Remake of the 1960 original is essentially the same story revisited, with Brynner reprising his role as Chris, while Robert Fuller substitutes for Steve McQueen and Julian Mateos vice Horst Buchholz. This time Emilio Fernandez and right hand man Rudolfo Costa led 60-strong bandits sweeping across peasant villages, enslaving all the men to work on Fernandez's obsession of building a church as a shrine to his dead sons for whom he still grieves. When Mateos is taken in one of the raids, his wife (Montes for Rosenda Monteros) locates Brynner and he quickly sets about assembling another magnificent seven to defeat Fernandez. The story thereafter is just the same.
Eclectic cast includes Claude Akins as the brooding loner, Warren Oates chasing tail wherever he can find it, Virgilio Teixiera as an ageing gunslinger who narrowly avoids the hangman and Jordan Christopher as a poor Mexican chicken thief brought along for luck. Fernando Rey also appears as a morally conflicted priest who wants a church for his pilgrims, but disagrees with Fernandez's methods to achieve that goal. Each of the characters has a cross to bear and as in the original, we learn about their path to redemption throughout the story. Elmer Bernstein's familiar score is once again on display and Burt Kennedy's experience with the genre is evident in his handling of the subject matter.
But despite a good cast, "Return" is just an inferior remake; the dialogue is at times overly sentimental and the characters aren't as well drawn as in the original, just shallow replicas. A disappointing sequel attempt. Followed by "Guns of the Magnificent Seven" in 1969 and "Magnificent Seven Ride" in 1972.
Eclectic cast includes Claude Akins as the brooding loner, Warren Oates chasing tail wherever he can find it, Virgilio Teixiera as an ageing gunslinger who narrowly avoids the hangman and Jordan Christopher as a poor Mexican chicken thief brought along for luck. Fernando Rey also appears as a morally conflicted priest who wants a church for his pilgrims, but disagrees with Fernandez's methods to achieve that goal. Each of the characters has a cross to bear and as in the original, we learn about their path to redemption throughout the story. Elmer Bernstein's familiar score is once again on display and Burt Kennedy's experience with the genre is evident in his handling of the subject matter.
But despite a good cast, "Return" is just an inferior remake; the dialogue is at times overly sentimental and the characters aren't as well drawn as in the original, just shallow replicas. A disappointing sequel attempt. Followed by "Guns of the Magnificent Seven" in 1969 and "Magnificent Seven Ride" in 1972.