Even if you haven't watched these movies, you're probably passingly familiar with the titles.
A little more about each movie:
Seven Samurai – 1954 – Japanese movie nominated for two
Oscars.
Seven Samurai is an epic samurai dram film that takes place
in 1586 during the Sengoku Period of Japanese history.Read more HERE.
This movie is considered a motion picture masterpiece.
Interestingly enough, Seven Samurai has achieved a Rotten Tomatoes approval
rating of 100%. For the curious among us, and for what it’s worth, here is a
link to a list of movies with the Rotten Tomatoes 100% approval rating: RottenTomatoes Ratings
The Magnificent Seven – 1960 version (not the 2016 remake)
In 2013, this movie
was selected for the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as
being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”-Read more HERE
¡Three Amigos! – 1986 – western comedy set in 1916 (Steve
Martin is a co-screenwriter.)
Originally, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi were
the Three Amigos and Steven Spielberg was going to direct, but Spielberg wanted Steve
Martin, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams. Also, Rick Moranis would have played
Ned had Martin Short been unavailable.Read more HERE.
Contemplate this movie with Robin Williams and Bill Murray
in it. Over-the-top comes to my mind.
A Bug’s Life – 1998 – computer-animated comedy (Pixar
Animation Studios)
While the film was purportedly inspired by the Aesop fable,
The Ant and the Grasshopper, the underlying plot is the same as Seven Samurai.
Read more HERE.
Do you know of other movies with the same basic plot?
Kaye Spencer
Stay in contact with Kaye—
Amazon Author Page | BookBub | Blog | Twitter | Pinterest | Facebook
I own the Seven Samurai, and the Magnificent Seven and watch them often. The other two are fun, but not my 'cup o tea'.
ReplyDeleteYojimbo, Fist Full of Dollars and Last Man Standing are another set of similar plot. Can you tell I'm a Kurosawa and Mifune fan? Doris
I'm not familiar with Yojimbo--I will remedy that. 'wink' I've watched Fist Full of Dollars and Last Man Standing, and I missed the plot connection until you mentioned it.
DeleteI loved Magnificent 7. So many great actors. I bet today's PC world, critics would pull their hair out with Eli Wallach playing a Mexican bandit instead of an actual Mexican actor.
ReplyDeleteAhh, yes. Sadly, so many of our beloved 'old' western movies fall into the politically incorrect category nowadays.
DeleteOhh, The Magnificent 7! So many great actors! Eli Wallach---an actor beyond measure!
ReplyDelete(First time I have been able to read a blog. On my computer it won't open. Thanks for post, Ms. Kaye!)
I heartily agree. Eli Wallach was such a great character actor. On the problems commenting and reading blogs... I have troubles like that, too. It seems hit or miss any given time I log in. Thanks for stopping in.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFun article, Kaye. It's worth noting that THE SEVEN SAMURAI into MAG 7 is actually a circular process as SAMURAI director Akira Kurosawa was a huge fan of JOHN FORD's westerns. As for other movies with the same plot: off the top of my head, film noir HIGH SIERRA turned into western COLORADO TERRITORY, another film noir HOUSE OF STRANGERS was re-worked as western BROKEN LANCE... Some movies have literary origins too. Shakespeare has been regularly plundered, from ROMEO & JULIET turning into WEST SIDE STORY, MACBETH intO THRONE OF BLOOD (Kurosawa again) and even KING LEAR into the TV Western movie KING OF TEXAS.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about Akira Kurosawa being a big fan of John Ford. If memory serves me, I read that in your blog article some months ago.
DeleteAlso, Hideo Gosha's excellent, haunting, blood-soaked GOYOKIN (also released as SHOGUN'S GOLD and STEEL EDGE OF REVENGE) was adapted by Tom Laughlin into the inferior THE MASTER GUNFIGHTER. BLIND FURY with Rutger Hauer and BLINDMAN with Tony Anthony were more or less lifted from the Zatoichi swordplay series.
ReplyDeleteFred, I know the Rutger Hauer movie Blind Fury, but not the others. I will investigate. Thanks.
DeleteGreat article!
ReplyDelete