The Magnificent Seven [1960]

Random Trivia For This Title:

• Mexican censors required the peasants to always be wearing clean clothes.
• ^[?] Walter Bernstein did the original adaptation of ^[?] Akira Kurosawa's film (Seven Samurai) but it wasn't used. Walter Newman wrote the screenplay that is substantially what you see on screen.
• Yul Brynner was married on the set; the celebration used many of the same props as the fiesta scene.
• Steve McQueen wanted to act in this film but couldn't at first because the schedule of his TV series, [Wanted: Dead or Alive], wouldn't allow it. He crashed a car and while he was "out sick", he shot this film.
• Composer John Williams was a member of the orchestra that recorded Elmer Bernstein's score; he played the piano.
• James Coburn's friend Robert Vaughn recommended him to director John Sturges for the last remaining lead, the role of Britt. Sturges said he needed a Gary Cooper type of actor, and Vaughn said Coburn was the actor he needed.
• James Coburn (Britt) and Robert Vaughn (Lee) have only 11 and 16 lines in the entire film respectively. Although they were close friends for almost 50 years, this is their only film together.
• Pay close attention to Eli Wallach whenever he handles his gun. Whenever he puts the gun back into his holster, he always looks down at it. That was because Wallach wasn't used to drawing the weapon and didn't want to look foolish by missing the holster while putting his gun back, as Wallach would admit in the DVD Documentary.
• Yul Brynner (5'10") was concerned to make sure he always appeared substantially taller than Steve McQueen (5'9 1/2"), to the point of making a little mound of earth and standing on it in all their shots together. McQueen, for his part, casually kicked at the mound every time he passed by it.
• The film was cast quickly to beat an actor's strike.