The Magnificent Seven 2016 – Not a Remake

For many, The Magnificent Seven (2016) will be the first one they ever see while fans of The Magnificent Seven (1960) might have some misgivings about even going to see it. First of all, although the new project is being called a “remake,” as is pointed out on the IMDB trivia page for the film, it’s not.

This film is not actually a remake of the 1960 classic, but rather a re-imagining, as all of the seven in this film are original characters and not reincarnations.

Re-imagining of the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven (1960), which itself was a re-imagining of Seven Samurai (1954).

That means that the characters are not going to have the same names. Denzel Washington (as Sam Chisolm) is taking on the role of the fearless leader originally portrayed by the coolest of the cool: Yul Brynner (as Chris Larrabee Adams). Chris Pratt (as Josh Farraday) will take the place of Steve McQueen (as Vin Tanner). Byung-Hun Lee (as Billy Rocks) is the expert with a knife. That was James Coburn (as Britt).

Also starring in the film are Ethan Hawke (Goodnight Robicheaux), Vincent D’Onofrio (Jack Horne), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Vasquez), and Martin Sensmeier (Red Harvest). Peter Sarsgaard plays villain Bartholomew Bogue. That was Eli Wallach as Calvera in 1960 when the film was set in Mexico. It’s now set in the old West.

The official trailer promises plenty of action and Haley Bennett will surely land in one of the Seven’s arms. It’s really looking good even if the iconic Elmer Bernstein theme will be absent. So the only query left about the whole thing is this: If they changed the setting, the characters’ names and the music, why not change the title, too? It would have been a very good idea because it could have eliminated reluctance to viewing it from fans of the 1960 film.