The Magnificent Seven debuted in 1960 with what we now consider iconic actors and iconic music. When we watch the story, you see very familiar themes of an unlikely band of rough characters coming to train townspeople to fight oppressors. It's familiar because this movie did it first and movies have copied the winning formula for decades. The same kind of ground was broken with the score.
Most of the movie takes place in Mexico and this certainly comes out in parts of the score. Elmer Bernstein set a standard here not just for westerns, but for how programmatic music can add so much to the highs and lows of a movie. Fun fact: John Williams (yes, that John Williams) played in the orchestra when this was recorded.
How magnificent do think this score is?
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