Film / Seven (1979)

Seven is a 1979 American action neo noir crime film directed by Andy Sidaris and starring William Smith.

In sun-drenched Hawaii, a dynamic criminal organisation run by seven ruthless professional kingpins intends to liquidate its political leaders, and when they fulfill their plans, take over the 50th State and pillage the land. Although this may be true, the government will soon retaliate by summoning the unconventional special agent Drew Sevano, who, in turn, assembles an invincible and well-equipped army of six other deadly agents; all assigned their target of choice. But things are looking bleak and the mandatory half-hour time frame for the completion of the operation is already tight. Will Sevano's Seven succeed?

Perhaps best known today for being the first instance of the 'shoot the swordsman' gag that would later be made famous by Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Not to be confused with the the 1995 serial killer film, or any other movie titled Seven.

Tropes in Seven include:

• Affably Evil: Butterfly controls all of the drug traffic in Hawaii. However, he is also a hip and charming man who is shown moving easily through the youth scene of islands, where he is liked and respected.
• Always Know a Pilot: Among her other skills, Alexa is a helicopter pilot: a fact the audience doesn't learn until she rents a chopper so she can get to the private estate of her target, the Hermit. It comes in handy later in the film when Drew is stranded on the beach while the Kahuna is escaping in his yacht. Alexa still has the rented chopper and is able to pick Drew up so he can continue his pursuit.
• Attempted Rape: The Hermit attempts to rape Alexa when she infiltrates his estate. However, Alexa was expecting this, as her plan for his assassination relied on women being his weakness.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: The Professor takes out his target from eight miles away by sitting on the balcony of his hotel room and calculating timing, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and a host of other variables, and then clicking the trigger of his customized gas gun.
• Bar Slide: Ed slides Mr. Lee the length of his boardroom table and out the penthouse window.
• Black Spot: Kimo delivers a yellow lei to his targets, so his hitmen will know who they aiming at.
• Bondage Is Bad: The Hermit—the most sadistic of the seven crime lords—is heavily into BDSM. When Drew is explaining to Alexa how the Hermit's weakness is women, the screen shows him flogging leather clad, bound women.
• Brick Break: Ed Parker's Establishing Character Moment is him breaking boards in his wood shop to stay in shape when Drew turns up to recruit for the Seven.
• Camping a Crapper: T.K. takes out Mr. Chen by waiting till he enters the changing shack on his private golf course, then dropping a bomb on it from a hang glider.
• Cardboard Pal: Drew uses the Professor's sex doll to make it look there are two people in his car, and throw the Kahuna's men off his trail. Skater is shocked when he shoots 'her' with a shotgun and 'she' explodes.
• Car Fu: Drew takes out Skater by reversing his car into at high speed.
• Chopper on Standby: Among her other skills, Alexa is a helicopter pilot: a fact the audience doesn't learn until she rents a chopper so she can get to the private estate of her target, the Hermit. It comes in handy later in the film when Drew is stranded on the beach while the Kahuna is escaping in his yacht. Alexa still has the rented chopper and is able to pick Drew up so he can continue his pursuit.
• Conspicuously Public Assassination: One of the federal agents is assassinated while sitting in the front row of a tiki show. By the dancer on stage who hurls a flaming spear into his chest.
• Destination Defenestration: Ed kills Mr. Lee by sliding him along his conference table and out the window of his penthouse: without opening it first.
• Dirty Old Man: The Professor. He travels with an inflatable sex doll, and hits on every attractive woman he meets. He is enough of a Loveable Rogue, however, that he seems to have a reasonable success rate as a pickup artist.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Jenny slowly strips to reveal her bikini, and then bends provocatively over the engine of her pickup at the gas station to distract Kimo's mooks so they don't notice what Cowboy is doing to their car. It works.
• Embarrassing Cover-Up: The Professor deliberately uses this to get through airport security. When he opens his bag, an inflatable sex doll automatically inflates. Security are so busy laughing at this that they wave him through without checking the rest of his gear.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Cowboy is trying to work out how to deal with Kimo's bulletproof limo when he spots a couple of kids pitching horseshoes in the park. A light bulb goes off and exclaims "That's it! Horseshoes!", much to Jenny's confusion.
• Flare Gun: Cowboy uses a flare gun to blow up Kimo's limo after first dousing it in gasoline.
• Groin Attack: Alexa plants the bomb she is using to kill the Hermit directly between his legs. BOOM!
• The Gunslinger: Cowboy has modelled himself after Wild West gunslingers and definitely fits the mold. Primarily a Trick Shot from the one serious example of his gunplay seen in the film, where he shoots and kills Butterfly with a single shot at extreme long range under extremely challenging conditions (his target was in the ocean; moving on a surfboard at the time).
• Gun Twirling: Cowboy does this when he draws his gun before shooting Butterfly, and when he holsters it again afterwards.
• Hard-Work Montage: There is a montage of the Professor, Alexa and Jenny acquiring the vehicles, painting them, fitting them out, assembling the gas gun, etc.
• Hero Stole My Bike: Drew snatches a trail bike off some random guy who is picking up his mail to chase after the assassin who tried to shoot him at the airport. At least he shoves a handful of cash into the guy's hand before he takes it, which is just as well, as Drew winds up setting fire to the bike to create a signal fire to attract Alexa's attention.
• Hula and Luaus: One of the murders occurs at tiki show, complete with hula dancers; Cowboy kills his target at a surfing competition; the Kahuna marks his victims for death with a yellow lei; etc. However, it also includes some less commonly seen locales, like the tropical rain forest and metropolitan Honolulu.
• Impersonating an Officer: Two of Kimo's hitmen pose as police officers and guide the senator's car into an ambush, and then kill the senator's driver afterwards.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Cowboy is able shoot Butterfly from on top of hill using a six-shooter while Butterfly is several hundred yards away, in the ocean, on a surfboard. And kills him with a single shot.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Ed infiltrates Mr. Lee's building by posing as a cleaner. He stands around dusting the outer office till he sees Lee's bodyguards leave.
• Japanese Tourist: When a woman finds Cowboy Not Quite Dead in the beach carpark, she stops a passing family of Japanese tourists for help. While the father is trying to get someone to call an ambulance, his wife and two children are busy taking photos of Cowboy's body.
• The Magnificent Seven Samurai: The government hires Drew Sevano to put the seven crime lords out of commission before their plan to size control of Hawaii comes to fruition. In turn, Drew hires another six professionals assassins and formulates a plan to take down all seven targets in a half hour window.
• Ms. Fanservice: Jenny, played by Playboy Playmate Susan Kiger, a Walking Swimsuit Scene who takes her bikini top off for the flimsiest of reasons.
• The Mole: Mailei is actually working for Harris and reporting on the plans of The Syndicate to take over Hawaii. However, when she is sent to help the Seven, she reveals her true colours as a Sixth Ranger Traitor.
• Never Bring A Knife To A Gunfight: Ed has a kung fu battle with Mr. Chen that ends with him killing Chen by throwing him through the penthouse window. He then unbars the door and confronts Chen's two bodyguards. The first one attacks him hand-to-hand and is quickly smacked down. The second one draws a sword and makes a series of flashy moves. Ed calmly draws a guns and shoots him. (While this scene is nearly identical to the more famous one in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it predates Raiders by at least 2 years.)
• Oh, Crap!: The look on Sixth Ranger Traitor Mailei's face when Drew tosses her a yellow lei at the end of the film and she knows that the jig is up.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Two of Sevano's Seven—Cowboy and the Professor—never have their real names disclosed. Lampshaded when Jenny asks Cowboy what his first name is, and he replies "Drugstore".
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Drew walks out of the hotel past Skater, who is looking for him, in a disguise consisting of badly fitting wig, powder in his moustache, and glasses.
• Pocket Protector: Mailei doubles-crosses Cowboy, shoots him, and leaves him for dead. However, Cowboy survives because the bullet the deflects off his lucky medal he wears on a chain round his neck.
• Properly Paranoid: When Harris calls Drew and tells him that some details of the operation and that his agent on the island will be making contact, Drew immediately checks out of his hotel and leaves no forwarding address. As he explains to Alexa, he trusts Harris but does not know anything about Harris' agent or where their loyalties. This turns out to be a sensible precaution, as the agent is really a Sixth Ranger Traitor who tries to kill Cowboy when she can't locate Drew.
• Rich Recluse's Realm: The Hermit lives on his huge mountain estate which he never leaves.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun: Kincella uses a sawed-off double shotgun to kill Kimo and his bodyguard Skip.
• Signature Headgear: Cowboy never goes anywhere without his trademark ten-gallon hat.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Mailei reveals herself to a mole inside The Syndicate: providing to information to Harris and the feds on their plans to take over Hawaii, and then sent to help the Seven to stop them. However, she later turns out to be a double agent, providing The Syndicate with information about how much the feds know, and tries to kill Cowboy.
• Spot the Imposter: Drew is able to tell that the first figure he sees on the Kahuna's boat isn't the real Kahuna, because the real Kahuna is left-handed.
• The Syndicate: The seven most powerful crime lords in Hawaii join forces to cripple federal law enforcement on the islands so they can stage a takeover.
• Two Shots from Behind the Bar: When Kincella shoots Kimo at his club, Kincella's bartender—who is secretly on Kimo's payroll—pulls a shotgun from behind the bar and tries to kill Kincella.
• The Vamp: Alexa, who uses herself as bait to lure the Hermit into a position where she can kill him.
• Vehicular Sabotage: Cowboy jabs a knife through the fuel tank of Kimo's limo, so the car will be forced to stop for gas.
• Walking Swimsuit Scene: Jenny spends almost the entire movie in a succession of different bikinis (sometime changing between them on camera); occasionally supplemented by a very short pair of denim cutoffs.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When the Kahuna's faithful driver Charlie is wounded during their getaway, the Kahuna shoots him and shoves him off the side of the boat.