There is a very good reason why Shakespeare never considered a sequel to Macbeth. At the closing curtain the stage is literally littered with corpses. No matter how proficient an author may be it is exceptionally difficult to continue a story when all the characters that made the original such a masterpiece are deceased. The same should have held true for one of the most remarkable westerns ever made; ‘The Magnificent Seven’. True, a few of the group survived the deadly, climatic battle against the evil marauders but hardly number sufficient to generate the level of interpersonal tension of story development that made this film a classic. Still, if a movie is profitable, well received and critically acclaimed the studio will go for a sequel as naturally as cats have kittens. Unfortunately the results are rarely as well regarded. There have been sequels that have matched or even exceeded the quality of the original but they are the proverbial exceptions that prove the rule. In the case of the flick ‘The Return of the Magnificent Seven’ the initial hurdle to overcome was the wholesale slaughter of most of the cast. While the central character did return it was nowhere near enough talent to make a dent in what was required. The flick make an honest go at extending the story from the original but several factors acted in concert to result falling significantly short of expectations. Constructing a sequel to an exceptional film around a single recurring character without the benefit of retaining the screenwriter, director or, in many ways, the subgenre is an impossible goal so the fact that it was even attempted is quite surprising. The shroud of doom completely enfolded the production when that one remaining star, Yul Brynner, apparently refuse to participate in the movie if Steve McQueen signed on. The alleged reason McQueen declined involvement was he felt the script was not worth making. In hindsight a strong case can be made for his ability to evaluate a screenplay. In all fairness this was only one reason for the flick coming up short but it did play a major role in it.

Because of the behind the scene melodrama connected with the flick Steve McQueen was replaced in the role of Vin by Robert Fuller. His experience in westerns consisted mostly of a regular role in television’s ‘Wagon Train’. While an accomplished actor he never reached a point in his career that could reach the type of stage presence that McQueen brought to every role he took on. Another substitution made in the cast was vital to connecting this sequel to the original. The youngest member of the original seven was Chico originally portrayed by Horst Buchholz but recast with Julián Mateos for this movie. Most of experience was done in films in his native country of Spain. This may have worked against audience identification with his character. He also lacked the enthusiasm fostered by Buchholz. In the story Chico fell in love and after the final battle remained behind to marry his village sweetheart and become a farmer. As this film commences a sizable group of nomadic desperados sweep into the village and spirit off with the men into the desert. Left alone with the rest of the women and children Chico’s wife Petra (Elisa Montés) rides off to find the two other survivors of the seven men who saved the village, Vin and Chris (Brynner). The two men agree to help and proceed to recruit replacements for the ill fated original crew. It’s not a great inducement telling prospects their predecessors died defending a tiny village of farmers against a vastly superior force of criminals. In this case the rationale was altered from a greedy bandito leaser to a wealthy rancher, Lorca (Emilio Fernández) who was using the kidnapped men as a slave labor force to build a memorial to his deceased sons. Grief is a valid motivation in as western but it comes across much softer than unmitigated greed. The original employed a classic, perennial plot device to drive the action, good versus evil. Here it altered to more of a class conflict with a wealthy man feeling his money justifies assuaging his grief by kidnapping poor, honest farmers.

One factor that has to be taken into account here that is frequently overlooked while considers the merits of this flick are the entirely different foundation for the production. The original was a retelling of a story from a significantly different culture; Japan, that movie was a westernization of Seven Samurai, a 1954 film by Akira Kurosawa. Its brilliance was based in contrasting feudal Japan with the American west. The code of honor exhibited bound these divergent cultures together affording the filmmaker a valid basis of comparison. With ‘Return’, the production of the movie was transplanted to Spain so that it has to be classified as spaghetti western more in line with the ‘Man with no name’ trilogy. When this factor us accounted for the movie fairs much better. This is not to overestimate the quality; it still is not a successful movie. The goal of the spaghetti western is to be a popcorn flick, not great cinema. ‘Return’ has action and plenty of senseless violence at the expense of a plot that holds together in any semblance of logic. Much of the story is exceptionally contrived and the largely local cast is not able to pull it together. Brynner phoned in his role adding little to the development of Chris. In some ways he seems to be preparing for donning the iconic black outfit as the unstoppable automaton gunslinger in ‘Westworld’ and its sequel ‘Futureworld’.

One positive for diehard fans of the franchise is the new high definition edition of the film just released on Blu-ray. The film looks stunning in 1080p and is a reasonable companion piece for the Blu-ray release of the original film and the recent high definition edition of the no name trilogy. The lossless audio offers a wide, realistic soundstage that adds considerably to the entertainment quotient of this flick. No amount of resolution can make up for a poorly constructed film but in this instance if you start watching expecting a solid spaghetti western instead of anticipating a follow up to a classic you will be a lot happier.