Seven seems like a relatively high number for the amount of protagonists in a film, but that's how many unlikely heroes are featured in the new film The Magnificent Seven (surprising, I know). The remake of the 1960 Western — which itself was a remake of the 1954 Japanese classic Seven Samurai — features an absolutely loaded cast, with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke all counting themselves among the spectacular septet. But who are these characters? Who are the Magnificent Seven?
If you're expecting the same characters that who populated the gang in the 1960 version, you'll have to look elsewhere. This movie, while a remake, features an entirely different set of gunslingers. The first film featured such stars as Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson, but all of them played different characters than the ones featured in the new movie. The new film, while keeping the same basic storyline of seven guns-for-hire who take a job defending a helpless town, has updated the cast to be far more diverse than the almost entirely white cast of the original. The 2016 update counts just three white members out of its seven, and attempts to show the Wild West as the more diverse place it actually was. So take a look at the men who make up the new Magnificent Seven.
Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington)
Sam is a bounty hunter who is initially hired for the job of defending the town of Rose Krick against mining baron Bartholomew Bogue and his army of hired thugs. He's the one who puts together and leads the seven.
Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt)
A gambler, drinker, and philanderer, wise-cracking Farraday gets serious once the fighting starts. He's the first to join forces with Sam.
Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke)
A sharpshooter who became infamous as a member of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Goodnight is still trying to get over the horrors of war.
Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio)
A hardcore Christian mountain man who wears bear skins and wields a tomahawk, Jack might be the most antisocial of the group.
Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee)
A mysterious assassin and friend of Goodnight's, Billy is an expert knife-thrower.
Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo)
A Mexican bandit on the run from the law, Vasquez joins the group on an offer from Sam — become part of the seven, or be taken in for his crimes.
Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier)
A loner Comanche warrior, Red Harvest joins up with the other six after tracking them and learning that their cause is just.
There they are, the seven fellas tasked with defending a town against an army of goons. Good thing they're so magnificent, otherwise they'd have a pretty impossible job to do.
Images: MGM/Columbia Pictures
