Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Zkot Pen I'm going to jump right into my criteria for watching any movie:1. Do I believe the story? Not really, kinda, maybe, if I'm suspending disbelief as I do for animation, perhaps? So many unbelievable elements to it -- the token Indian threat; screaming Hollywood from the Joshua Tree National Park (or nearby) in the first 5 minutes; one minute we're in the desert, next minute we're in a torrential downpour, and more. The whole setup was so rigged, I actually found myself paying close attention to sunlight & shadows on the cardboard characters' faces. Questions such as: How can that guy see in the desert with the sun in his eyes? Are they really travelling south, based on which way the shadows are cast?2. Do I care about the story?No way! I don't think I had ever seen a Randolph Scott movie before, unless in childhood. But that song has been with me all my life, "Whatever happened to Randolph Scott, ridin' them trails alone?..." So I figured I'd check out Randolph Scott hunting down 7 bad guys, just for a look. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lasted more than 15-20 minutes. By the end of the film, I didn't really care how things turned out. Without spoiling, I will say I was mostly engaged in predicting what would happen (as opposed to simply watching what happened) -- I got 100% of my predictions right!3. Do I believe the characters?Not really, with one exception: Lee Marvin's character, Masters. I hated him -- and since he was the villain, that's exactly the way I was supposed to feel about him. A nasty old scoundrel from the Wild West. Yep, I believed Lee Marvin!4. Do I care about the characters?No. I wanted to care about Randolph Scott, 'cause he does seem like a cool dude type, right from the start, and his mission was righteous. Naturally, Mrs. Greer is pleasing to the eye, and Gail Russell did the job she was hired to do, but nothing more. On a positive note, I did care about Lee Marvin's Masters. He was the villain, and I was rooting against him, as I was supposed to. A pretty straightforward villain, but very well played, nonetheless.Overall, I'm disappointed, with the exception of Lee Marvin's performance -- the only reason I scored this movie 4/10 and not lower. I strongly disagree with the 7.5 out of 10 rating which enabled me to watch the movie. I believe that average rating to be exaggerated sentimentalism. Indeed, even I began by giving this movie 6 out of 10 -- but realized I had done so for two reasons: (1) I almost felt duty-bound not to give it a lower rating, given its status as a "classic western"; and (2) I know IMDb applies a weight to ratings -- which works in the case of Bollywood and such -- but I honestly felt that giving "Seven Men From Now" the rating I truly felt would somehow diminish the value of my vote. The more I think about it -- even the title is contrived. Most or all negative connotations of "Hollywood" as being a contrived industrial production of cinema as opposed to art, are present in this movie, with the exception of Lee Marvin's performance.My recommendation: Don't waste your time with this one!

classicsoncall You'd be safe calling this one of your better underrated Westerns. Randolph Scott of course is always solid, but what I liked about this picture was the way it took it's time to reveal Ben Stride's back story, leaving the character somewhat ambiguous following the opening scene when he gunned down two of the Wells Fargo bandits. The story line also dangled the character of John Greer (Walter Reed) as a question mark, as we learn about his role concerning the gold heist via the brains behind the robbery. This was all quite cleverly written, with the added twist of a possible romantic angle between Stride and Annie Greer (Gail Russell).There's something to be said about that romantic angle. Director Budd Boetticher uses an interesting technique to film what one might consider a love scene between Stride and Mrs. Greer. With Ben Stride bedding down for the night underneath the Greer wagon, Annie Greer appears in a seductive night dress and speaks to Stride as he's about to go to sleep. The way it's filmed, it's almost as if both characters are speaking face to face, such is the connection Boetticher establishes between the two characters. There's another scene later on between the two in which Stride wards off a near kiss from Annie, quite unlike any situation I've run across in a film before, providing a conflicted moment for the film's hero who needs to remain focused on his original mission.If you're counting coup on the film's title, there are indeed seven men called to account for the Wells Fargo job. Interestingly it was Lee Marvin's character who had a hand in taking out a couple, once in the desert during the Chiricahua attack when he saved Ben's hide, and then near the finale when he took it to Payte Bodeen (John Larch). When it came to the final confrontation between Stride and Masters (Marvin), you couldn't blink or you would have missed that incredulous 'how'd you do that?' look Masters gives his adversary when he gets out-gunned. One of the more satisfying showdowns you'll run across in a Randolph Scott Western.

chaos-rampant One of the first collaborations between Boetticher and Randolph Scott for their cycle of low budget B westerns they did in the fifties. John Wayne was to play the lead role before it went to Scott. There's nothing atypical, sophisticated or extraordinary about the story or depictions of the old west - this is still white hats, black hats territory with plot points telegraphed in pretty obvious fashion. It is however economical, unpretentious, restrained and straight to the point. The awkward love interest that develops between disgruntled sheriff and squatter's wife reminded me of SHANE. Lee Marvin turns another solid performance as the villain.

Michael_Elliott Seven Men From Now (1956) *** (out of 4) Randolph Scott's wife is killed by seven bandits so he sets out to kill each one of them. On his journey he comes across a young couple (Gail Russell, Walter Reed) and helps them get out west since they are going to the same town where Scott believes some of the men are. It seems like over the past couple years this film's reputation has blown up and some people talk about this as one of the greatest Westerns ever made. I wouldn't go that far since we've seen this type of revenge film countless times before but the film is still very impressive due to some great direction and fine performances. Scott is his usual good self and delivers another strong performance. Russell is also very good in her role and makes for a great female lead. The key to the film and the best performance belongs to Lee Marvin who is brilliant as one of the possible murderers. While the revenge story isn't that original what is original is how personal we get to feel and care for the Scott character since he's not completely innocent and has personal guilt that fuels his fire for revenge. The scenery is beautiful throughout the film and all of this leads to a very entertaining ending.