In 1960 United Artists released The Magnificent Seven, directed by John Sturges.
The premise of the movie, a Western style re-make of Akira Kurosawa‘s 1954 Japanese film, Seven Samurai, featured a poor and oppressed Mexican village scraping together the money to hire a band of seven gunslingers to protect their village and women from an army of marauding bandits.
The movie stars among other men of steel, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, and Eli Wallach as the head of the bandits.
Some of these guys may be hard to remember today, but 50 years ago this movie propelled most of the actors to action hero super-stardom and cemented their positions as the toughest, coolest, and hardest movie stars of their time.
It’s been considered one of the greatest movie tough-guy ensembles of all time.
Last year, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
In essence, Sylvester Stallone is trying to recapture some of that same tough guy, albeit older, action hero magic with The Expendables.
So it got us thinking. If we were going to cast an African American remake of the movie, who would we cast as the toughest and coolest action heroes today?
Here’s the criteria.
Is he black? Will your knees buckle if you see him coming at you in a dark alley? Can he command the lead character in an action blockbuster? Is he a legitimate tough guy? Does he have some element of swag? Does he have the requisite action hero portfolio or resume?
Check our the magnificent seven on the next page …
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
He gets the Steve McQueen role. Yeah. We can smell what the Rock’s been cooking.
In the years since Johnson kissed his wrestling career goodbye, he’s been tearing it up on the silver screen as a legit action hero.
Johnson’s tough guy status is credible: He’s a seven-time WWE champ, Â for goodness’ sake.
Since he exploded on the scene as the Scorpion King, Johnson hasn’t looked back. Can anyone ever forget The Rundown? Or if you question his tough guy legitimacy, check him out in the Fast and Furious franchises.
Denzel Washington
Without a doubt, Washington gets the Yul Brynner role.
He is the bonafide leader of the pack. Washington is classically trained, but he appears just as comfortable spouting Shakespeare as he does throwing punches.
His movie The Equalizer is a box-office juggernaut.
But his street cred expanded exponentially after Training Day.
Also, if you’ve seen Man on Fire, one can never seriously ever challenge Washington’s tough guy status ever again.
Will Smith
He gets the Robert Vaughn role.
Since Smith wowed audiences in Independence Day, he announced his presence to the world on the action hero stage.
After that, appearances in Bad Boys and Bad Boys II cemented his place in the tough and cool hierarchy.
Smith infuses his tough guys with cool, suave charm, and flashes of wit. The guy has swag.
And if you question his toughness check him out in I, Robot, Hancock, and I am Legend.
Wesley Snipes
He gets the Charles Bronson role.
Snipes took some time off to, shall we say, deal with some major tax issues, but after his role in The Expendables 3, it’s safe to say he is back in the game.
Besides the success he enjoyed in the Blade Trilogy, Rising Sun, The Art of War, Passenger 57 and the incomparable U.S Marshals, Snipes is a lock to headline our version of the Magnificent Seven.
Heck, the man is also a martial arts expert.
Look for Snipes’s second act in Hollywood now that it appears he’s satisfied his debt to society.
Samuel L. Jackson
He’ll play the Eli Wallach character.
We won’t cast Jackson in the original team of seven, but he’s our favorite for the Eli Wallach character, the villain in the movie.
Besides being the only tough guy cool enough to dare to play Shaft, Jackson is a Jedi, for crying out loud. We could end it at “Mace Windu,” but if you want further proof, Marvel recast indisputable comic universe tough guy Nick Fury as an African American without any backlash. Yep, no one blinked.
Jackson is that legit.
Idris Elba
He gets the Harry Dexter role.
Elba definitely has swag and is a huge hit with the ladies, but is he a legit action hero?
Let’s count the ways. Two words, one name. Stringer Bell. The Brit carved his name into TV folklore with his character on the The Wire.
Also check out Takers if you are looking for an action flick to spend the evening with. Need further proof of his swag and tough guy cred? Check out Pacific Rim and Thor.
Vin Diesel
He gets the James Coburn role.
The Diesel hasn’t made a big splash in some time, but he gave us Riddick and as such can do no wrong.
The gem of a character gives him ample ammunition in the tough guy sphere for at least a decade.
Also look to the Fast and Furious franchise if you question his legitimacy. The jury is still out on xXx.
Djimon Hounsou
He’ll play a slightly older Horst Buchholz.
Hounsou was a Gladiator. His role on one of the greatest action movies of all time definitely cements his position on our list.
Check him out trying to play a mild-mannered father with a violent streak in Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio. Or his role in Constantine.
And he gets an honorable mention as the toughest African actor in the game today. Check him out in the 2014 summer blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy. Plus roles on Never Back Down and Four Feathers also come to mind.
Honorable mentions include Ice Cube, Terry Crews and Michael Jai White.
So that being said, who should have been included on this list? Let us know in the comments below.