[It] has one of the greatest endings in the history of cinema.

7 Women is, in actuality, a great film whose potboiler plot masks an incisive inquiry into the battle of the sexes.

7 Women marks an ambitious, unusual coda to John Ford’s legendary career, with strong performances—especially from Anne Bancroft—but its story choices and dated sensibilities make it a curiosity rather than a classic.

While the subtext remains solid, the story proper is decidedly more ragged.