Best Movie Score: The Magnificent Seven

Many people think John Williams (Jaws, E.T.) or Danny Elfman (Mission: Impossible) create great movie scores. I agree that they do, but the greatest move score of all time, in my opinion, is Elmer Bernstein's score for The Magnificent Seven.

photo from cinemametro.com

The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 movie based on the famous Seven Samurai from silent film times. The Magnificent Seven turns Seven Samurai into a western about a small village who hires seven cowboys to protect them from the bad guys. This movie is essentially parodied in Three Amigos! starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase (also a great movie- "Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?") The Magnificent Seven has big stars like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and Robert Vaughn (who is now in those Smith & Hassler commercials). It's a great western and came out in the midst of the western era (yes, there was a time when every other movie made was a western). In fact, I put Magnificent Seven in my list of

Top Five Fave Westerns:

1. High Noon
2. The Searchers
3. The Magnificent Seven
4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
5. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Later on I may type out a blog post explaining each of my choices, but I think I should note that the #5 spot was really close between The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Shane. Even so, The Magnificent Seven is a solid #3.

Anyways, I just wanted to point out to my friends that The Magnificent Seven has a fabulous soundtrack and score. In fact, it's score was nominated for an Oscar! If you want to hear some of score, just go on YouTube, where you can at least hear the theme song. And then if you like what you hear, see the movie and watch all the neat visuals that go along with that score!