Almost all gone but something lives within us

One of my all-time favorite movies is "The Magnificent Seven", John Sturges and William Roberts' apocraphal and marvelously pivotal 'western' which glorifies the willingness of men of strength to suffer that others may live peacefully.

The movie was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's 1954 masterpiece, "Shichinin no Samurai" (The Seven Samurai).

The Magnificent Seven were played by:
Yul Brynner - Chris Adams
Steve McQueen - Vin
Brad Dexter - Harry Luck
Charles Bronson - Bernardo O'Reilly
Robert Vaughn - Lee
Horst Buchholz - Chico
James Coburn - Britt

And, of course, the villain's role was played magnificently by Eli Wallach as Calvera. Out of this stellar cast only Eli Wallach and Robert Vaughn have survived.

Yul Brynner - Chris Adams: died of cancer in 1985 of cancer at the age of 65
Steve McQueen - Vin: died of cancer in 1980 at the age of 50
Brad Dexter - Harry Luck: again, died of emphasema in 2002 at the age of 85
Charles Bronson - Bernardo O'Reilly: died of Pneumonia in 2003 at the age of 81
Rogert Vaughn - Lee: Born in 1932, now aged 75, he is still Alive
Horst Buchholz - Chico: died in 2003, at the age of 63, of Pneumonia
James Coburn - Britt: died in 2002, at the age of 74, of heart attack

Eli Wallach (Calvera) was born in 1915, Wallach is now a robust NINTY-TWO YEARS OLD and has survived 6 of the seven "Magnificent Ones".


"The Magnificent Seven" was shot in 1960. The photo above shows Calvera after being shot in the chest in a shoot-out with Yul Brynner; he dies shortly afterwards while talking to Yul. His final words were:

"You came back, a man like you, why? why?"

His was a performance that one can never forget.