Yul Brynner: Chris Larabee Adams

The Magnificent Seven

Chris Larabee Adams

[Calvera has just captured the Seven]
Calvera: What I don't understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hmm? Why, huh?
Chris: I wonder myself.
Calvera: No, come on, come on, tell me why.
Vin: It's like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, "Why?"
Calvera: And?
Vin: He said, "It seemed to be a good idea at the time."

Chris: Morning. I'm a friend of Harry Luck's. He tells me you're broke.
O'Reilly: [chopping wood] Nah. I'm doing this because I'm an eccentric millionaire.

Hilario: We must buy guns. We know nothing about them. Will you buy guns for us?
Chris Adams: Guns are very expensive and hard to get.
[pause]
Chris Adams: Why don't you hire men?
Hilario: Men?
Chris Adams: Gunmen. Nowadays men are cheaper than guns.
Hilario: Would you go?
Tomas: It would be a blessing if you came to help us!
Chris Adams: [shaking his head] Sorry, I'm not in the blessing business.
Hilario: No no, we offer more than that! We could feed you every day!
Tomas: [taking out a sack] And we have this!
Chris Adams: What is that?
Tomas: We can sell this for gold! Everything we own, everything of value in the village.
Chris Adams: Well, I've been offered a lot for my work... but never everything.

Chico: Villages like this they make up a song about every big thing that happens. Sing them for years.
Chris Adams: You think it's worth it?
Chico: Don't you?
Chris Adams: It's only a matter of knowing how to shoot a gun. Nothing big about that.
Chico: Hey. How can you talk like this? Your gun has got you everything you have. Isn't that true? Hmm? Well, isn't that true?
Vin: Yeah, sure. Everything. After awhile you can call bartenders and faro dealers by their first name - maybe two hundred of 'em! Rented rooms you live in - five hundred! Meals you eat in hash houses - a thousand! Home - none! Wife - none! Kids... none! Prospects - zero. Suppose I left anything out?
Chris Adams: Yeah. Places you're tied down to - none. People with a hold on you - none. Men you step aside for - none.
Lee: Insults swallowed - none. Enemies - none.
Chris Adams: No enemies?
Lee: Alive.
Chico: Well. This is the kind of arithmetic I like.
Chris Adams: Yeah. So did I at your age.

Old Man: You worry about yourself. Are you ready for him?
[refers to Calvera]
Old Man: What if he comes now, huh?
Vin: Reminds me of that fellow back home that fell off a ten story building.
Chris: What about him?
Vin: Well, as he was falling people on each floor kept hearing him say, "So far, so good." Tch... So far, so good!

Hilario: Very young and very proud.
Chris: Well, the graveyards are full of boys who were very young and very proud.

Vin: You know the first time I took a job as a hired gun, fellow told me, "Vin, you can't afford to care." There's your problem.
Chris: One thing I don't need is somebody telling me my problem.
Vin: Like I said before, that's your problem. You got involved in this village and the people in it.
Chris: Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?
Vin: The reason I understand your problem so well is that I walked in the same trap myself. Yeah. First day we got here, I started thinking: Maybe I could put my gun away, settle down, get a little land, raise some cattle. Things that these people know about me be to my credit - wouldn't work against me. I just didn't want you to think you were the only sucker in town.

[as Chris, Vin and Chico are about to leave the village]
Old Man: You could a-stay, you know. They wouldn't be sorry to have you a-stay.
Vin: They won't be sorry to see us go, either.
Old Man: Yes. The fighting is over. Your work is done. For them, each season has its tasks. If there were a season for gratitude, they'd show it more.
Vin: We didn't get any more than we expected, old man.
Old Man: Only the farmers have won. They remain forever. They are like the land itself. You helped rid them of Calvera, the way a strong wind helps rid them of locusts. You're like the wind - blowing over the land and... passing on. Vaya con dios.
Chris: Adios.

Calvera: I should have guessed. When my men didn't come back I should have guessed. How many of you did they hire?
Chris: Enough!

Chris Adams: Bernardo O'Reilly; you've been adopted.
O'Reilly: Yeah, that's my real name. Irish on one side, Mexican on the other... and me in the middle.