The Presidential Race

First there was Kurosawa’s film Seven Samurai and then the Hollywood remake to The Magnificent Seven and I can’t help but think of analogies to the Irish Presidential election.

Similar to the Irish Presidential campaign, The Magnificent Seven had a long recruitment process, with some players dipping and then dipping out and some last minute recruits to the campaign.
In the 1960 John Sturges remake, there were seven American gunmen played by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz.

Each character had their own demons to confront; Chris (Yul Brynner) the ageing gunslinger realising his era is coming to an end; the hotheaded  Chico (Horst Buchholz), is Mexican and hates the culture of farming. Harry Luck (Brad Dexter who was Ol’ Blue Eyes’ minder at one stage), joins because he believes Chris is looking for treasure. Vin (Steve McQueen) signs on after going broke from gambling. Other recruits include Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), a gunfighter of Irish-Mexican heritage who is also broke and befriends the children of the village, strong silent type Britt (James Coburn), fast and deadly with his switchblade and Lee (Robert Vaughn), who struggles with nightmares and fears the loss of his skills.

If I was to play a game, which candidate would I associate with each character? Hmmm…

The only problem with this is that four of the original Magnificent Seven die leaving three at the end, but the can only be only one winner in the Presidential race – With the last man/woman Standing, Last Man Standing being a Bruce Willis Hollywood remake of Yojimbo, a 1962 film by Kurosawa, which is where I started off.

I wonder would Primetime have the chutzpah to play Elmer Bernstein’s from the movie for the debate.

Keep on dreaming.