Die Bande der Fünf

Lawyer Randolph Scott arrives in Kansas just in time to witness childhood friends the Dalton brothers turned into outlaws and thieves, after doing battle with crooked business interests, stacked courts, and violent mobs of mindless vigilantes.

Top-billed Scott melts into the background as the film is easily stolen by it's real stars Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, and Andy Devine, who plays an overweight, hayseed version of Casanova, who joins the Dalton boys in order to get away from the large amount of aggressive women in his life!

Excellent, rowdy entertainment, this features some really awesome stunt work from Yakima Cannut, including the classic stagecoach backslide, where the stuntman goes from being dragged between the horses to the back of the coach by letting go and grabbing the back axle, as well as several horse jumps onto and from trains and cliffs, truly eye-popping! There's some exciting gun-play at work here too.

A good example of twisted Hollywood history, there's so much sympathy for the outlaws here, it's hard to imagine this making it past the National Board Of Review!

It is just shoddy handling that has made this splendid entertainment drop out of sight. It should have gone on accumulating admirers down the years.Director George Marshall missed out on attention too, though this film, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and his succession of Glenn Ford films have a consistent, light handling that shows he was one of the best people in this field. Let's throw in the fact that Broderick Crawford has his biggest pre ALL THE KING'S MEN role. He gets as much screen time as top billed players Scott and Francis and acts them off the screen. He's terrific, in a straight role, as the chief Dalton Brother.

The film has the standard ingredients - shoot ups, chases, western timber town atmosphere, over-laid with the usual plot elements about the wrongly persecuted family. What isn't expected is the expert pacing, emphasis and the humor - the lynch mob bursting into the jail to find the whole gang waiting for them, guns drawn, is classic. The film also has one of the best filmings of the Yak Canutt routine of falling under the runaway coach horses. A class act.

Thank goodness for the comic relief of Andy Devine or I wouldn't have had a chance to breathe! I've watched over 200 westerns in the last month (including over 95 John Wayne films) from 1926 onwards and I have to say that NONE of them had the action or pace of this one. Not to mention a stellar cast. The action scenes with horses were of the very best. There was the classic Yakima Canutt jump from the stagecoach to the horses but not just one jump but several of the Dalton's, one after the other from the same coach. There were horses jumping from moving trains and diving off cliffs into water and the pace just didn't let up. Gun play? Don't get me started! Half the budget must have gone to black powder. I don't care how you get to see this film, beg borrow or download, just get it.

Forget Randolph Scott who is Involved with this Sleight-of-Hand Billing and Should of Known Better.

Here He is Far-Cry from Boetticher and a Great Exit Decade of the 1950's where this Kind of Hoodwink would Certainly Be Beneath the Grizzled "Western-Movie" Icon with almost 70 Odd Under His Gun-Belt.

Speaking of Gun-Belts, Randy's is No-Where to be Seen. He is Primped-Up and Wears a Suit. The Only Thing He Does is Steal Broderick Crawford's (Grat Dalton) Girl-Friend (Kay Francis).

Thanks Randolph, Collect Your Paycheck...All is Forgiven Because...

The Rest of the Name Cast Has a Field-Day Along with the Yakima Canutt and Stunt-Team.

That's the 2nd-Half, when the Daltons Ride...Robbing Banks and Trains as the Wanted Posters Keep Raising the Bounty Exponentially.

When the Dalton Family is Railroaded for Murder and a Miscarriage of Justice, They Turn to the Rail-Roads for Much Needed Cash.

It's All Done with Fast-Pacing Action...

Incredible, Dangerous Criminal Dynamics as the Audience Forgets About Randolph Scott and Dives Into a Conglomerate of Hollywood Dream-Factory Western Shenanigans that Take the Breath Away.

Especially the Ending Town Shoot-Out with Hundreds of Bullets Flying and People Dropping Like Flies. Certainly One of the Most Gun-Crazy Movies of the Genre of that Era.

By Randy...See You in 10 Years when You Hook-Up with Budd Boetticher.

Say Thanks to Your Co-Stars...Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, Andy Devine, George Bancroft, Frank Albertson, Stuart Erwin, with Mary Gordon, Kay Francis, and The Stunt-Team for "Saving Your Bacon".

This story of farmers becoming outlaws when the big shots screw them over is nothing new or all that different from the Westerns of the 40's. Indeed, the film has its Hays code required ending, its requisite action scenes and the soapy love triangle. This film will not win any new devotees of the genre. But if you are fond of Westerns this a good matinee flick to throw on.

A lot of it has to do with the stunt work and action scenes. While still be identifiably 40's, they stand out as impressive and even a little more realistic than you normally get from this genre and time period. The film also benefits from well-timed comic relief and a well rounded cast. This is a B Western for sure but one of the more polished ones I have seen.