I plan on reluctantly buying the Bluray of John Sturges‘ The Magnificent Seven when I return (it streeted on 5.11 — the day after I left for Cannes), but who in their right mind would want to watch, much less own, the three sequel/knock-offs? It’s a kind of fan punishment for MGM video guys to have packaged it this way.

All my life I’ve admired the knife-throwing skills shown by James Coburn‘s character. If you’ve seen the film you know what I mean.

“Fans will be glad to see that the print used here is relatively clean, with only a few scattered white flecks throughout the duration,” the Bluray.com reviewer says about the main attraction. “Clarity is as strong as could be expected, and though there are definitely some soft shots — a product of the original film elements, not this transfer — most of the time you’ll notice a fairly impressive level of fine detail.

“Horses’ coats have a discernable texture, and so does suede, the cloth weft of the village elder’s poncho, and the weathered, sun-beaten faces of our heroes. There are some minor color fluctuations, but the film’s dusty palette has been reproduced nicely, with rich neutrals, creamy sky blues, and vivid reds. Black levels are perfectly tuned, and strong contrast carves out an image with a palpable dimensional presence.

“The film’s grain structure is intact, and you will see some spikes in analog noisiness during longer establishing shots and lap dissolves between scenes. Compression artifacts and other issues are almost entirely absent, and the only oddity I noticed was some occasional telecine wobble — when the film shakes subtly back and forth as it runs through the telecine machine. This is most apparent near the beginning of the film, but it lets up quickly.”