1954 Movie The Seven Samurai example essay topic

The 1954 movie The Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa, and its 1960 remake The Magnificent Seven, directed by John Sturges have many similarities; for example, the plot of both movies entails farmers hiring mercenaries to help fend off bandits that annually pillage their farms. The two movies also have differences like the characterization of the bandits in The Magnificent Seven as opposed to The Seven Samurai. One of the main similarities between the Seven Samurai and Magnificent Seven is the plot. In both movies bandits annually pillage a small village and the farmers are left with barely enough food to survive. In the Magnificent Seven Calvert and his men actually stop in the town and talk to the farmers, however, in Seven Samurai the bandits ride by and are overheard by a farmer about coming back when the barley is ripe. The farmers then have a meeting and decide to hire mercenaries, in Seven Samurai the farmers use rice and in Magnificent Seven the farmers offer $20.

In both movies the farmers are turned down many times before they find the first mercenary, and how they find the first mercenary is similar in the sense of the courage they show. In the Seven Samurai the main character Kan bei disguises himself as a monk and saves a child taken hostage. Magnificent Seven shows the main character Chris and his new found partner Vin in a violent confrontation with thugs who are trying to prevent a man from being buried. The main character in both movies feels sympathy for the farmers and accepts the job even though it doesn't pay much and the main character helps the farmers find six other mercenaries.

In Seven Samurai they come in contact with Katsushiro, a young and inexperienced samurai, and Kikuchiyo, a samurai who has jumped castes. In Magnificent Seven Chico plays both of these roles, a young inexperienced gunslinger who used to be a farmer. In both movies the main character finds an old friend: Shichiroji (SS), Harry (MS), and a quiet, older and tremendously experienced samurai / gunslinger : Kyu zo (SS), O'Reilly (MS). Once six mercenaries are acquired they set off to the village and Chico / Kikuchiyo follows behind until the mercenaries decide to let him join. Once the mercenaries arrive, in both movies, all the farmers are hiding because they think the samurai / gunslingers are just as bad as the bandits and they hid all their women in fear that they would 'seduce' them. As time progresses though the farmers begin to trust the samurai / gunslingers and are trained how to fight.

Unlike in The Seven Samurai the bandits in The Magnificent Seven actually talked with the gunslingers and tried to persuade them to join their group, but to no avail, and the battle was started. The fighting in both the movies is pretty much the same with little battles occurring over a three day period until the final battle. In Magnificent Seven one of the farmers, having doubts about winning, let the bandits in the village when the gunslingers were out and when they returned they were forced to leave the village by the bandits, but they decided to go back and fight for the farmers despite their deception. In Seven Samurai only two samurai survived, and in Magnificent Seven three gunslingers actually survived but only two left the village because Chico decided to stay and become a farmer again. The main similarities between these two movies was the plot and the main characters were basically the same, but the main difference was the bandits were shown with a lot more personality in The Magnificent Seven unlike in Seven Samurai where the bandits are rarely seen and almost never speak.