# How many "Seven Samurai" knockoffs have their been? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006 "2005-06-05T15:48:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/1 "2005-06-05T15:48:20Z")
It seems to be an oft-used classic story: Village (or whatever) is threatened. Villagers (or whoever) go out to recruit warriors to stop the threat. many die. Village is saved. The fist use of this is Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, but it was not long before imitators came along. [The Magnificent Seven](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9b258ZmI9dXxwbj0wfHE9TWFnbmlmaWNlbnQgU2V2ZW58aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=2;ft=20;fm=1): Now I just watched this movie for the first time since I was a wee lad and it pains me a bit now. Most of it is good, but the scenes they lift almost directly from the original tend to be erratic. Coburn’s duel, for example, works well. But any scene where Horst Buchholz tries to play Toshiro Mifune falls absolutely flat. Most of his comments (lines directly translated from SS in some case) are about mediveal Japanese towns and don’t work on 19th century villagers. Still, as imitators go it is among the best. [Battle Beyond the Stars](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9b258ZmI9dXxwbj0wfHE9QmF0dGxlIEJleW9uZCB0aGUgU3RhcnN8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1): Could be called John-Boy Walton goes a -seeking space mercs. This movie is a Roger Corman attempt to get some Star Wars magic and as schlock it has its moments. It doesn’t even try to translate moments from SS. The mercs are not characters but rather aliens on one kind or another. Interestingly, Robert Vaughn is in this movie as well as Magnificent Seven. One of the oddball elements to this movie is that John-Boy is flying around is a giant fallopian tube. [Hawk The Slayer](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080846/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9b258ZmI9dXxwbj0wfHE9SGF3ayBUaGUgU2xheWVyfGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=21) could also be called the low-rent Tolkein version of SS. Fantasy characters (elf, dwarf, giant) replace the characters of SS and take on Jack Palance. Only a handful of scenes are ported from the original. Mostly fun for its delightfully monotone elf. Are there more? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/2 "2005-06-05T16:03:40Z")
Three Amigos was a parody of the idea. ---
**Author:** ![A\_qui\_profite\_le\_crime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_qui\_profite\_le\_crime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_qui_profite_le_crime)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/3 "2005-06-05T16:13:08Z")
Well, of the top of my head, there’s the [Three Amigos](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092086/) . It’s a (not very) humorous version of the classic story, with (obviously) three good guys instead of seven. There’s also an episode from Deep Space 9, called **Those Magnificent Ferengi** which was inspired more by magnificent seven that the original movie. There are surely quite a few more. ---
**Author:** ![A\_qui\_profite\_le\_crime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_qui\_profite\_le\_crime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_qui_profite_le_crime)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/4 "2005-06-05T16:16:02Z")
Oops, Sorry Captain Amazing, I was looking for the link to the three amigos entry and didn’t preview before posting. I hate dial-up. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/5 "2005-06-05T16:19:43Z")
The IMDB mentions: Liu he qian shou (1979) The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1983) Dune Warriors (1990) Dikiy vostok (1993) in addition to The Magnificent Seven and Battle Beyond the Stars. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/6 "2005-06-05T16:39:57Z")
In the DC comics “Justice League of America,” issues 100-102, the JLA is in search of the “Seven Soldiers of Victory,” all of whom had been blasted to various points in the past by their battle with the Nebula Man. Only they had the key to his destruction. Actually, there were eight, but telling more might be spoiling. . . . ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/7 "2005-06-05T18:16:28Z")
All of Dark Tower V. Are there really no instances of the Seven Samurai-type story in culture before the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/8 "2005-06-05T18:55:41Z")
A Bug’s life I mean it to ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/9 "2005-06-05T21:14:42Z")
FWIW, _The Magnificent Seven_ was a deliberate, American version of _Seven Samurai_. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/10 "2005-06-05T21:21:23Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Are there really no instances of the Seven Samurai-type story in culture before the movie? That’s what I’ve always wondered. Did Kurosawa originate the story? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/11 "2005-06-05T21:30:24Z")
**How many “Seven Samurai” knockoffs have their been?** Forty two ! Wasn’t _Seven Samurai_ an adaptation of yet an even earlier work? Not film, but Japanese literature or folklore? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/12 "2005-06-05T21:35:22Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > That’s what I’ve always wondered. Did Kurosawa originate the story? Kind of have the same question, you and I. [IMDb’s trivia page for the movie has this to say:](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/trivia) > [@](#): > > Kurosawa’s original idea for the movie he was to make was a film about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from his bed and ending with him making some mistake that required him to kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie, but came across the above-mentioned anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it was details about what they wore, their favorite foods, their past history, their speaking habits, and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this. But, how accurate is this trivia? After all, IMDb lets people like us post information. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/13 "2005-06-05T21:44:34Z")
I suppose there are elements of it in **Galaxy Quest** : the Thermians try to hire those they think are Earth’s greatest heroes to protect them. ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/14 "2005-06-05T22:43:17Z")
How about Mystery Men? There were seven of them, right? Or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? And why isn’t it spelled Dwarves anyway? Sorry, I’m a little tired. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/15 "2005-06-05T23:16:06Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Kind of have the same question, you and I. > > [IMDb’s trivia page for the movie has this to say:](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/trivia) > > But, how accurate is this trivia? After all, IMDb lets people like us post information. Knowing Kurosawa, I would not be surprised. According to one documentary on the man, he once spent the better part of a day teaching an actor to walk like a Samurai. This was not one of the major parts, or even a speaking role. This is one of the guys who walks past the farmers as they seek Samurai to aid them. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/16 "2005-06-05T23:22:52Z")
**Silverado**. Actually Silverado is a deliberate, somewhat humorous remake of “The Magnificent Seven”, but that in turn makes it a knock-off of TSS. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/17 "2005-06-05T23:45:02Z")
> [@parthenokinesis](#): > > How about Mystery Men? There were seven of them, right? Or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? And why isn’t it spelled Dwarves anyway? > > Sorry, I’m a little tired. \*Dwarfs \* is the proper English plural. Tolkien used _dwarves_, in part, so his readers wouldn’t think of them as humans afflicted with dwarfism. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/18 "2005-06-06T01:56:29Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > In the DC comics “Justice League of America,” issues 100-102, the JLA is in search of the “Seven Soldiers of Victory,” all of whom had been blasted to various points in the past by their battle with the Nebula Man. The comic-book adventures of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, though, predate Kurosawa’s movie by a considerable margin, appearing as a group for the first time in 1941. In fact, one of the members (the Crimson Avenger) even predated Batman and is arguably the first masked comic-book hero. I was going to cite _A Bug’s Life_, myself, but got beaten to the punch. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/19 "2005-06-06T02:57:19Z")
While there were 7 main Mystery Men (not counting Dr. Heller or Carmine the Bowler), the _story_ differs quite a bit from TSS. No oppressed people hiring them, etc. I think the same can be said about some of the others mentioned. E.g., I don’t think A Bug’s Life is similar (but it’s been a while since I saw it). Just having 7 heroes isn’t enough IMHO. Also, MM originated in comics and the number in the first issues may not have been 7. “Numbers add up to nothing.” I do think that future producers of TSS remakes should take a page from Battle Beyond the Stars and have a “statuesque” valkyrie-type be one of the heroes. “Doctor…you are a genius.” “That’s what the card says.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006/20 "2005-06-06T03:26:38Z")
You kids today. No respect for the classics. The idea of seven champions gathering together for a cause goes at least as far back as Aeschylus’ play _The Seven Against Thebes_. The original seven incidentally were Adrastus, Amphiarüs, Hippomedon, Mecisteus, Capaneus, Eteoclus, and Parthenopaeüs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-seven-samurai-knockoffs-have-their-been/307006.md?page=2)