There is an episodic feel to this film - brevity of sequences and quicker pacing - which makes this feel like a TV movie despite it achieving a theatrical release. Lee Van Cleef takes the lead character, Chris Adams, into middle age and into the safe position of town sheriff, albeit with a new set of problems. While there is a wisp of the determined air of Yul Brynner's characterisation, the film doesn't add up to much. There isn't much tension built leading up to the action sequences, just a series of melodramatic shifts. Stefanie Powers gives a touching performance but it is not enough to save it from formulaic dirge.

"Jim MacCay" (Ralph Waite) is an American who takes a job as a marshal for a small Mexican town and rides across the border to ask a colleague of his named "Chris" (Lee Van Cleef) to come and help him hold off a large group of Mexican bandits that are expected to raid the town soon. At first he declines the offer but when his wife "Arrila" (Mariette Hartley) is kidnapped, raped and then killed by three young thugs he rides out after them. After killing two of them he discovers that the third has joined the bandits and for that reason he decides to take up the cause with a vengeance. Unfortunately, the only men he can get to assist him are vicious outlaws themselves—and a couple would be more than willing to desert him if the time is right. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent Western all things considered. Admittedly, it isn't nearly as good as the original but it was still somewhat entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) ** (out of 4) The fourth and final film in the series has Mexican bandits doing more harm so Marshall Chris Adams (Lee Van Cleef) finally agrees to go after them as well as trying to serve some of his own personal justice. Along with the help of six other criminals, Adams sets out to protect the people and get his job done at all costs. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDES! doesn't really feel like any of the three previous films and in fact I'd say it comes off more like a rip-off of THE DIRTY DOZEN than anything else. The film starts off pretty good but I think it quickly falls apart once our center story takes front stage. The first portion of the film deals with a lot of morality as the Marshall has a man behind bars but Adams' girlfriend and the guilty man's mother talk him into giving the kid a second chance. This turns out to be the wrong move and I thought this portion of the film contained some nice drama and a story that really dragged you in. Once the "magnificent seven" stuff started it just seemed like we've been here and done that way too often before. I will say that the film at least offers up some pretty good action scenes, although the majority of them are just gunfights. None of them are overly memorable or ground-breaking but they're all entertaining enough. Lee Van Cleef is always dependable and he makes for a good lead here. The rest of the supporting cast, including a young Gary Busey, are good but they still lack something when compared to previous films. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE! closed out the series on a weak note but Western fans might want to check it out.

A perfect example of the exploitation of a name (i.e. - "The Magnificent Seven") in order to put butts in theatre seats, this dire THIRD sequel to the original film has little or no connection to it at all. Van Cleef (taking over a role made famous by Yul Brynner and then after that played by George Kennedy) is a newly-married sheriff of a small western town. His wife (Hartley) sympathizes with a young robber who is about to be transferred to Tuscon Prison. When, against his better judgement, he releases the punk, the robber and his two pals rob again and kidnap Hartley. Van Cleef and his recently-acquired biographer Callan ride off to rescue her, but find that impossible. Meanwhile, a crazed Mexican bandit (Stein) is terrorizing the area and wipes out all but 17 women and some children in a small village. Van Cleef decides to defend the village against Stein, who is about to return, and recruits five hardened criminals from Tuscon Prison to aid Callan and him, thus another "Seven" is formed. Van Cleef and company, with the aid of the women, fortify the village and plan to wipe out Stein and his 50 men when they come back. Within the preparations, Van Cleef begins to fall for Powers and Callan takes a shine to Murphy as the other men also establish relationships with their respective aides. Van Cleef isn't bad in the film and ably represents a sure-handed gunslinger and leader. Callan has little or no acting pressure placed on him in his rather lifeless role. The remaining members of the seven are familiar TV and movie faces and, considering it takes a very long time for them to team up, not very much of them is shown below the surface attributes. Waite, of "The Waltons", has a brief role as a friend of Van Cleef's. Hartley (who had co-starred with Van Cleef previously in "Barquero") only appears briefly and, while she gives a sensitive portrayal, she has very little to work with. Powers, decked out in thoroughly inappropriate hair (as are all the women of the village including one with a bob and one with a long greyish-blonde fright wig), has a tough row to hoe here. The idiotic script asks her, as a very recent widow and the victim of repeated rape, to instantly fall for Van Cleef! The romantic aspects of the film are heavily misguided as all the women have been brutalized, used and assaulted and yet make goo-goo eyes at the seven men who've come to rescue them! It's repulsive and trashy to have the female cast represented this way. Almost reprehensible. Other noted cast members include Busey, in an early role as one of the robber's associates and Conwell, who spent 24 years on "The Young and the Restless" as one of the widows. One major failing of the film is it's lack of a decent villain. The marauding bandit is referred to repeatedly as a vicious, menacing and mad killer, yet when he arrives, he's played by stuntman and bit player Stein! The entire film, as exciting as its concept sounds, has a pall over it. The legendary Elmer Bernstein theme music is trucked out again, but this time it has a muted, anemic, generic sound. The scenery is dull, the settings are bland and the cinematography is drab and uncaptivating. In its favor are some lively action scenes including an attack on a hacienda and the pivotal finale, but, unfortunately, too often it's a bleak, uninteresting, amateurish and tacky, to the point of being offensive, affair.