...	Himself (archive footage)
Horst Buchholz	...	Himself
John Carpenter	...	Himself
James Coburn	...	Himself
Maria Palacios de Erickson	...	Narrator
Brad Dexter	...	Himself
Lawrence Kasdan	...	Himself
Doris Kleiner	...	Herself (Mrs. Yul Brynner)
Akira Kurosawa	...	Himself (archive footage)
Steve McQueen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Walter Mirisch	...	Himself
Rosenda Monteros	...	Herself
Nick Moran	...	Narrator (voice)
Lou Morheim	...	Himself
Chazz Palminteri	...	Himself
Robert E. Relyea	...	Himself (as Robert Relyea)
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Old Man (archive footage)
Robert Vaughn	...	Himself
Eli Wallach	...	Himself

Runtime:

60 min | USA:49 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Channel 4 Television Corporation

Trivia:

Charles Bronson was the only then-living star of The Magnificent Seven (1960) not interviewed for this documentary.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: John A. Alonzo is interviewed about his role as one of the Mexican villagers. But he is identified as playing "Miguel," the role actually played by Natividad Vacío. Furthermore, Alonzo's interview is illustrated with clips supposedly of his younger self in the film, but the clips seen are actually of Vacío. Alonzo states that he was the only Spanish-speaking American in the cast, but Vacío was a native-born U.S. citizen whose first language was Spanish.

Movie Connections:

References Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Must see for all fans

Made 40 years after the film, this documentary uses interviews with some of the cast and the team that made the film, along with some famous fans, to repiece the history of the making of this film.

Too many `making of' documentaries are little more than featurettes to fill 20 minutes of TV or as poor DVD add ons. Many have the most tenuous links with the original makers and cast and offer little except second hand stories and observations. However this film sees many of the cast return (barring death) and plenty of the writers, producers etc. The story is told from many points of view and follows the casting through the shoot to the release.

The film had plenty of nuggets for me. From how people were cast and the legal fights over the film at pre-production stage through to how the cast got on. Most of it is very honest and we're told of how everyone wanted to steal the show from Brynner – I'd never noticed how McQueen would always be doing something (waving his hat or playing with something) to try and get attention in any shot! This has plenty of nuggets but also nice observations and stories from cast and crew.

I'm glad all the remaining cast did this as it adds interest to this film. The justification for having both Chazz Palminteri and John Carpenter comment is questionable – but both have brief and insightful comments to make.

Overall this is a welcome companion to the film. It isn't just an exercise in back slapping and plenty of stories emerge that only serve to enrich the film's history.