Metacritic reviews

An expert, sensitive study of the fateful tie that inevitably binds the strong to the weak, this film may well be the best western of 1960.

Deep down, you know it's not as good as Seven Samurai — but few films are. You also know that next time it's on television, you'll find yourself watching it.

Well-crafted, star-driven entertainment doesn't come much better.

The basic outline was adapted from Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai and made into an American Western by one of the great innovators of the genre, John Sturges. The film led the way for other all-star cast outings.

Very nearly a classic, this Americanization of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai does a good job of mirroring the major themes and attitudes of the original while re-creating that monumental film in an occidental setting.

The Magnificent Seven fights an uphill battle in matching the scope and thrills of its source material.

Sturges' remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is always worth a look, mainly for the performances of McQueen, Bronson, Coburn and Vaughn.

What was wonderful in the Kurosawa film—the recruiting and training of the mercenaries—is just dead time here, though the icon-heavy cast helps out: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, and Robert Vaughn.

A gifted director like Mr. Sturges (who also produced) can't be held entirely responsible for this endless dawdling prologue, since William Roberts' scenario increasingly flattens the action with philosophical talk on all sides and some easy clichés.

About two-thirds of the film is good, tough, unromantic period western. About one-third is sentimental nonsense and it bushwhacks the remainder.