Denzel Washington took the lead in this rousing remake of a 1960s Western classic, which is now streaming for free. After the duo first worked together on Training Day, the various movie collaborations between Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua have been quite fruitful for both men.
Washington finally nabbed his only Best Actor Academy Award for Training Day, and also received his first franchise with the Fuqua-directed Equalizer movie trilogy. That series has come to define part of Washington’s latter-day career, with Robert McCall character allowing the veteran star to kick butt whilst also delivering powerful performances as a good man who uses violence as a last resort.
The most underrated collaboration between Washington and Fuqua is 2016’s The Magnificent Seven. A reboot of The Magnificent Seven movie franchise, this cast Washington as a bounty hunter who leads a small gang of gunfighters to defend a small town under threat from a ruthless industrialist. While not a major critical or commercial hit, the film contains all the heart and action of the 1960 original and is now streaming for free (with ads!) on Tubi and YouTube.
Denzel Washington Shines In The Magnificent Seven’s Starry Remake
The Magnificent Seven is one of the few big-budget Westerns to emerge from Hollywood during the 2010s. It was a passion project for Fuqua and it feels like the director was cashing in his chips from previous hits like Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer. He obviously needed big names to sell the concept to modern viewers, and he could not have selected a better leading man than Washington.
Inheriting the leader role played in previous Magnificent Seven films by the likes of Yul Brynner and Lee Van Cleef, Washington’s Sam is easily the most complex of the bunch. He has a strict moral code and dark backstory, and while he is motivated by saving lives, he is also – without going into spoilers – on a personal mission too.
The Magnificent Seven also allows Denzel to show off some rather dazzling gunslinger skills. Sam’s revolver is very much an extension of himself, with Washington twirling, fanning and reloading with gusto. It’s an unexpected physical performance from Washington, and the unique body language he gives Sam only enhances the character’s imposing presence.
The Magnificent Seven Can’t Beat The Original, But It’s Still Worth Watching
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The Magnificent Seven is a classic Western that was already adapting another classic: Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. The 1960 original had a starry cast that included Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson and many more, and the concept has been readapted and ripped off countless times since. In short, Fuqua’s 2016 update had little chance of surpassing or even matching it.
Even so, it is a hidden gem. Besides Washington, the ensemble includes Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Haley Bennett, Byung-hun Lee, and pretty much everyone is doing great work. Hawke, in particular, crafts a complex gunfighter character, whose heavy drinking and PTSD from his time in the Civil War make him queasy about taking more lives.
The modern Magnificent Seven is a good deal slicker than the original, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The pacing is smoother, the action is bigger and well-staged – no surprise, given Fuqua’s past credits – and there are some surprise deaths along the way. That said, Chris Pratt is no substitute for McQueen, and the film overall lacks the effortless cool of the 1960s version.
The Magnificent Seven Is Surprisingly Washington’s Only Western
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Between The Equalizer films and the majority of his acting roles, Washington is famous for playing moral, upstanding men who face danger head-on. Those character traits should make him a natural lead for a Western, but somehow, The Magnificent Seven is Washington’s sole “Oater” to date.
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It appears he wasn’t in contention for any other Westerns throughout his career either. He was reportedly Clint Eastwood’s first choice to play Butch in the 1993 Neo-Western A Perfect World, but Washington was unavailable; that part went to Kevin Costner. An argument could be made that the Equalizer series has a Neo-Western element to it with the McCall character, who is unwavering in his commitment to righting wrongs and doing the right thing.
All that said, The Magnificent Seven is Washington’s only true Western offering. In a sense, it’s not a major shock he hadn’t appeared in one before. When Washington rose to prominence during the 1990s, Westerns were only being produced sporadically, and while the genre has occasional surges of life, it’s not exactly a Hollywood staple anymore.
Denzel Washington Has Several Remakes Even Better Than The Magnificent Seven
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Washington has appeared in a surprising number of remakes throughout his career, ranging from beloved thrillers to TV show reboots. This includes The Equalizer, which started life as a 1980s vigilante show starring the late, great Edward Woodward. It feels like the Washington trilogy has completely overtaken the show in terms of cultural relevance, and the two ultimately don’t have much in common outside of the premise.
The Magnificent Seven shares much of the creative team as The Equalizer, so they have some elements in common. Even so, The Equalizers are just more entertaining, with McCall being one of Denzel’s best characters. It’s little wonder Washington is always open to returning to the role, to the point that a fourth film is now in development.
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While it received tepid reviews in 2009, the Denzel Washington/Tony Scott movie The Taking of Pelham 123 is aging quite well. Scott brought his signature kinetic style to this updating of the highly-regarded ’70s thriller, with Washington taking on the MTA subway dispatcher role Walter Matthau previously played. The film is a flashy siege thriller with an incredible ensemble, including John Travolta, John Turturro and the great James Gandolfini.
Even Tony Scott’s lesser work tends to be very watchable, and The Taking of Pelham 123 is no exception. Finally, the Washington-led remake of The Manchurian Candidate deserves far more love. Sure, it doesn’t beat the Frank Sinatra original, but considering that was one of the best thrillers of the 1960s, the remake is still a banger.
It’s directed with verve and energy by Jonathan Demme, who surrounds Washington with heavy hitters like Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, and Vera Farmiga. The Magnificent Seven and The Manchurian Candidate couldn’t be further apart in terms of tone and genre, but the latter is just a classier effort.
The Magnificent Seven
A new remake of the 1960 western, 2016’s The Magnificent Seven follows a group of seven warriors from different walks of life who join forces to liberate a town from an oppressive gold miner.
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