I used to be indifferent towards cowboys. I’ve seen a few of the famous westerns, but I didn’t grow up watching them. When lockdown began, however, I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Xbox for hours every day, and my opinion warmed as I regressed. Red Dead borrows from all the major films in the genre, and now I’ve finished the game I find myself hungry for more cowboy stuff. Next up is The Magnificent Seven.

I know this one contains a famous theme song, which I recognise from parodies and adverts, as well as seven men who are magnificent in an unspecified way. I may have even caught snippets on TV as a kid, but they probably bored me at the time: The Lord of the Rings was always my go-to for horses and violence.

I’ve also heard The Magnificent Seven was inspired by Seven Samurai, another “classic film” directed by Akira Kurosawa. (I saw this at university, where I briefly studied film.) Seven Samurai follows a group of samurai who are hired to protect a village from bandits. Many regard it to be the pinnacle of cinema, and likewise I thought it was very good.

So I’ve retrieved my unopened DVD of The Magnificent Seven. A leaflet inside says that Kurosawa was “so impressed” by the film that he presented the director John Sturges with a ceremonial sword. But according to an interview in 1966, Kurosawa actually thought it was “a disappointment” – so maybe the sword was more out of politeness.

As for me, I thought it was fun! Especially the first act, when Yul Brynner first assembles the Seven and we learn each of their unique character traits: the laidback one, the hotheaded one, the one who wears ties, etc. Brynner is enigmatic and Steve McQueen is cool, but my favourite is James Coburn as the steely Britt, who can outdraw a gunman with a throwing knife.

I hadn’t realised that The Magnificent Seven is not only “inspired” by Seven Samurai, it’s a direct remake. The Magnificent Seven lifts the plot of Kurosawa’s film, changes the setting from feudal Japan to Mexico, and swaps the samurai for gunslingers. The story translates well into the old west, although The Magnificent Seven is over an hour shorter, meaning some of the nuance of the original is lost. Much of the interaction between the villagers and their saviours has been cut. The Mexicans don’t say all that much while the mostly white gunmen rescue them, which adds a racial undercurrent that hasn’t aged well.

So yes, in one sense this is a glorified rip-off that guts the thoughtful original, repackages it with a stylish title and fills it with guns. But a fairer comparison for The Magnificent Seven might be A Bug’s Life, the Pixar film where an ant asks some bigger insects to protect his nest from grasshoppers. Again, it’s the same plot, but when I left the cinema in 1998 I don’t remember anyone saying, “Those ants are an insult to Kurosawa.”

There are some new additions to the story, such as the bandit leader Calvera, whose role has been expanded. Eli Wallach does “absolutely livid” very well. The Seven spend a chunk of the middle of the film negotiating with him, which gets dull, but things pick up again at the final battle. There’s a sense of jeopardy here, even if a couple of death scenes felt rushed. I was furious to see Britt throw BARELY ANY KNIVES before he goes.

Now for some more westerns. Maybe I’ll try the Magnificent Seven sequels: Return of the Magnificent Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent Seven Ride! Given that four of the seven are dead by the end of the first film, I’m very interested to know where they take this.