Trivia / The Magnificent Seven (1960)

• Actor-Inspired Element: Eli Wallach picked Calvera's costume because he wanted to show "what the bandit did with his loot". He also had a hand in how Calvera's death would be played out. "Make it simple", he thought. "Just let go, relax". And then it hit him: "Don't focus, just stare, and let your head roll to one side." Sturges liked his idea.
• All-Star Cast: This film has one of the coolest casts in the history of cinema: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz play the Seven. Brynner was already a star (known for The Ten Commandments and The King and I, the latter of which won him an Oscar), and four of the others went on to become A-list stars thanks (in part) to this movie, including Eli Wallach, who played the villain, Calvera, who was already a big name on Broadway and became a familiar face in many successful movies later on, including his most recognizable role as scruffy drifter Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and while Buchholz didn't become an A-list star in America, he did become exceptionally popular in European cinema — which leaves poor Dexter as the only member of the main cast who didn't become a big star in some way (although he maintained his career as a solid character actor for twenty years afterwards).
• Approval of God: John Sturges got a rave review from Akira Kurosawa, who sent Sturges a ceremonial sword as a gift.
• Billing Displacement: Eli Wallach was billed second in the opening credits, beneath Yul Brynner's name, despite having less screentime than Steve McQueen. In the poster, McQueen is billed first, Brynner is billed fourth and Wallach's name isn't there at all.
• Completely Different Title: In Sweden, the film was released as Seven [People] Risked Their Lives.
• The Danza: In the European French dub, Henri Virlogeux dubbed Henry.
• Executive Meddling: The Mexican censors were constantly making requests about how the farmers would be depicted. They even insisted their clothes always be clean in every scene, despite being farmers. Likewise the original script followed Seven Samurai where the farmers left their village to hire mercenaries. But it was changed to them initially trying to get guns, as the censors didn't want the farmers to appear too weak or oppressed.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Eli Wallach stars as Calvera, a Mexican, despite being a Jewish American in real life. In three of his other Western roles, he also portrayed a Mexican.
  • Horst Buchholz, a German actor, also stars as the distinctly Mexican Chico.
  • Charles Bronson's character, Bernardo, claims to be of Mexican-Irish descent in the movie. In real life, Bronson has Polish-Lithuanian background.
• Friendship on the Set: Yul Brynner befriended Brad Dexter, while Steve McQueen befriended James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and Eli Wallach.
  • Vaughn and Coburn were actually best friends and had known each other since their school days and Vaughn was the one who encouraged Coburn to audition for the role of Britt when he learned how much trouble John Sturges was having casting the role, knowing how much Coburn loved Seven Samurai. Vaughn stated in an interview years later after Coburn had died how much he regretted that they never got to work together again after this film.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The film was a box office disappointment in the United States, but proved to be such a smash hit in Europe that it ultimately went into profit.
• Hostility on the Set: Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen disliked each other immensely. The (then) little-known McQueen did everything he could to try and steal the film away from the established star of the picture, which Brynner resented.
• The Other Darrin: In Return of the Seven, Robert Fuller and Julian Mateos take over from Steve McQueen and Horst Buchholz; George Kennedy replaced Yul Brynner in Guns of the Maginificent Seven, and he in turn gave way to Lee Van Cleef in The Magnificent Seven Ride!.
• Promoted Fanboy: James Coburn had been a big fan of Seven Samurai, and he played the American version of his favourite character in this.
• Prop Recycling: Eli Wallach used the silver trimmed saddle that Marlon Brando had used in One-Eyed Jacks.
• Reality Subtext: The director chose to kill off members of the seven in the order they had been cast.
• Recycled Set:
  • The set when the farmers go into town was used previously in Gunfight at OK Corral and Rio Bravo.
  • The set when the seven are driven out of town has been used in many Western films and series such as Rawhide.
• Revival by Commercialization: The theme song was used for many years for the Marlboro cigarette commercials.
• Scully Box: Yul Brynner tried his best to make sure he appeared taller than Steve McQueen in every scene they shared together - including making a little mound of earth to stand on. McQueen would find ways to casually kick the mound in between takes.
• Star-Making Role:
  • If it wasn't this for Eli Wallach, it certainly helped him on the path to stardom.
  • The film also made Steve McQueen a movie star. James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, and Charles Bronson did pretty well out of it as well.
• Throw It In!:
  • Some accounts paint the "bullfight" sequence as this—supposedly, someone found a bull and the filmmakers decided to put it in a scene with Horst Buchholz to see if he would take it and run with it. And he didn't disappoint.
  • Notice how Calvera looks down at his holster when putting his gun away. This was because Eli Wallach had trouble putting a gun away without looking at it, and he didn't want to look silly missing the holster on camera.
  • Eli and the rest of the bandit actors would go out for a ride before filming so that they'd look dirty and sweaty enough for the film. Sturges decided that it would work for the film.
• Troubled Production: The film hit some snags during its development.
  • First of all, there's the issue of the screenwriting credit. The original screenplay was written by Walter Bernstein, but it was later reworked almost beyond recognition by Walter Newman, and Newman's version is what was used for shooting. However, during shooting, rewrites were frequently required on set and Newman was unavailable, so William Roberts was brought in to take his place. When it was suggested that Roberts get a co-credit, Newman was so furious that he demanded that his name be removed from the project completely, so Roberts ended up getting full onscreen credit for a screenplay he only edited.
  • Secondly, casting the movie was an enormous pain in the ass due to an impending Actor's Guild strike. The only chance of getting the movie made was to assemble the main cast before the strike began, so there was a furious rush to get seven actors together, which is hilarious considering the premise of the movie. They just barely managed to get the cast signed on in time, but it wasn't an ideal combination of talent...
  • ...because Steve McQueen, then an up-and-coming actor, really wanted to steal the show from the established star Yul Brynner, and Brynner was not pleased by McQueen's constant shenanigans whenever the two of them were on camera together. The oneupmanship spread to the other actors, and they all started pulling stunts of their own in order to get the audience's attention. While a lot of the attention-hogging did make it into the finished film, director John Sturges was terrified by how quickly he lost control of his cast. It's notable that in Sturges' later film, The Great Escape, most of McQueen's biggest scenes occur without costars to play against.
  • Then, there's the above-mentioned rewrites. Filming took place in Mexico at a time when the country did not take kindly to Hollywood productions due to the controversy surrounding Vera Cruz. It was agreed that they could shoot there as long as Mexican censors were allowed on set to dictate what could and couldn't be shown, so as to avoid another disaster. A major change was made to the screenplay because it was feared that the Mexican farmers were too cowardly, and none of the farmers were allowed to ever be seen with any dirt on their clothes (in spite of being farmers) which caused a huge delay since it meant that dozens of intentionally dirty costumes had to be thoroughly cleaned before filming could commence.
• Wag the Director: At first Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen had a rivalry of one-upmanship to try and steal attention in their scenes. Eventually it spread to the other actors too, who kept trying to pull little stunts of their own.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Sterling Hayden was cast as Britt but had to back out for unknown reasons. John Ireland was also offered the role. Robert Vaughn recommended his old school friend James Coburn. For the rest of their career, they remained good friends and helped each other get roles. However this is the only film they did together.
  • The original script had the seven men as much older, and veterans of the Civil War. Spencer Tracy would have been Chris in that case.
  • George Peppard auditioned for Vin. He would later star in the remake Battle Beyond the Stars. Gene Wilder also auditioned.
  • Anthony Quinn originally wanted to star.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: The script was often written at night for the shooting the next morning.

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