Best/Worst Remake ever

[Eja117]

****Spoiler Alert****
1) Kurosawa depicted the utter misery and base existence the actual farmers lived in. The Mexican villagers were nothing like that.  They were a bunch a guys that went to buy some guns to fight off bandits.  This was done not to anger Mexicans so they will go watch the movies.  That is a pretty blatant violation of artistic integrity.  
2) The Seven Samurai were chosen based on tactics and represented different aspects of war.  Innocence, Wisdom, Shame and Sorrow, Utility, Strength, Humor and Human bonds.  The Magnificent seven picked 7 interesting but arbitrary characters with no study of how war affects the human condition.  
3)  The Seven Samurai also each chose to join this almost suicidal fight with no reward for honorable pursuits of Samurai.  Compassion, Challenge, Loyalty, Ambition, Courage etc.  Magnificent Seven presented no such thread and some were just greedy after some money.
4)The brilliant war tactics and strategy employed in the Seven Samurai were significantly watered down.
5)The romance between Katsushiro and the farmer's daughter was a Romeo and Juliet tragedy of how love is unable to overcome the class struggles.  Chico simply becomes a "farmer and lives happily ever after." A happy ending tactic to please the audience is another betrayal of artistic integrity.
6)The wise elder refusing to abandoning his home despite facing certain death was one of the most touching scenes in the movie.  The elder escapes unharmed again making the movie more happy and less realistic.
7)When Mifune's character acted of his own accord he is severely rebuked by the other Samurai highlighting the importance of teamwork in war and how the pursuit of individual glory (personal vengance in another instance) costs lives.  Both of these are left out of the Magnificent Seven.  In fact Chico is thrilled and gains the respect of the Cowboys for his rash act of inexperience and impulse.
8 )  Most importantly the Seven Samurai all knew this was an impossible mission from the beginning.  They knew there would be no happy ending, no reward.  The ultimate tragedy that is war.  They act not for consequence but from character.  The Cowboys always planned to win and get away even when the fight escalates to all-out war ready to make sequels.  
Christian "influences" of Spaghetti Westerns (Italian Films) like Fist full of dollars are the comparison of Christ's sacrifice to the man with no name.  There are many crucifixion imagery and analysis of christian ethics in a world with no laws and survival of the fittest.  Just having a few christian and crosses doesn't add anything original to the movie.  
   Thus the Magnificent Seven was a feel-good shoot'em up with very little study of class struggles, Tactics and Tragedy of War, study of ethics or study of romance.  The camera work was unoriginal and boring.  The dialogue predictable and unrealistic.  The musical score was very good, but further reinforced the feel good heroics of the movie.  As a movie it doesn't compare to the Seven Samurai.  
   With all due respect to Celtics Bloggers, whose knowledge of basketball is the finest in the world , I don't think a vote is a good way to decide which is a better work of art.  Kesha, Katie Perry and Lady Gaga are more popular than Beethoven and Bach but that doesn't mean that they aren't in completely different levels.  

How DARE you suggest Lady Gaga might not be as good as Bach! You sir are OUT OF LINE!

[Eja117]

Ok Yogi.

I'm not going to refute your points, because they're all valid and somewhat true, but allow me to comment

1. Who cares about farmers? If the movie was called "The Seven Farmers" would anyone have gone to see it? This is about fighters, so I don't exactly care that the farmers were in more abject poverty. The farmers are a vehicle for good vs evil.

2. It's not true that Magnif 7 didn't have any discussion about war.  They just weren't all philosophical about it. They were Ray Lewis. Not Homer.

3. The gunfighters weren't after money. Except that one character clearly after the money who kept insisting there was gold in the hills. They were trying to escape or grow up or delay the inevitable.

4. Less tactics. Less paintings on rice paper.

5. You're right. The romance can't overcome class struggles because in real life the samurai thought they were better than everyone else. Anyone can become a gun fighter if you have talent and skill. And then you can go right back to being a farmer if you want.  

6. Wise elder was a very minor character. Plus he made a good point. Bullets cost money. But swiping a sword doesn't.

7. The elder samurai were just jealous they didn't take the initiative and didn't want to admit that sucka got served by a non samurai. The cowboys value results.

8. To quote Captain Kirk "I don't believe in unwinnable scenarios".  

The reason Magnif 7 is a feel good story is that it's an example of bullies getting bullied. I don't like that guy so I'm gonna pick a fight. The one second where Eli Wallach offers Yul Bryner half of everything and Yul just takes a deep breath, gets kinda p---ed, and tells him to ride on is all the study you need. There's none of that in Seven Samurai. We just assume the samurai are good guys.  In fact. The Samurai get p---ed at the farmers and the actual farmers are displayed as the bad guys when all the samurai armor shows up. The farmers aren't the bad guys. The Samurai are the bad guys. This isn't exactly good guys vs bad guys. It's actually bad guys vs really bad guys and that shows up way more in Magnificent 7.  There is a distinct point made in Magnificent 7 that Chris has been offered a lot but never everything.

There is a difference between a fun movie and a good movie, but if a movie is more fun is it better?

[RebusRankin]

Best Remake: Dark Knight Reboot
Worst: A Perfect Murder, remaking on of Hitchcock's best Dial M for Murder.