7 Men from Now: Special Collector's Edition

This taut, suspenseful 1956 Western—the first collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and screenwriter Burt Kennedy—marked a turning point in the career of leading man Randolph Scott, whose star had been on the wane for several years. Long held up for legal reasons, but now making its home video debut, 7 Men from Now inaugurated a series of medium-budget horse operas that eschewed hackneyed formulas and dared to feature Scott as a protagonist who wasn't strictly “white hat” in his approach to thorny issues. Here he plays former sheriff Ben Slide, who's given up his badge to trail the seven men who killed his wife—a Wells Fargo clerk—during a robbery. Slide is not interested in bringing them to justice; he just wants to kill them, one by one. Along the way he encounters naïve settlers John Greer (Walter Reed) and his wife Annie (Gail Russell), as well as opportunistic gunmen Masters (Lee Marvin) and Clete (Don Barry), who hope to grab the stolen Wells Fargo money once Slide disposes of the bandits. Kennedy's script teems with naturalistic detail, and the location shooting in the rugged country at the base of the Sierra Nevada range reinforces the main theme: that the desert Southwest is inherently inhospitable to the weak or ill-equipped. Well into his 50s, Scott's handsome face here is craggy and sun-bronzed—he's not the matinee idol anymore—but his harsh appearance is perfectly in keeping with the battered, taciturn avenging angel he plays so brilliantly. Gripping from first scene to last, this exceptional Western is one of the most welcome rediscoveries of recent years. Boasting an excellent transfer, DVD extras on this “special collector's edition” include an audio commentary by film historian James Kitses, a documentary on Boetticher, featurettes, and a photo gallery. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)