Summary :
Seven disparate men - each with his own dark secret - come together to save a Seminole Indian village from The Ghosts of the Confederacy, a ragtag group of renegade Confederate soldiers led by Colonel Emmett Reilly Anderson. The soldiers are originally looking for food and supplies, but change their objective when they discover the village has gold trinkets. Believing the Seminole's gold mine will enable them to resurrect their fight against the north, The Ghosts threaten the village with annihilation unless the gold is handed over. After two hard fought battles, the Seven and the villagers are victorious over the Ghosts and Colonel Anderson, although the victory is not without its cost.
Memorable Scenes :
Scene One - Main Street
- A cattle drive from Texas has stopped in town and the men are drinking and shooting up the town, terrorizing the citizens in the process. Chris Larabee is drinking in the saloon. When he goes out into the street to observe the mayhem, he spots another man, sweeping the walk outside the hardware store across the street.
- An angry group of drunks are dragging Nathan, a black healer, away to hang him. A young woman, Mary Travis, attempts to stop the mob with a shotgun. She is pushed to the ground as the drunks take Nathan to hang him.
- The man with the broom - Vin Tanner - disappears inside the store and reappears a moment later, without his apron and broom, with a shotgun. The shop owner tells him if he takes the rifle and leaves, he will be fired.
Vin : "Hell, I'm probably gonna get myself killed. Now I gotta worry about a new job too."
- The two strangers lock eyes and in silent agreement, set out to save Nathan. As Larabee and Tanner make their way towards the grave yard, where the hanging is to take place, the stage comes in. A young man with a saddle under his arm jumps off. The driver tells him this isn't his stop, but the young man - JD Dunne - disagrees.
JD : "It is now. This is why I came west."
- In the graveyard, the drunks refuse Chris's request to release Nathan.
Chris : "Shot a lot of holes in the clouds back there. Anybody stop to reload?"
- Following a fierce gun fight, the members of the lynch mob have been killed or chased away and Nathan has been saved. Mary approaches the men.
Mary : Gentlemen, I run the Clarion News. Where did you come from?
Chris :Chris: Saloon.
Mary :Mary: Hey, I want to talk to you. Where are you going?
Chris and Vin : Saloon.
Scene #2 - Outside the boarding house
- Buck Wilmington is inside one of the rooms with a lady. When someone bangs on the door - supposedly the woman's husband - Buck makes a hasty retreat out the window, carrying his clothes with him. He falls to the ground and Chris is waiting for him, with a proposition to join the battle.
Buck : "There gonna be ladies where you're goin'?"
Chris : "I imagine so."
Buck : "Then I imagine I'm in."
Scene #3 - Abandoned church
- Chris, Vin, Buck and Nathan are trying to talk Josiah into joining them.
Vin: We can promise you a hell of a fight.
Josiah : Hell? I already been there."
Scene #4 - Saloon
- Chris, Vin, Buck and Nathan have returned to the saloon, where Ezra Standish is attempting to con the locals. He has one bullet left, a fact pointed out to him by one of the locals.
Ezra : You best discuss amongst yourselves which one of you is going to die.
- While Ezra is holding off the locals, Chris lets Ezra know that he (Chris) knows Ezra's secret.
Ezra : Well, sir, I abhor gambling and as such, I leave nothing to chance.
Scene #5 - The Livery
- As Chris, Vin, Buck, Nathan and Ezra are preparing to leave for the Indian village, JD arrives, jumping his horse over a fence to impress the men.
JD : I hear you fellas are headed for a fight. My name is JD Dunne and I can ride. (turns horse in a circle) And I can shoot. (aims and shoots, startles his horse and gets thrown).
Ezra : And he can fly!
(JD jumps out of horse's way and lands in the water trough.)
Buck : And he can swim too!
- Ezra shows Chris the newspaper, with Mary's account of the gun battle the day before. Chris takes the paper and heads for the Clarion office to confront Mary.
Chris : You read second hand trash and you think you know a man. You don't know me.
Mary : I'm just trying to scare the bad element away from this town.
Chris : Lady, I am the bad element.
Scene #5 - Indian Village
- When the men arrive at the village, they are met by the Chief.
Chief : We greet you with hostility.
Chris : I think he means hospitality.
Vin: No, I think he means hostility.
- JD arrives at the village the same time as the other six. He is desperate to join them.
Chris : Go home, you're not the type.
JD : A man comes to you because he respects you, he'd be proud to work with you. This is how you treat him?
Chris : Go home, kid.
Chief : He is young, and proud.
Chris : We'll carve that on his tombstone.
- Vin and Chris are on a ridge looking over the surrounding territory. Vin tells Chris about the bounty on his head for something he didn't do. He tells Chris if he (Vin) gets killed, Chris can take his body back and collect the bounty.
Vin: I figure if a friend collects, I get the last laugh.
- Josiah and Ezra talk about their experiences in the preaching business.
Josiah : I was a preacher once, but I had a little trouble turning the other cheek.
Ezra tells Josiah about "the best swindle I ever knew", when he was a travelling preacher.
Ezra : Did fine, too, till I attempted to save the soul of the mayor's daughter.
Josiah : Savin' souls has its hazards.
Scene #6 - The village as the soldiers approach
- Anderson and his men return for the gold. The Seven and the villagers prepare.
Chris : I thought you said there were twenty.
Chief : No, I asked you if twenty would scare you.
Chris : Twenty, no. Forty, yes.
Scene #7 - After the battle
- The 7 and the villagers win the first battle and the soldiers ride away, but they return. As the battle rages again, JD jumps out to shoot Anderson and the Colonel rides towards JD with his sword drawn. Buck pushes JD out of the way and is slashed across his chest. For a while it looks like Buck isn't going to make it, and he gives JD his hat. After the soldiers are finally defeated and the remaining 6 are preparing to leave, Buck rides up and asks for his hat back. JD is happy to see him.
JD : You look awful.
Buck : Well, son, that's damn near impossible. You ridin' with us?
JD : Try and keep me away.
Trivia :
- Originally, at least one of the Seven was going to die in the premiere and Darragh O'Malley (Francis Riley) was to become a regular. However, after the producers saw the terrific chemistry between the characters and between the actors, the original Seven all survived and the group remained intact.
- The wrestling scene between Buck and JD, after JD is allowed to join the group, was ad libbed by the actors. It was the start of the great relationship Buck and JD now enjoy.
- According to Michael Greyeyes getting to the set of the Seminole village was an adventure in itself : "The set we were on was in the middle of nowhere and even the actual locations within the set were hard to get to. The cast and crew had to use ropes to climb up the rocks to get to the places we were filming at. "
