Un esercito di 5 uomini

Set during the Mexican Revolution and ruling General Huertas , a two-fisted man known only as "The Dutchman" has a scheme , to carry out a huge robbing in a train for the Mexican Army , as he teams up a motley bunch , including a veteran captain and other three colleagues to help him out by promising a $1000 reward if it succeeds . The plan turns out to be a fool's mission : rob a train carrying $500,000 that's guarded by dozens of heavily armed soldiers . Naturally, his friends agree to go along with the scheme . They must pull off the dangerous objective , as Dutchman and the ambitious drifters join forces to rob a lot of money located into an impregnable train . In the hands of hardboiled director Don Taylor and a tough-as-leather cast headed by Peter Graves of ¨Mission : impossible¨ , that's all the plot that's needed to make one rip-roaring Spaghetti Western flick . Peter Graves 's mission is two-fold and in ¨Dirty dozen¨style : first an unexpected reunion among ex-colleagues turned into a fighting unit and then turn them loose on a heavily armored train occupied by Mexican soldiers . Dutchman brings four of his old acquaintances , his crime-minded characters include Bud Spencer as a bouncing thief , the old army buddy (James Daly) expert on explosives , an escaped acrobat (Nino Castelnuovo) , and a swordsman samurai (Tetsuro Tamba , who acted in ¨ James Bond's You Only Live Twice¨ also playing a Samurai) expert on daggers . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape and develop shaky relationship with their leader . It will be a long and dangerous mission with continuous risks , as the final part is all action, as the motley group aboard a train , there wreak havoc , passes through a steady stream of military checkpoints and then run for their lives .

Pretty good S.W. about a relentless and exciting caper set against spectacular scenery of Almeria . The dangerous assignment is set against stark environment , risked railway and hazardous trails . This Western is superior than subsequent Spaghetti entries because it displays stirring adventures, shootouts, riding pursuits , some touches of humor and is pretty amusing . The picture mingles violence , thrills , fights and it's fast moving and for that reason results to be entertaining . This film belongs to the numerous group that are set during the Mexican revolution , called ¨Zapata Western¨ , like are the Italian films : ¨ Duck you sucker¨, ¨The professional¨ ,¨Tetepa¨ , ¨Il Mercenario¨ , ¨Compañeros¨ , ¨What am I doing in middle of the revolution¨ and the American movies : ¨The wild bunch¨, ¨Villa rides ¨, and ¨The professionals¨. There are many fine technicians and nice assistants as the cameraman Enzo Barboni (who subsequently directed Trinity movies : Terence Hill and Bud Spencer) makes an excellent photography with barren outdoors, dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun shot on outskirts of Rome , Lacio , Elios studios and of course Almeria, Spain . And partially shot on ¨Once upon the time the West¨(1968) location as the railroad and the farmhouse . The musician Ennio Morricone creates a classic Spaghetti soundtrack and perfectly conducted by his habitual collaborator Bruno Nicolai.

Well produced by Italo Zingarelli , the famous producer of ¨Trinity series¨ and being well directed by Don Taylor . Don was a notorious secondary actor who sometimes played top roles as in the trend-setting crime drama ¨The naked city¨ (1948) , ¨Battleground¨ and ¨Stalag 17¨. In later years Taylor became a film and TV director, being nominated for an Emmy for his direction of an episode of "Night Gallery" (1969). Taylor met his wife Hazel Court when he directed her in a 1958 episode of "Alfred Hitchcock presents¨ and he went on directing films as the successful ¨The final countdown¨ , ¨Damien , omen 2¨, ¨Escape from Planet of Apes¨ and ¨Island of Doctor Moreau¨, his only Spaghetti Western is this "The Five Man Army¨. Rating : Above average Ravioli Western , it will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados .

Five Man Army may not be as epic or as groundbreaking as other Spaghetti Western films, but it's a lot of fun to watch and overall, provides a good slice of western action. My main reason for tracking down and seeing this film is due to the fact that it was co-scripted by Italian horror maestro and one of the men behind Sergio Leone's masterpiece 'Once Upon a Time in the West', Dario Argento. Argento worked on scripts for a number of Spaghetti westerns, and while this is only the second that I've seen (Leone's masterwork being the other one), it's the one that gets mentioned second most often, which leads to believe that it's one of his best. The plot centres on a man named 'The Dutchman', who hatches a plot to rob a train of $500,000 worth of gold. He can't do it on his own, however, and so recruits the services of four men with expertise in different areas. They all have something to prove, and the $1000 he's offering for their help gives them the initiative to try and prove it. The film then follows the makeshift 'Five Man Army', as they steal the gold.

The film begins with a man going round asking the prospective members of the army to join the foolhardy scheme. This sort of plot device is common in the movie, as it's all rather simply told. However, if you ask me this is a good thing as some films like this tend to get a bit too complicated, and it can take something away from the enjoyment of watching. There's plenty else to enjoy too, as Argento and his fellow scriptwriter have managed to create a varied assortment of characters that play well off one another and, of course, there's all the explosions and shootouts that Spaghetti Western fans have come to expect. It does have to be said that there's not as much violence in this film as there is in similar movies, as much of the movie focuses on the train robbery at the end, which is pulled off with very little bloodshed. The acting is decent enough also, with veteran actor Peter Graves heading up a good versatile cast, which fit into their roles well. Ennio Morricone provides another good western score, and overall, this film is always going to be a target for fans of Argento's work. I won't recommend going into the film with high expectations, but it's a fun viewing and I enjoyed it.

To begin with, this is one of the first films I ever recall watching – my father having acquired a copy on 16mm when I was still a kid!; needless to say, I've been wanting to re-acquaint myself with it for several years – particularly to see how it stacked up against other Spaghetti Westerns which, naturally, I came across much later…and, this, in spite of Leonard Maltin's unflattering rating!

As it turned out, the film lived up to my expectations in being a middle-of-the-road genre effort – not one of the best, perhaps, but reasonably entertaining all the same. Incidentally, it forms part of a handful of Spaghetti Westerns with the Mexican Revolution as backdrop; an added attraction to the film, then, is its main plot involving a caper aboard a moving (and heavily-guarded) train – it has, in fact, been referred to as a cross between THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960; in view of the select group called upon to aid in a cause) and THE WILD BUNCH (1969; which had a similar robbery as a subplot)!

While the central train sequence involves some notable tension (the elderly dynamite expert loses part of his equipment, the samurai falls off and has to run across a lengthy stretch of fields in order to rejoin his associates), the gang is never shown to be in any serious danger throughout; the final confrontation with the Army, for instance, is nothing at all like the notorious massacre seen in THE WILD BUNCH itself – in fact, none of them gets wounded or killed…and even the tension within the outfit over whether they should hand over the gold to the revolutionaries or else keep it for themselves is resolved without so much as a punch (rather it's shrugged off with a laugh!).

The multi-national group is played by Americans Peter Graves (well cast in a basic extension of his signature role in the classic MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE TV series) and James Daly (his presence here isn't displeasing yet quite baffling, as he can't have been at all a familiar name to Italians – personally, I only knew him from his brief role in PLANET OF THE APES [1968]!), Japanese Tetsuro Tamba (who's just as anonymous as Daly – perhaps the film's budget could afford only one foreign 'star') and, of course, Italians Bud Spencer (a staple of the genre and, thankfully, resorting only very briefly to his trademark comic brawling) and the youthful Nino Castelnuovo (who, naturally, sides with the Revolution all along). The supporting cast includes another genre contribution from Italian starlet Daniela Giordano (as a Mexican peasant girl who shows interest in samurai Tamba): her lovely presence is always welcome – and I still recalled the scene here in which the Army General tears off her clothes from all those years ago! – but it's not quite as captivating as in the two other films of hers that I've watched; there's also Giacomo Rossi-Stuart – who, for an actor of his stature, is given very little screen-time as a lieutenant to the Mexican General.

Having mentioned the surprise casting, one also has to question the decision behind offering the directorial reins to a minor-league American, former actor Taylor; incidentally, years later, when Giordano was asked by a magazine to comment about the film, she couldn't even recall him being on the set and that co-director Zingarelli handled most of the proceedings! Dario Argento was also behind this film as a scriptwriter – which makes the film's tameness all the more curious and, given its derivative nature, perhaps shows his ultimate disenchantment with the Spaghetti Western genre…or else he was already thinking of branching out into direction (his debut film, the seminal giallo THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE [1970], was released not long after). THE FIVE MAN ARMY is marked by yet another rousing Ennio Morricone score – which is cited by fans as being among his best from this era but, to me, it felt somewhat too similar to his work on Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy!

Finally, I couldn't really determine the running-time of the film – since it was interrupted by numerous publicity spots (I watched a VHS recording of a TV broadcast); however, curiously enough, the Italian version is listed as being only 91 minutes long on "Stracult"…whereas the edition prepared for U.S. consumption is 107 minutes!

Fantastic film that might shock a few spaghetti western fans. The shock? Peter Graves in a 1970 spaghetti western! Graves is his usual self,great voice,intense and even a bit light hearted at times. Terrence Hill co- hort ,Bud Spencer,a legend in the genre,plays his normal role as a tough but lovable brute of a man. This film is sort of a "Magnificent Seven" but minus two. While the story may be run of the mill,the score by master Ennio Morricone is haunting and will stick with you for as long as you grace this earth. Morricone is one of the few composers that can actually make an average film into a very good one. His music adds so much to the film. The rest of the cast is above average compared to the standard fare of the genre during that time period(early 70's). Overall a very enjoyable film that I would suggest to anyone who wants to sit back and just let their mind and body relax for an hour or two. No one can do westerns like the Italians. I wish that the genre would make a comeback but no matter what..things will never be good as the period from 1964-1974,at least as far as westerns are concerned. Give me a good ole Italian western over the American oater...ANYDAY!

Totally underrated and massive fun - this is the result of a group of nine year olds thinking up a spaghetti Western - hey, let's have a Samurai, and that guy from Mission Impossible, oooh and an impossibly big and strong one, and an acrobat, and an explosives expert, but let's keep it to only 5 that's even better than Magnificent Seven...

And so it goes....

It really is one of the best blokes' films of all time, just the right mix of adventure and fun, and all wrapped around an ingenious plot to rob a gold train.

With a good score, that'll remind you of every Western you've every heard, a couple of good chases, a jail break, and even mean and nasty Army types it really is a lot of fun...

Highly recommended as one of the classic pizza and beer movies, it is a real shame that it hasn't been seen more often... deserves to be a classic.