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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

This remake not such ‘Magnificent’ news

Dan Webster

I just read something that, in terms of cinema, I consider to be blasphemy. Someone green-lit a remake of "The Magnificent Seven."

OK, I know. John Sturges' 1960 western is itself a remake. It's an American version of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film "The Seven Samurai" (itself subject to a remake), which he directed from an original screenplay he co-wrote with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Despite being transplanted from Japan to Mexico, Sturges' movie carries but a single screenwriter: William Roberts.

And, yes, Sturges' film inspired at least three sequels and a television show as well. None, though, could touch the 1960 film. Certainly not for star power, what with the likes of Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Charles Bronson and the great Steve McQueen in the cast. But not in quality either.

The problem is that, like many classic films, Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven" is a film of its time. Today's mores won't allow the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants to play a Mexican, the way Eli Wallach plays the bandit chief Calvera. And little made today won't at least attempt to capture diversity, which is why Denzel Washington is listed as central to the new production (set for a 2017 release).

Not that I begrudge Washington's casting. As he proved most in the 2012 film "Flight," where he played a drunken airline pilot, he's still as good an actor as is working today. And of course he can play a gunfighter, every bit as fittingly as Danny Glover played a trail hand in "Lonesome Dove."

It's just this: I have a short list of films that are I consider to be nearly perfect. "Casablanca" is one. And "The Magnificent Seven" is another. And just as I would hate to think of, say, Zack Snyder doing a "Casablanca" remake with, say, Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Lawrence — and don't laugh; some agent somewhere has definitely tried to sell that idea or something even more ridiculous — I can't stand the thought of Antoine Fuqua remaking Sturges' western masterpiece.

So I'm not looking forward to this new "Magnificent Seven." Not at all.

Or maybe I would be — but only if Quentin Tarantino were directing.