Five Guns West (1955)
** (out of 4)
Fairly typical Western has the distinction of being the first film directed by Roger Corman. In the film, John Lund, Mike Connors, Bob Campbell, Jonathan Haze and Paul Birch play convicted men who are given a shot at a full pardon if they sneak into Union territory and hold up a stagecoach carrying $30,000 in gold. If you've ever seen a movie dealing with outlaws given a shot at redemption then you've pretty much already seen this thing. There's certainly nothing Oscar-worthy here but at the same times it's decent enough to serve well as a 78-minute time killer. I think what works in the film's benefit the most is the cast. Again, there aren't any major names in the bunch but all five men make for good performances and the characters are so detailed that you'll have no problem liking them. It was great fun seeing Campbell and Haze playing the brother team. The two are so good together than you can easily believe they are brothers. Most Corman fans will recognize Haze from countless future films including A BUCKET OF BLOOD. Dorothy Malone plays the female who works at the stagecoach office where the men end up staying. She's not too bad here even though that Southern accent is constantly going in and out from one scene to the next. The film really doesn't contain any new twists on the old story and this here is the biggest problem. Going in its easy to tell who will end up doing what and everything plays out just like you'd expect it to. For the most part the film is all dialogue as the men just sit around waiting and waiting for this stagecoach to show up. They talk, threaten one another, talk some more and continue to wait for the coach to show up. With the low budget you sort of expect this but Corman does keep everything at least moving at a good pace.
** (out of 4)
Fairly typical Western has the distinction of being the first film directed by Roger Corman. In the film, John Lund, Mike Connors, Bob Campbell, Jonathan Haze and Paul Birch play convicted men who are given a shot at a full pardon if they sneak into Union territory and hold up a stagecoach carrying $30,000 in gold. If you've ever seen a movie dealing with outlaws given a shot at redemption then you've pretty much already seen this thing. There's certainly nothing Oscar-worthy here but at the same times it's decent enough to serve well as a 78-minute time killer. I think what works in the film's benefit the most is the cast. Again, there aren't any major names in the bunch but all five men make for good performances and the characters are so detailed that you'll have no problem liking them. It was great fun seeing Campbell and Haze playing the brother team. The two are so good together than you can easily believe they are brothers. Most Corman fans will recognize Haze from countless future films including A BUCKET OF BLOOD. Dorothy Malone plays the female who works at the stagecoach office where the men end up staying. She's not too bad here even though that Southern accent is constantly going in and out from one scene to the next. The film really doesn't contain any new twists on the old story and this here is the biggest problem. Going in its easy to tell who will end up doing what and everything plays out just like you'd expect it to. For the most part the film is all dialogue as the men just sit around waiting and waiting for this stagecoach to show up. They talk, threaten one another, talk some more and continue to wait for the coach to show up. With the low budget you sort of expect this but Corman does keep everything at least moving at a good pace.