Martin Bradley Atrocious and proof, if proof were needed, why movie franchises aren't always a good thing; indeed, if this is anything to go by, sequels and franchises of any kind are mostly to be avoided. In fact, the only resemblance "The Magnificent Seven Ride!" has to Sturges' classic is in having seven so-called 'heroes' fighting some Mexican bandits and in stealing the title. Otherwise this is truly inept.Lee Van Cleef is now the leader but apart from Michael Callan you can forget trying to recall the names of the others. The dialogue is woeful, (or is it just Van Cleef's line readings?), the revenge element unpleasant and the 'direction' of one, George McCowan, virtually non-existant. This is a travesty which should be avoided at all costs.

TankGuy Gunfighting maverick Chris Adams is now happily married and has settled into his mundane life as a lawman in a small Texas town. However his hopes of retirement are dashed after his wife is kidnapped and brutally murdered by a trio of young thugs. Chris sets out on their trail and tracks them across the border where he takes his revenge. Although it turns out that our hero will have to go back to doing what he does best after he stumbles upon a town that has been left at the mercy of outlaw Detorro and his vicious band of killers. The men have been massacred and it is only the women and children who are left, prompting Chris to assemble five convicts, a newspaperman and a deadly arsenal of dynamite and long range rifles to do battle with the bandits one last time.Lee Van Cleef took a break from the Sabata trilogy to film The Magnificent Seven Ride!, the final movie in the Seven Samurai inspired quadrilogy. As always , Van Cleef brings his sardonic Colonel Mortimer-esque charm to the role and executes his portrayal with chilled assurance. After his work with Leone, the in-and-outs of the western became second nature to him, he seemed like a cool guy to have around and the western was his genre. The other actors that the seven comprised of, with the exception of Luke Askew, were pretty nondescript to me, therefore I wasn't too bothered when some of them were killed off in the huge action sequence at the end. It's easy to find oneself yawning or looking at their watch throughout the middle of the film, with the obligatory dry dialogue making the it feel longer than it is. we learn little about the members of the seven and the villain Detorro is rarely seen. Also the one factor that sets Ride! apart from the other three movies is the dark revenge plot, but it's quickly forgotten about at the film's halfway mark. The director could have done more with it and transformed the movie into something else entirely. However, the one thing that The Magnificent Seven movies were always er, magnificent at was showcasing a darned amazing action scene. Ride! is no exception as the bullets scream and the bodies fly, particularly during the fantastic climax where we are treated to an explosive shoot-em-up in the desert(which was gloriously chaotic)followed by a cracking shootout in the town's street. Some complimentary blood spatter is even thrown in alongside the explosions and stuntwork to crank the violence up a notch or two. Although these spectacular action scenes do not mask the predictability of the climax....And so The Magnificent seven series ends deservedly with a bang. Just bear with Ride! as it's a lot of fun with a few brilliant action scenes. 9/10

Michael_Elliott 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.

sorbonne The director was probably still in his early learning stages when he tried his hand at westerns. Have a look at the outfits. Everybody looks well-scrubbed, well-brushed, well-dressed and well-ironed as though ready for church. Even the horses look well-groomed and shiny. This is a WESTERN, for crying out loud! It's supposed to look dusty, nasty and sweaty. And then there's the amateurish acting of the females in this bird. The whole lot, a dozen or so, all pretty and well-endowed, were just freshly raped and widowed, but hardly a tear flows. Instead they all look with great interest (if not downright lust) at the newly arrived magnificent seven who they subsequently feed, bandage and comfort with love during their battles with the bandits. The same directing criticism goes for Lee van Cleef, who does a reasonable good acting job. Our Lee, playing the law, just lost his dear wife. But Lee, hard as organic rock, shows no emotion whatsoever and finds himself within days of his spouse's demise in the arms of a juicy widow with whom he, together with her brood, walks off into the future. The cad. And then there's another thing that always kind of bothers me with this type of films: it doesn't matter how many dynamite-induced explosions take place in the middle of a pack of some 50 horses, never mind how many shots are being fired at the rabble on top of them, only the crooks get killed and the nags always go their way rejoicing in one piece. (I know...silly moi...it's just a movie...). It's not the worst western ever made, but prepare for some serious yawning.