Director: John Sturges

John Sturges made the two films that taught American cinema how to assemble a team. The Magnificent Seven, adapted from Seven Samurai, and The Great Escape both spend their first act recruiting and their second on preparation, and every heist and mission film since has used that shape.

Bad Day at Black Rock is the tighter achievement, a one-armed veteran arriving in a town with a secret, staged in widescreen with almost no wasted movement.

He worked repeatedly with Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn, and largely built their screen personas in the process.