In Seven Men From Now, director Budd Bottchicher delivers a near-perfect classic 1950's Hollywood western. Not widely seen in the years since its 1956 release, it is among the very best. Recently restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin square off as the last men standing after a band of seven outlaws are tracked down across the Technicolor rocky terrain and desert plains of the American west. A simple revenge story about former sheriff Ben Stride (Scott) in lone pursuit of the gang who robbed the Wells Fargo office and murdered his wife is elevated to completely absorbing, uncomplicated high art.

Lee Marvin is his menacing, ambiguous best as Bill Masters, a bandit who has twice been sent to jail by Stride. They are both on the trail of the seven men, Masters after the stolen payload and Stride after retribution. Stride has tracked down two of the seven and soon after runs into ineffectual settler John Greer and his pretty wife, Ann (Walter Reed and Gail Russell), their covered wagon stuck in the mud. This diverse group hooks up in an uneasy alliance against the additional threat of proud, defeated, and hungry marauding Indians. Marvin is a complete natural at his brand of cool, deliberate insolence. He baits Scott with Russell as the enticement. With understated tension, Boetticher masterfully holds us fast.

A largely overlooked B picture initially, this film stands the test of time and indeed has improved with age. Or perhaps we can now more freely celebrate the artful simplicity of this and the other Boetticher westerns known as the Ranown series, including The Tall T, Comanche Station and Ride Lonesome (all featuring an aging Randolph Scott). The clear, sparse style defines the straightforward, masculine perspective, unencumbered by intellectualizing or moralizing.

Randolph Scott: Ben Stride	Lee Marvin: Bill Masters
Gail Russell: Annie Greer	Walter Reed: John Greer
Director: Budd Boetticher