The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [22]
An obvious instance of a Western based on this plot is The Magnificent Seven (1960), inspired by Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954), his film version of a traditional Japanese legend. It begins in classic Overcoming the Monster style by showing a community living under the shadow of a monstrous threat: a little Mexican farming village being terrorised by an outlaw gang, led by the villainous Calveros, who regularly arrive at the village to rob the farmers of food. We see one such predatory visit, when one old farmer tries to protest. Calveros shoots him in front of the villagers, thus underlining just what a heartless and predatory tyrant he is. A wise old man living nearby advises the farmers that the only way to stop this reign of terror is that they should buy guns. Three of them ride over the American border where they see two professional gunmen (played byYul Brynner and Steve McQueen) fearlessly standing up to the inhabitants of a small town in insisting that an Indian who has died in the town should be buried in its whitesonly cemetery. This establishes that the two heroes are not racially prejudiced and are willing to fight against injustice. For a small sum of money, all they can afford, the Mexicans persuade the two gunmen to come back to their village to defend them against the outlaws. The two recruit another five, and the seven gunmen arrive in the village to train its inhabitants in self-defence.
When Calveros's gang next returns it is beaten off with heavy losses. But when the seven ride out into the countryside to see what the gang is up to, Calveros outwits them by secretly occupying the village in their absence. When they return they discover they have fallen into his clutches. In front of the cowed villagers, he removes their guns, and allows them to leave. Foolishly, however, showing the monster's blind spot, he allows their guns to be returned to them when they have left town. He cannot imagine that, as mere hired gunmen, they will not just ride away to avoid any further trouble, leaving him free to carry on oppressing the villagers. But, bruised by their humiliation, the seven ride back into town for a final climactic battle, in which Calveros and his gang are routed, not least because the villagers recover their courage and join in. Four of the seven are dead. One decides to remain in the village because he has fallen in love with a village girl, which allows the story to end on the image of a man and woman united in love. But the two original brave heroes ride off into the wide blue yonder, having overcome the `monster' and saved the community.
Another classic Hollywood Western based on this plot was Fred Zinnemann's High Noon (1952), written by Carl Foreman. Again we see a community living under the shadow of a monstrous outlaw gang, the little town of Hadleyville in the old West. The story begins on the morning when the hero Will Kane (played by Gary Cooper), having resigned as town marshal, is getting married to Amy, a pretty young Quaker (Grace Kelly). No sooner is the ceremony over than Kane unpins his badge of office and he and his new bride prepare to leave the town for ever. But then shocking news arrives. Some years earlier Kane had been responsible for arresting Frank Miller, a psychopathic gang-leader who had terrorised the town, and now Miller has been released from prison. He is heading back to Hadleyville on the noon train, due to arrive in just two hours time. The three unsavoury members of his gang are already at the station waiting for him, and for the moment when they can settle their score with Kane and reimpose their reign of terror.
Scarcely have the newly-weds set out from town than Kane realises he cannot leave