The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)

Thanks for the memories!

How sad is this?

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

There is an episodic feel to this film - brevity of sequences and quicker pacing - which makes this feel like a TV movie despite it achieving a theatrical release. Lee Van Cleef takes the lead character, Chris Adams, into middle age and into the safe position of town sheriff, albeit with a new set of problems. While there is a wisp of the determined air of Yul Brynner's characterisation, the film doesn't add up to much. There isn't much tension built leading up to the action sequences, just a series of melodramatic shifts. Stefanie Powers gives a touching performance but it is not enough to save it from formulaic dirge.

I recently watched all four of the Magnificent Seven movies and "The Magnificent Seven Ride!" was the last. While the first film was exceptional in every way, I can't say there was much reason for the other three films. Part of it is that the plots are pretty much the same as the first film. Part of it is that the cast kept changing. In the case of Chris, the leader of the seven, he was played by three different actors. Yul Brynner played him in the first two and was a tremendous presence. So, when he was later played by George Kennedy and Lee Van Cleef (in this film), it was a huge letdown. While "The Magnificent Seven Ride!" is yet another attempt to squeeze a little bit of life out of a dead franchise, at least it offers SOME differences. The first three plots are pretty much clones. This one is just enough different to make it interesting....a bit. In fact, this film is a bit like the first three combined with "The Dirty Dozen"!When the film begins, Chris (Van Cleef) has settled down. He's now a sheriff and has a young bride (Mariette Hartley). Life is good. However, after three punks rob the bank, shoot the sheriff and kidnap his wife, the usual routine is disrupted. When he sufficiently recovered from the shooting to give chase, Chris sets off to catch the creeps. Unfortunately, his wife's body is found along the trail and the trio brutalized and raped her. When Chris finds two of them, he soon dispatches them--but isn't sure where the third is. Perhaps he's gone across the desert to Mexico.Inside Mexico, Chris meets up with an old friend that tried earlier in the film to recruit Chris for another Magnificent Seven-style fight against some stupid Mexican gang of bandits. He refuses--as he's got revenge on the brain. But, when Chris later finds the friend and others murdered AND rescues their women (who have all been repeatedly raped), he isn't going to walk away this time. But he needs help--and goes back over the border to get prisoners to help him with the fight! What will happen next? See the film...though there really isn't a whole lotta doubt!"The Magnificent Seven Ride!" ends up being pretty much what you'd expect after the prisoners were recruited. They are a pretty much forgettable cast doing EXACTLY what previous incarnations of the series had already done. And, the film looks a lot more like a made for TV movie than anything else. Very slight and forgettable.By the way, when you watch the film, you might have a similar reaction to me. After this group of women have been brutalized, raped, had their men murdered and just barely avoided death, showing them romantically pairing up with the surviving members of the seven seemed pretty sick.

The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) ** (out of 4) The fourth and final film in the series has Mexican bandits doing more harm so Marshall Chris Adams (Lee Van Cleef) finally agrees to go after them as well as trying to serve some of his own personal justice. Along with the help of six other criminals, Adams sets out to protect the people and get his job done at all costs. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDES! doesn't really feel like any of the three previous films and in fact I'd say it comes off more like a rip-off of THE DIRTY DOZEN than anything else. The film starts off pretty good but I think it quickly falls apart once our center story takes front stage. The first portion of the film deals with a lot of morality as the Marshall has a man behind bars but Adams' girlfriend and the guilty man's mother talk him into giving the kid a second chance. This turns out to be the wrong move and I thought this portion of the film contained some nice drama and a story that really dragged you in. Once the "magnificent seven" stuff started it just seemed like we've been here and done that way too often before. I will say that the film at least offers up some pretty good action scenes, although the majority of them are just gunfights. None of them are overly memorable or ground-breaking but they're all entertaining enough. Lee Van Cleef is always dependable and he makes for a good lead here. The rest of the supporting cast, including a young Gary Busey, are good but they still lack something when compared to previous films. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE! closed out the series on a weak note but Western fans might want to check it out.

This film is a cash in. A cash in reliant on a rousing theme tune created for an earlier classic. Yul Brynner has long since jumped ship and so have most of the production values. Lee Van Cleef takes over the lead role of Chris. I can't think of any actor who looks less like Brynner than Van Cleef. Hey, he could have at least shaved off his hair and lost the moustache, just for the sake of continuity. Some correctional centres show this movie in order to punish offenders. One step out of line and The Magnificent Seven Ride! is brought to the fore and wielded. They didn't even bother trying to make this movie not look like a TV movie! Abysmal.