- Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.
- A bandit terrorizes a small Mexican farming village each year. Several of the village elders send three of the farmers into the United States to search for gunmen to defend them. They end up with seven, each arriving with his own reason. They must prepare the town to repulse an army of 30 bandits who will arrive wanting food.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
- When their small village is once again attacked by the bandit Calvera, three Mexican farmers head north to try to buy guns. They ask Chris Adams to help them, but he suggests they hire experienced gunmen instead. He soon recruits five others and eventually accepts a sixth he had initially rejected, but who made saying no impossible for him. Together, they develop a plan to secure the town and defend it against Calvera's attack. In that time, friendships are formed and love blossoms between one of the men and a beautiful local girl, but not all of them will survive the attack.—garykmcd
- Constantly pillaged by ruthless Calvera's marauding gang of bandits, a small Mexican village of farmers is on the brink of poverty. Intent on fighting back, the terrorized inhabitants summon up the courage to send three of their men to the first dusty town near the United States border, in high hopes of purchasing weapons; instead, they have a chance encounter with the taciturn Cajun gunslinger, Chris Adams. Now, the defenseless peasants have not one, but seven lethal defenders who are ready for war. Do Calvera's toughs stand a chance against the fearless Magnificent Seven?—Nick Riganas
- Ruthless Calvera's banditos regularly raid Mexican villages, leaving barely enough to survive after another backbreaking season's harvest. Hilario and his neighbors have had enough and decide to deputize a trio, after selling the villagers' last 'treasures' to buy guns so they can fight back. Across the US border, they meet gun hero Chris Larabee Adams, who is regularly challenged pointlessly by would be-champions like young Chico. He finds their budget meager and pointless without shooter skills, hence suggests they hire men for the job instead. He's persuaded to assemble a team for the relative pittance, which surprisingly amounts to seven in need of income, including self-invited Chico, whose farm boy kills prove as useful. The village is fitted with defenses and the men are given basic training. the element of surprise prevails at unsuspecting Calvera's first attack, but his sworn revenge sounds daunting for many villagers to reconsider their commitment, now obviously to the death, while knaves and even females are drawn into the effort, adding to the seven's motivation.—KGF Vissers
- A Mexican village is periodically raided for food and supplies by bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). As he and his men rode away from their latest visit, Calvera had promised to return for more booty and loot the village again. Taking what meager goods they have, the village leaders ride to a town just inside the American border hoping to barter for weapons to defend themselves. While there, they encounter a veteran gunslinger from Dodge, Chris (Yul Brynner); after listening to their tale, Chris suggests that the village hire more gunfighters as they would be cheaper than guns and ammunition. The village men relentlessly try to convince Chris to be their gunman; while at first he agrees just to help them find men, eventually he decides to help them out in person as well as finding six other men to join them, despite the poor pay offered.
The other men include hotheaded, inexperienced Chico (Horst Buchholz); Chris's friend Harry Luck (Brad Dexter) who believes Chris is seeking treasure; the drifter Vin (Steve McQueen), who has gone broke after a round of gambling and is loath to accept a position as a store clerk; Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), a gunfighter of Irish-Mexican heritage who has fallen on hard times; a cowboy, Britt (James Coburn), who joins for the challenge involved; and an on-the-run gunman Lee (Robert Vaughn) in the midst of a crisis of confidence. The group recognizes they will be outnumbered, but hope that when Calvera realizes that the village has brought them aboard, he will move on to a different village.
Arriving at the village, the seven begin to train the villagers how to defend themselves. They all find themselves bonding with the villagers, sharing the meal the women of the village have made them when they discover that the villagers have little food themselves. Chico is fascinated by Petra, one of the village's young women, while Bernardo begins to bond with three of the village's little boys. Lee, meanwhile, struggles with nightmares and fears the loss of his skills. Calvera and his bandits soon arrive, sustain heavy losses, and are run out of town by the gunmen and the villagers working in concert. Chico, who is Mexican, follows Calvera back to his camp, pretending to be one of the gang of bandits. There he learns that Calvera plans to return and raid the village because he is desperate for the food in order to feed his men.
Chico reports this back to Chris and the rest of the men. Though a part of the group believes they should leave, Chris insists that they stay and they ride out to make a surprise raid on Calvera's camp. However, they find the camp empty and, on returning to the village, they find that the fearful villagers allowed Calvera to take control. Calvera spares the gunmen's lives, believing they have learned the lesson that the simple farmers are not worth fighting for. Calvera also fears reprisals from the U.S. Army. The seven are curtly escorted out of the village. The group debates their next move and all but Harry agree to return and free the village from Calvera. Harry believes the effort will lead to their deaths and rides off alone.
A gunfight breaks out, and the villagers, recognizing the courage of the gunmen, soon join in the fight. Bernardo is killed protecting the children he had befriended, and both Britt and Lee die after killing a considerable number of bandits. Harry, who had a change of heart, arrives in time to protect Chris but is fatally shot. Soon, the bandits are routed, and Chris shoots Calvera. Calvera, in his dying breath, asks him, "You came back ... to a place like thiswhy? A man like youwhy?"
The three remaining gunmen help to bury their own and the villagers' dead. Chico announces he will be staying with Petra, while Chris and Vin begin to ride out. The village elder bids them farewell and comments that it is only the villagers who have really won: "You're like the wind, blowing over the land and ... passing on ... ¡Vaya con Dios!" However, as they leave and pass the graves of their fallen comrades, Chris fatalistically observes, "The Old Man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose.
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