John Sturges

Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samurai was a natural for an American remake--after all, the codes and conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once: Kurosawa's Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all.

Clint Eastwood stars as former bounty hunter turned hired gunslinger Joe Kidd, who finds himself in the middle of a range war in rough and rugged New Mexico. Following an armed uprising by local Mexican revolutionaries who claim they've been cheated out of their land, Kidd is hired to quell the rebellion by a wealthy land baron (Robert Duvall) with interests in the disputed territory. But Kidd's and his employer's interests are soon at odds when he falls for a beautiful Hispanic rebel in this top-notch action-adventure from acclaimed veteran western director John Sturges.

A stirring example of courage and the indomitable human spirit, for many John Sturges's The Great Escape is both the definitive World War II drama and the nonpareil prison escape movie. Featuring an unequalled ensemble cast in a rivetingly authentic true-life scenario set to Elmer Bernstein's admirable music, this picture is both a template for subsequent action-adventure movies and one of the last glories of Golden Age Hollywood.