One of my all-time favorite movies is "The Magnificent Seven", John Sturges and William Roberts' apocraphal and marvelously pivotal 'western' which glorifies the willingness of rude men to suffer that others may live peacefully.
(This was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's 1954 masterpiece, "Shichinin no Samurai" (The Seven Samurai).
The Magnificent Seven were played by:
Yul Brynner - Chris Adams
Steve McQueen - Vin
Brad Dexter - Harry Luck
Charles Bronson - Bernardo O'Reilly
Robert Vaughn - Lee
Horst Buchholz - Chico
James Coburn - Britt
And, of course, the villain's role was admirably played by Eli Wallach as Calvera.
This paeon to these wonderful actors is inspired by the notification by "Dead or Alive" (see the sidebar; the link has been there for a year) that today is the 3rd anniversary of the death of Brad Dexter. He died 3 years ago 'today' (12/12/2002) at age 85 of emphasema.
This made me curious about the current 'state of entropy' of the rest of the stars of this siminal film.
Yul Brynner - Chris Adams: died of cancer in 1985 of cancer at the age of 65
Steve McQueen - Vin: died of cancer in 1980 at the age of 50
Brad Dexter - Harry Luck: again, died of emphasema in 2002 at the age of 85
Charles Bronson - Bernardo O'Reilly: died of Pneumonia in 2003 at the age of 81
Rogert Vaughn - Lee: Born in 1932, now aged 73, he is still Alive
Horst Buchholz - Chico: died in 2003, at the age of 63, of Pneumonia
James Coburn - Britt: died in 2002, at the age of 74, of heart attack
What of the immortal Chavez (aka "Tuco" from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"?)
Eli Wallach - Calvera - Alive
Born in 1915, Wallach is now a robust NINTY YEARS OLD and has survived 6 of the seven "Magnificent Ones".
How about the administrative side of the movie?
John Sturges - Director: died in 1992 at the age of 81 of heart attack
William Roberts - Writer (screenplay): not listed in DEAD OR ALIVE, but IMDB lists him as having died in 1997 due to 'respiratory failure', at age of 83
Still-alive Robert Vaughn (who went on to portray Napoleon Solo in "The Man From Uncle" in 1964 - 1968) played the part of "Lee", the gunfighter who finally overcame his fear of dying and was the first to die in the movie.
Still-alive Eli Wallach played the villain Calvera and was the last to die in "The Magnificent Seven". He's still working on a movie, scheduled for release in 2006, called "The Hoax".
Curiousm, isn't it? The first and the last; the worst and (arguably) the best.
What conclusions are we to draw from this?
Nothing, in particular.
The only real coincidence I find is that Steve McQueen once stared in a television series called "Wanted - Dead or Alive" from 1958 to 1960.
If you would listen to a few seconds of Elmer Bernstein's memorable theme song, you might be able to download a RealPlayer version of it here.
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