Cinq fusils à l'Ouest

A group of five condemned confederates are sent west to find a stagecoach carrying a southern spy and $30,000 in confederate gold. The highpoint comes when they reach the stage coach station to await the arrival of the targeted stagecoach. Working there in the isolated station are Dorothy Malone and her alcoholic uncle. The interesting interaction between her, her uncle and the five men isn't half bad, with much of the attention sharply focused on the men and Malone, the highpoint being an interesting scene where they share dances with her. While the story is full of potential, it seems to avoid it more than not, though it is notable as Corman's first directorial effort.

During the Civil War, five condemned Southern prisoners conscripted already destined for death row are freed to execute a risked mission . The desperate outlaws are drafted to go on a near-suicide aim and attempt to capture a traitor throughout Indian territory . They must carry out the objective in several days with the understanding that if the Confederate don't murder them, the Union Army won't, either . The ambitious confederates commanded by Sturges (John Lund) , join forces to rob a lot of money at a stagecoach . In the hands of hardboiled director Roger Corman and a tough-as-leather cast headed by John Lund and Mike Connors , that's all the plot that's needed to make one rip-roaring Western flick. The mission is displayed in ¨Dirty dozen ¨ style and promised pardons on the condition that they undertake an assignment to head west and bring back a double-crossing Confederate spy who has a stagecoach full of Confederate gold . Meanwhile ,Shalee Jethro (Dorothy Malone) helps her uncle run a desert stagecoach station. The confederates arrive in the station to await a gold shipment they scheme to steal , and Shalee becomes their hostage bait and then the outlaws start to confront among themselves .

This is an average Western with crossfire , action , thrills , shotdown , pursuits but some boring and slow-moving . It's made in low budget , however well played by two major actor as John Lund and Dorothy Malone . The secondary actors , technicians ( cameraman Floyd Crosby , musician Bregman ) and writer ( Wright Campbell who wrote various Corman's scripts ) will repeat with Roger in subsequent films . Passable support cast as Paul Birch , Wright Campbell , Jonathan Haze who acted in ¨Little shop of horrors¨ and Mike ¨Touch¨ Connors ( His Touch nickname comes from his college basketball playing days) who worked in ¨The Oklahoma Woman¨ , ¨Day the world ended¨ and many others Corman products. Furthermore , brief acting , almost extra , of James B. Sikking . The motion picture is regularly directed by Roger Corman . During the 50-60s Roger Corman directed Western as ¨The Oklahoma Woman ¨ ¨Apache Woman¨ and ¨Five guns West ¨ , but his specialty were the terror movies , Edgar Alan Poe saga, and monsters movies as ¨Attack the crab monsters ¨, ¨ It conquered the world, ¨ Beast with a million eyes¨, ¨ Wasp man ¨, ¨ Viking women and great serpent ¨ , ¨ Little shop horrors ¨ though Corman also produced several films as ¨ Night of the blood beast ¨ and ¨ Attack of the giant leeches¨ . Rating : Mediocre , only for Roger Corman aficionados .

As I watched this Roger Corman production, I could see that westerns were not his forte. While this is a very good film considering it's tiny budget, it's really not that great a film. However, for cinemaniacs like myself, it's still well worth seeing to see what Corman could do with only $60,000. And, in light of the money spent, it's a decent picture. How did he manage to do it with so little money? You get a couple B-list stars (John Lund and Dorothy Malone) and a bunch of unknowns (including Mike Connors well before be gained stardom). And, you use very simple sets--in this case, just a few western buildings.

The plot is VERY reminiscent of the later film, "The Dirty Dozen"--but in this case it involves just five misfits who are given a choice--go on a mission for the Confederacy or have their sentences carried out immediately. The two youngest are clearly psychos, the gambler is a sociopath (Connors), there's a grizzled older man who is a bit of a cypher and a seemingly nice guy (Lund) who is quite out of place. Their job is to ambush a stagecoach carrying gold and use it to fund the South in the Civil War--but as the film progresses, it seems pretty obvious that several of them have no intention of giving up the gold. And, when they arrive at their destination, they find they are early and the two young sociopaths are mostly concerned with raping a lady at the stage office (Malone) and it's up to Lund to keep these creeps in check. What happens next? See the film.

The acting is fair, though it was hard for me to see Lund as a heroic type. He just didn't have the macho persona you'd expect and I kept thinking of him as the greasy sharpie from the "My Friend Irma" films! But he was game and a professional. As for the rest, they were also decent. The film does NOT have the ultra-cheap look of Corman's more notorious horror films (like "Wasp Woman" or "Little Shop of Horrors") but it still isn't great by any means. Watchable and mildly interesting, that's about all I can say for it. But, considering I've seen tons of Corman's films as well as a recent biography/filmography of the guy, it was worth my time. As for you, it's at best a time-passer.

A low point in the film is the guy running and yelling "I'll get 'em!" and getting shot. This scene made absolutely no sense whatsoever and seemed to just be an excuse to wipe out one of the baddies!

'Five Guns West' is legendary Roger Corman's debut as director, although he had produced couple of movies before. The film was shot in nine days on $60.000 budget. It shows that the film was made by first time director with being little uneven at places, but it is still entertaining piece.

Turing the Civil war, South desperately is in the need of men, so Confederate States gives pardon to five hard criminals and sending them behind enemy lines to capture the traitor and bring back the stolen gold. Sending criminals to do official government business is always interesting premise and the film doesn't disappoint at that department. The characters are interesting, and quite well developed (this is probably due to the low budget - not enough action, but plenty of interesting interactions between characters), so even with the low amount of shooting, the film is entertaining enough to keep the viewer interested - with five hardened criminals and stolen gold in the game, it can't be any other way.

Quite well written screenplay, good acting, and filmed in Pathe color, 'Five Guns West' doesn't feel much like rushed low budget independent production. Nothing spectacular, but should interest hardcore Corman (and Western) fans enough.

I'm surprised that the rating for FGW is only 4.3, as I thought it compared reasonably well with other Westerns of the period.

The implausibility of five villains being pardoned and then being trusted to fulfil their undertaking to capture the absconding traitor and gold and return both to the Confederacy has already been remarked on. Getting the date wrong (the officer mentioning "1867" when the Civil War is still being fought) was astonishing. And the villains don't look that villainous, despite their crimes.

But the plot canters along well enough, the factional aligning and re- aligning of the five is interesting, and the final shoot-out quite original.

But I do wonder how much better the film would have been with Randolph Scott starring, Budd Boetticher directing and a couple of real heavies (Jack Elam, Skip Homeier, say).