Reviews

The Coen Brothers hit gold (again) with this film, the best film ever about just being a dude. Jeff Bridges is superb in his Peter Smith-like portrait of an everyday Californian joe who suddenly finds himself embroiled in a world of kidnap, extortion and violence after a group of germans break into his house, mistake him for a millionaire, and soil his carpet. Heck, he's just the Dude. Bridges recently admitted that whenever he catches this film on TV he finds it hard to switch over. It's easy to see why. Like all the Coens best films, this is a multi-layered work with memorable characters, effective cameos, the usual strangeness, quotable lines (some of the best) and some very very funny scenes. Original and definitely one to catch, again and again...

This is a gem, an excellent little picture, smart and menacing. If you're a fan of '50's pictures, particularly crime melodramas then this is a must-see. The plot is simple. A small town is visited by three hoods (Stephen McNally,Lee Marvin,J.Carroll Naish) intent on holding up the bank. The film revolves around their plans and folowing the lives of the townsfolk, who, oblivious to the villains in their midst, go about their mundane, everyday problematic lives until the saturday the two worlds collide. Richard Fleischer made an excellent job of this potboiler,which manages to sustain the tension managed in more celebrated films(High Noon) as the villains arrange their plot to rob the town. There's a stellar cast on display, McNally, Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Sylvia Sidney and even the normally lifeless performances given by the film's principal, Victor Mature, doesn't happen in this case. It's shot in terrific colour and has a genuine air of small town claustrophobia and menace. Check it out.

A fascinating documentary made 40 years after the film.It is essential viewing for fans and anybody interested in american westerns. By far its best feature is the up to date interviews with the surviving members of the cast, many of whom have been out of the public eye for several years (Eli Wallach, Horst Buchholz, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn and Rosenda Monteros appear) along with composer Elmer Bernstein, executive-producer Walter Mirisch, associate producer Lou Morheim and assistant director Robert Relyea. The documentary includes archive footage of the film itself and footage of Yul Brynner and director John Sturges. Fans of the picture, directors John Carpenter and Lawrence Kasdan contribute their thoughts as to why "The Magnificent Seven" is such an enduring film. If I had to criticise this valuable document I would have preferred a longer running time, hired a different narrator and included some archive footage of Steve McQueen. Charles Bronson curiously does not appear in the documentary, but these are small criticisms. Paul Kerr and Louis Heaton have done the public a service with this film.