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Sunday December 1st 2024

The Magnificent Seven | 1960

If John Sturges' remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai didn't get the same critical adulation as the original, it proved a huge box office success.

It seems there's nothing left to see of the Magnificent Seven's locations, which was filmed on sets built in Mexico that don't seem to have survived.

The village, with the church and bell tower, as well as 'Los Toritos', the Tex-Mex border town, were built in the desert near the town of Tepoztlán in Morelos state, to the south of Mexico City.

Situated in a highland mountain valley and surrounded copper-hued, mountain cliffs, Tepoztlán is 46 miles south of Mexico City and 11 miles northeast of the colonial town of Cuernavaca – which means it's an easy day-trip from the capital.

If you fancy visiting, Tepoztlán is designated a “Pueblo Mágico” (Magical Town) by Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism which recognises certain places for their natural beauty, culture, folklore, historical importance, cuisine, crafts, and hospitality.

The two nearest airports to Tepoztlán are Mexico City International Airport and Cuernavaca.

Scenes were also filmed at Mexico City's Churubusco Studios, in the city's Churubusco neighbourhood. As the major studio in Mexico , many films have filmed here including Man On Fire, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, the 1990 Total Recall, David Lynch's 1984 Dune and Rambo: First Blood II.

Some interiors were supposedly filmed at Arizona’s Old Tucson studios, but I can't find and confirmation for this.