RATE THIS POST A SEVEN

What is it with the number seven. Or movies and the number seven. Or me and movies that feature with the number seven. Or me and seven.

Let's explain.

I have written here many time on one of all time favorite movies, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

It, of course, inspired another one of my all time fave movies, John Sturges' iconic The Magnificent Seven.

Seven Samurai also inspired an anime series of which I'm quite proud, that shares the same name.

Recently I read a graphic novel out of Europe entitled Seven Psychopaths.

You may have heard of a recent movie of the same name but the comic and that movie share nothing but the name

Then, of course, there was the incredibly contrived serial killer as super being movie Seven

And, in a delightfully wonky way, the underated and but more creatively contrived movie, Lucky Number Slevin

So perhaps you are wondering ... where the hell is he going with all this. Quite frankly, I'm wondering the same thing myself. Not to put too fine a point on it .. what the fuck is up with Seven?

Because, of course, the list is  not at all finished. Another contrived movie bobs up, Brad Pitt's Seven Years in Tibet. Recently we watched a spooky little suspense movie called The Vanishing on Seventh Street, though that does not strictly adhere to the true piety of the Number Seven. Mostly because the seven appears as the street name. The old film noir The Seventh Victim maintains said piety due strictly to numerical signifigence

What the hell am I talking about? Well I wonder that every day but today more than usual. Seriously, what the hell is up with this number in movies.

The Seven Year Itch, Seven Pounds, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Seventh Seal (no this is not about marine mammals that sound like a traffic jam), Seven Days in May, The Seven Faces of Doctor Lao and a title that almost makes my head burst, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ...

What the hell. Why? Why why why

Why were there seven samurai? Well the pragmatic answer, plot wise, had to do with that was the number of warriors who protect the village for that amount of rice .. fair enough. But why did the writers decide that seven would be the limit?

Brad Pitt's Seven is simple to delineate: The killer was illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. But why are there seven sins in the first place.

Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven are such iconic movies that one can assume that latter screenwriters were inspired by and/or capitalized these earlier movies.

But where the hell does this seven come from. Yes I understand that there is a superstition associated with the number but I don't believe it's cross cultural.

I could have done some actual research on this but I don't know if it's worth the bother. It's just something I've noticed.

If it requires further contemplation, I'll write six more posts on the topic.