7 Men from Now (1956)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
Ex-sheriff Ben Stride tracks the seven men who held up a Wells Fargo office and killed his wife. Stride is tormented by the fact that his own failure to keep his job was the cause of his wife's working in the express office and thus he is partly responsible for her death. Stride encounters a married couple heading west for California and helps them. Along the way they are joined by two n'er-do-wells, Masters and Clete, who know that Stride is after the express-office robbers. They plan to let Stride lead them to the bandits, then make away with the loot themselves. But they aren't the only ones carrying a secret.
Written by Jim Beaver

Full Cast
Randolph Scott ... Ben Stride
Gail Russell ... Annie Greer
Lee Marvin ... Bill Masters
Walter Reed ... John Greer
John Larch ... Payte Bodeen
Don 'Red' Barry ... Clete (as Donald Barry)
Fred Graham ... Henchman
John Beradino ... Clint
John Phillips ... Jed
Chuck Roberson ... Mason
Stuart Whitman ... Cavalry Lt. Collins
Pamela Duncan ... Señorita Nellie
Steve Mitchell ... Fowler
Cliff Lyons ... Henchman
Fred Sherman ... The Prospector
Chick Hannon ... Townsman (uncredited)
George Sowards ... Stage Driver (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Burt Kennedy (original story and screenplay)

Original Music
Henry Vars

Cinematography
William H. Clothier

Trivia
John Wayne gave the female lead to Gail Russell, his co-star from Angel and the Badman and Wake of the Red Witch. He did so despite being warned that she looked twenty years too old to play a 26-year-old.

She had not worked on a movie for nearly five years prior to 7 Men From Now due to her struggles with stage-fright-induced alcoholism, and Boetticher worked very hard to keep her from drinking during the filming.

John Wayne and Robert Fellows's production company Batjac purchased the Burt Kennedy screenplay with the intention of having Wayne star as Stride. It was Kennedy's first film script. However, Wayne was locked into doing The Searchers for John Ford. Wayne then suggested casting Randolph Scott instead. Scott insisted on Budd Boetticher as the director.

7 Men from Now was the first in a seven-film collaboration between Scott, Boetticher, and producer Harry Joe Brown, with five of the films written by Kennedy.
Since money was already being spent to make "7 Men From Now", it could not be stopped without losing that money. John Wayne asked Randolph Scott to play the lead in his place.

Scott himself credited the film with reviving a dead career

This film was rarely seen for decades, occasionally being shown at film festivals, until it was released on DVD as a restored, "Special Collectors Edition" nearly 50 years after its theatrical release. .

Goofs
When Randolph Scott's character says goodbye to Mrs Greer at the end, he stands facing her with the horse on his left side. In the next shot, a closeup, the horse is on his right side.

The man dragged by the horse looks nothing like Randolph Scott.

Filming Locations
Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA
Lone Pine, California, USA
Olancha Dunes, Olancha, California, USA
Owens River, Lone Pine, California, USA

Watch the Movie

7 Men From Now

7 Men from Now is a 1956 Western film
starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin

Directed by Budd Boetticher and produced
by 'Pals' Andrew McLaglen, Duke's brother
Robert E. Morrison, with camerawork by William H. Clothier

Alsd appearances by other 'Pals'
Chuck Roberson, Stuart Whitman ,Cliff Lyons
Produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions.

User Review-1

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By dfordoom of Classic Movie Ramblings

7 Men From Now was the first of a series of westerns starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher. These westerns are the movies on which the director’s considerable cult reputation rests.

The movie was made in 1956 by John Wayne’s production company, Batjac. A few years earlier Wayne had produced Bullfighter and the Lady which gave Boetticher his major break as a director. Wayne was unavailable to play the lead in 7 Men From Now (he was doing The Searchers for John Ford at the time) but suggested Randolph Scott. It was a momentous suggestion for the careers of both Boetticher and Scott.

Boetticher was not a man who could have worked easily within the strict confines of the studio system but making a modestly budgeted production for Batjac gave him the artistic freedom he craved.

Boetticher’s approach to the western genre was simple and rather austere. He was uninterested in big stories and he was equally uninterested in taking a flashy approach to the job. With a story (by Burt Kennedy) that appealed to him, with a handful of strong characters and a very fine cast, he crafted a deceptively straightforward but immensely powerful film.

We are plunged straight into the action. The backstory will be sketched in later with remarkable economy. A man (we will later learn he is Ben Stride, played by Randolph Scott ) takes shelter from the elements in a cave, with two men. He mentions he’s from Silver Springs, one of the two men remarks that there was a killing there, and the two men are shot.

As we will soon discover, the two men were among seven men who held up the Wells Fargo office in Silver Springs. A woman was shot and killed. She was Ben Stride’s wife. He had been the sheriff but had recently been deposed, not being the sort of man who was good at winning elections. Stride then encounters a young couple, John and Annie Greer, in a wagon heading for California. He travels with them, their journey taking them through country occupied by hostile Indians.

On the journey they encounter Masters (Lee Marvin). While Stride wants to find the robbers for motives of revenge Masters wants to find them to get the $20,000 they stole. They become temporary allies but it’s an uneasy and unstable alliance. Sooner or later they will face a showdown. Further complications arise over Annie Greer. Both Stride and Masters are interested in her while she’s obviously interested in Ben Stride.

It’s a classic western tale cut down to basics but the starkness of the plot gives it a gravity that makes it almost elemental. The subtle characterisations and the quality of the acting make it especially powerful.

Randolph Scott is perfect. Ben Stride is a bleak kind of hero, but not totally unsympathetic. His strengths are qualities that are unfashionable today - a driving sense of duty and a severe view of justice. Scott’s performance is reserved but extremely effective and contrasts nicely with Lee Marvin’s bravura performance. Masters is a complex villain, with a quirky sense of honour combined with opportunism and ruthlessness. Masters and Stride do not hate each other and they even have a sneaking regard for one another. They know that eventually one of them will have to kill the other but this is something that Ben Stride genuinely regrets. Masters was not involved in the robbery which led to Stride’s wife’s death so there’s no personal animosity.

The actual killers are more straightforward villains but they’re not the real focus of the film. In fact they could almost be seen as a McGuffin - their actions drive the actions of both Stride and Masters but they are unimportant in themselves. John and Annie Greer are more important and Walter Reed and Gail Russell give fine performances.

Boetticher’s westerns had an immense influence. When Sergio Leone met Boetticher he assured him that he had stolen all his ideas from the American director! 7 Men From Now has been described as an existential western but while there’s some truth to that it’s wise not to push the point too far. Despite its complex hero and equally complex villain there is a moral centre to the movie that is at odds with the fashionable existentialism of intellectuals of the 50s.

The DVD comes with a host of extras including a quite lengthy documentary. The movie is beautifully restored. John Wayne’s son Michael who has overseen the release of the Batjac movies on DVD insisted that if the movie was going to be released the restoration had to be done properly. The result is a fitting tribute not only to Budd Boetticher but also to the underrated achievements of John Wayne as a producer.

A great western and essential viewing.

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User Review-2

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Lee Marvin at his most cunning
26 December 2005 | by krorie (Van Buren, Arkansas)
This is one of my favorite westerns. Since it has been out of circulation until recently, few of the new generation have got to see it. Hopefully now that it has been restored on DVD it will receive its just desserts. If at all possible, see the wide-screen version. Budd Boetticher believed that as many shots as possible should be made outside. His movies have few interior scenes. He shot his best westerns in Lone Pine, California, second only to Utah's Mounument Valley for natural beauty that fulfills anyone's fantasy of how the Old West should appear on the big screen. "Seven Men From Now" also contains one of my favorite movie shots highlighting the genius of Boetticher. When Ben Stride (Randy Scott) draws against Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) the viewer never sees Stride draw. His/Her imagination must be used to visualize just how fast Stride's draw is. It's sort of like the old joke used on the Steve Allen Television Show by Don Knotts. He never moves his hands and asks the viewer, "Wanna see it again?"

These were the early days of Lee Marvin's film career when he was still trying to prove himself as a viable actor. In "Seven Men From Now" he succeeds beyond one's wildest expectations. Though he deserved the Oscar for "Cat Ballou" a few years later, he is actually better in "Seven Men From Now" than he was in that award-winning flick. After "Cat Ballou" his acting deteriorated somewhat, though from time to time he turned in an admirable performance especially in the neglected classic "Point Blank." Second only to Lee Marvin, is Randolph Scott who never gave a poor performance. He plays to perfection his role as a revenge seeking, self-pitying Marshall who still believes in fair play and romance. John Wayne was originally slotted for the role, but it is doubtful that even such a great actor as Wayne could have played Ben Stride the way he was meant to be portrayed, the way Randy Scott plays him. The finely honed well-written script is by Burt Kennedy who would go on to make one of the funniest westerns ever, "Support Your Local Sheriff." What a team Boetticher, Kennedy, and Scott made.

Though it is good to see the old cowboy star Don "Red" Barry on the big screen once more, his part as Bill Masters' weak-minded sidekick does not fit him. He is sadly miscast. A character actor such as Strother Martin would have fit the role much better.

This is one of those films not to be missed whether you're a western fan or not. It can be viewed repeatedly and enjoyed more each time.

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Bumped this one for Peter (Dooley)