Chris Adams (character)

Chris Adams
Portrayed by Yul Brynner
George Kennedy
Lee Van Cleef
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Gunman
Title U.S. Marshal

Chris Adams is a fictional character in the 1960 western film The Magnificent Seven, originally played by Yul Brynner, whose portrayal of Chris Adams resembles Takashi Shimura's representation of Kambei.[1]

Description

Chris Adams, a Cajun,[2] is the laconic leader of a band of seven gunmen. He always wears black, smokes cigars, and shoots sharp. He is a man of principle, incorruptible and sturdy.[3]

Character analysis

Chris, and to a lesser extent the others of the Seven, are examples of the "western hero" who is resolute, "single minded", "independent", "strong", "loyal", and "honorable" as well as having various other positive characteristics.[4] "The key lesson that Chris teaches is the distinction between law and ethics, laid out in 1924 by the British jurist Lord Moulton, who distinguished between the realms of law and of ethics. Law requires obedience to the enforceable, while ethics requires 'obedience to the unenforceable'".[5] Hence, Chris and the other members of the Seven "help the locals focus on the survival skills they will need" and their "leadership is necessary", even though it is essentially transient.[6] They are "desperate for money, but equally in need of self-esteem, of belonging and a sense of worth."[7] Chris is not as cruel as Calvera, but like Calvera represents a way of life that is antithetical to humane civilization.[8] Nevertheless, Chris and Calvera are morally equivalent and Calvera is in some ways preferable or at least, seems to be the more powerful and inescapable of the two.[2] As a result, Chris has been called "a black-clad Shane".[9]

Legacy

The robot portrayed by Yul Brynner in the 1973 science fiction Western thriller film Westworld is visually based on Bryner's portrayal of Adams.[10]

Movies

References

  1. ↑ Carnicke, Marie; Baron, Cynthia (2008). Reframing screen performance. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan Press. p. 149. ISBN 0-472-05025-7.
  2. 1 2 Roberts, Randy; Mintz, Steven L. (1993). Hollywood's America: United States History Through its Films. Sydney: Brandywine Press. pp. 214, 216. ISBN 1-881089-10-X.
  3. ↑ Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast "St. James encyclopedia of popular culture", vol.3. Published by: St. James Press, 2000 - 584 p. ISBN 1558624031, 9781558624030 (P.240)
  4. ↑ Rand, Yardena (March 2005). Wild Open Spaces: Why We Love Westerns (First ed.). Maverick Spirit Press. pp. 79–80. ISBN 1932991441.
  5. ↑ Bob Stone, Mick Ukleja "The Ethics Challenge: Strengthening Your Integrity in a Greedy World". Published by: Wordclay, 2009 - 142 p. ISBN 1600376088, 9781600376085 (P.10)
  6. ↑ Higgs, Robert J.; Turner, Ralph H. (1999). The Cowboy Way: The Western Leader in Film, 1945-1995. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30871-3.
  7. ↑ Hughes, Howard (January 2008). Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns. I. B. Tauris. p. 127. ISBN 978-1845115715.
  8. ↑ Grant, Barry Keith (2008). American Cinema of the 1960s: Themes and Variations. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-8135-4219-7.
  9. ↑ McVeigh, Stephen (2007). The American Western. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-7486-2141-5.
  10. ↑ Friedman, Lester D. (2007). American Cinema of the 1970s: Themes and Variations. Camden: Rutgers University Press. p. 100. ISBN 0-8135-4023-2.

External links

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