10 Years Ago Today: Denzel Washington Led A Star-studded Western That Deserved Better

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Some stories are so satisfying in their construction that audiences don't mind if they're remade over and over again. That said, it often helps if the retelling changes up the genre, setting, and genders as a means of keeping the evergreen narrative fresh. Take "The Magnificent Seven," for instance. The tale's first iteration arrived in 1954 as Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai," wherein a septet of rōnin are hired to protect a small village from bandits who forcefully demand the fruits of the villagers' harvest. The result was a rousing 207-minute epic that routinely turns up on lists of the greatest movies ever made.

Matching the artistry of Kurosawa's film is an impossible task, but over the last 72 years, filmmakers have managed to work hugely entertaining variations on the formula. John Sturges transplanted the yarn to the Old West, and corralled a killer cast that included Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, and Eli Wallach. Sturges' widescreen mastery and Elmer Bernstein's rollicking score combine to make this an invigorating Western, which inspired others to take the formula elsewhere. In 1980, director Jimmy T. Murakami shot off to outer space (with a screenplay by the great John Sayles) for the Roger Corman-produced "Battle Beyond the Stars." Another explicit riff hit theaters with Pixar's "A Bug's Life."

10 years ago, Denzel Washington reunited with his "Training Day" director Antoine Fuqua for a straight-up Western remake of "The Magnificent Seven." Unlike the other films, Fuqua's movie would draw direct comparisons to a celebrated version of "Seven Samurai." But while it couldn't live up to Sturges' film, Fuqua surrounded Washington with a colorful cast and let 'er rip to crowd-pleasing effect. The only surprise is that it didn't make more money.

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In Fuqua's "The Magnificent Seven," the bandits, led by Peter Sarsgaard's Bartholomew Bogue, aren't after a harvest; they want the whole damn town. Unwilling to turn over their deeds, the citizens reach out to bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Washington), who rounds up gun-wielding gambler Joshua Faraday (Chris Pratt), mountain man Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), marksman Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), knife-thrower Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), Mexican gunslinger Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).

Though "The Magnificent Seven" wound up on the fresh side of Rotten Tomatoes scale with a 64% rating and earned an "A-" Cinemascore, it fell short of commercial expectations with a $162 million gross against a budget that hovered around $100 million. It's not a classic, but once it gets galloping in the second act, it's a pleasingly conventional Western. The film's biggest issue is that Pratt gets blown off the screen by every single one of his co-stars. Obviously, Washington's a force of acting nature, but he strikes a fun rapport with veterans like D'Onofrio, Lee, and his "Training Day" partner Hawke.

So if you're in the mood for a mainstream, star-studded Western with a tried-and-true formula, give Fuqua's "The Magnificent Seven" a shot. It's currently streaming on Fubo, and is available to rent on Prime Video.