John Sturges

John Eliot Sturges was an American film director, renowned for directing influential films like Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and Ice Station Zebra (1968). In 2013 and 2018 respectively, The Magnificent Seven and Bad Day at Black Rock were added to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically substantial.

Sturges launched his Hollywood career as an editor in 1932. During World War II, he contributed to the war efforts by directing a series of documentaries and training films as a captain in the United States Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit. His mainstream directorial career embarked with The Man Who Dared (1946), followed by numerous B movies, establishing his reputation for character-oriented drama within genre films. His encounter with Akira Kurosawa, who praised The Magnificent Seven (a remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai), was regarded by Sturges as the apex of his career. The film, with its noble twist on Yul Brynner's career and memorable score, later repurposed for a Marlboro cigarette commercial, was a significant career milestone for many young actors of the era.