Considered by many to be one of the true masterpieces of the genre, john Sturges' The Magnificent Seven thundered onto the big screen in 1960 and into audience's hearts, in the process raising the bar for rugged western adventures to a whole new heart stopping level. A cowboy retelling of Akira Kurosawa's classic The Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven starred Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughan, Brad Dexter, James Coburn and Horst Buchholz as seven mercenaries hired to defend a small village from the evil Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his band of marauding bandits. Such was the success of the film that it spawned three sequels; Return Of The Magnificent Seven, Guns Of The Magnificent Seven and The Magnificent Seven Ride.