A Film Canon

Like many Westerns, Seven Men From Now depicts a series of representative figures thrown together over the course of a journey - the seven criminals responsible for robbing a Wells Fargo office; the ex-sheriff, whose wife was killed in the proceedings (Randolph Scott); the businessman that he befriends, and travels with, in his pursuit of the criminals (Walter Reed); the businessman's wife (Gail Lewis); and, finally, the criminal that tags along, hoping to appropriate the cash at the last moment (Lee Marvin). However, Boetticher and screenwriter Burt Kennedy complicate the relationship between these figures to an unprecedented extent; or, alternatively, use them as the pretext for introducing the 'twist' to the Western, such that the ultimate impression is not merely of their complete inextricability, but of their radiation from the sheriff, who seems to contain them all. This produces a mildly hallucinatory quality, encapsulated in Boetticher's fondness for the surreal Lone Pine landscape, and the preponderance of wet, lightning-lit night scenes (especially the spectacular opening), both of which simultaneously introduce a primeval dimension that relegates the characters to a long-shot, insect-like agility, or even to the first creatures to emerge from the primordial mud. It's also worth mentioning the sheer elegance and economy of the dialogue and cinematography, epitomised by its conflation of masculinity and morality, such that the sheriff's profound moral ambiguity becomes synonymous with his ability to strategically adopt the various masculine personae of the organised criminal, the maverick criminal, the sheriff, the businessman, and the businessman's wife - or, rather his own wife, who appropriated his masculinity by working after he was voted out from sheriff's office, and haunts the film more than any other figure.