Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Alan Benfield Jr (alanbenfieldjr) For a film nut like me. 7 Women offers a plethora of pleasures. Patricia Neal was suppose to star but ill health made her unavailable. Anne Bancroft took over as the drinking, smoking, swearing saint. and all the aspects of this complex character are totally real in Anne Bancroft's face. She arrives to the Mission in China like a benevolent tornado. The spectacular Margaret Leighton is the head of the Mission and she plays it like a raw nerve, Among the other women, Flora Robson, Queen Elizabeth to Laurence Olivier's Michael Ingolby in Fire Over England, brings a voice of reason that reassure us, Betty Field , Kim Novak's mother in Picnic, among a gallery of memorable characters, plays the pregnant middle age woman who offends the Christian mission for having had sex with her husband under their roof. Mildred Dunnock, Anna Lee and even Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, Sue Lyon is part of the Mission. On the other side, the villains, that offended so many people, John Ford casts his longtime companion Woody Strode. I understand and even accept all the criticisms listed in the reviews of this pages but, somehow, I can put all that aside and enjoy the plethora of pleasures that it offers.

Michael_Elliott 7 Women (1966) *** (out of 4) John Ford's final film is one you really wouldn't expect to see from him but I guess it goes to show what a great director he was as he could end his nearly fifty-year career with something fresh and original. The film takes place in 1935 China as a free-wheeling and free-spirited doctor (Anne Bancroft) comes to work at a missionary where she immediately clashes with the head of the mission (Margaret Leighton). The head doesn't agree with the doctor's way of life, which includes smoking, drinking, profane language and of course not believing in God. Soon the doctor is battling this but then a plague breaks out in the mission and then they come under attack from some rebels. I'm not sure if stunned is too strong of a word but that's what my feelings were going through this film. I've seen at least fifty John Ford movies and I never thought I'd see something like this one. The attitude of the Bancroft character just seems like something the director would stay away from and the anti-religion stance was so strong that again I couldn't believe this was something from Ford. I think if you showed this movie to the biggest of film buffs and didn't tell them who the director was I doubt they'd ever guess it was someone like Ford. I really appreciated the 60s fling thrown into the picture because you can obviously tell that they were taking a 60s woman and putting her into this situation. There's a bit about the doctor leaving America because a woman couldn't get a fair shake at a good career and again I wonder if they were standing up for women's rights. The film also has bits of lesbianism, the religious hypocrites and a strong sense of sexuality. The movie certainly isn't ahead of its time considering this was 1966 but it's still impressive stuff. Bancroft is downright marvelous here and turns in a very memorable performance. I must admit that I fell in love with her character as you have to respect the toughness that the actress brings to the role. I believed every second of it and there's just a certain fire to Bancroft that clearly shows up on the screen. Leighton is one of those love-to-hate performances and makes for a great villain. Sue Lyon, best known from Kubrick's LOLITA, turns in a fine performance. We even get Woody Strode in a small role as one of the warriors. The film's pacing is a very slow one and it feels like the movie is a lot longer than its 86-minute running time but this isn't a negative thing as I never got bored. I was certainly surprised to see how much Ford managed to cram into the short running time. His direction here contains some of his softest touches but they all work. It's a shame this movie isn't mentioned more when people discuss his career but it's certainly a good and original way for him to go out.

didi-5 '7 Women' is the story of Dr Cartwright, who dresses like a man, smokes, drinks, and swears like a trooper, and what happens when she arrives at a mission deep in a zone touched by revolution. The doctor is played by Anne Bancroft, and it probably is her best role. She's an atheist with humanity - when she eventually gives herself and her life to save everyone else in the mission from a fate worse than death, it isn't unexpected, although the women of God lose their strength and resolve in the face of fear.Well supported by cast members like Margaret Leighton, Sue Lyon, Flora Robson, and Anna Lee, this film, a John Ford film which is still a western in its spirit like the great entries in his oeuvre. Good strong storytelling with believable characters make '7 Women' unmissable.

JasparLamarCrabb John Ford's final film is a real curiosity. Anne Bancroft plays a butch doctor sent to work at a mission in China and ruffles the feathers of most of the missions, especially Margaret Leighton.7 WOMEN is very studio bound and has a real half-hearted feel to it. Bancroft, a last minute replacement for Patricia Neal, is actually TOO strong and her character is really unappealing. Leighton is shrewish and the other women in the classy cast including Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock and Sue Lyon barely register. And why is 53 year old Betty Field playing a pregnant woman? Her husband is the equally aged Eddie Albert. Mike Mazurki offers a cartoon character version of a savage who invades the mission and puts the disruptive Bancroft in her place. Ford may have viewed himself as a man of the Indians, but he really had no clue of how to handle women!