There is absolutely no doubt that Five Guns West is a remake of Yellow Sky ( especially the character of Mike Connors ( Hale Clinton) who is an obvious ripoff of Richard Widmark's Dude). You even see John Lund (Govern Sturges) playing Gregory Peck's Stretch Dawson and Dorothy Malone (Shalee Jethro) as Anne Baxter's tomboy Mike (complete with an alcoholic uncle ( instead of Baxter's grandfather)). You even see one of the Candy Brothers having the hots for Shalee and attacking her like John Russell ( Lengthy) did in Yellow Sky. It is even about the pursuit of gold. $30,000 here and even more in Yellow Sky. The biggest problem is none of the actors here are on the same level as Peck, Widmark and Baxter. This is particularly important because both Peck and Widmark are in the Western Performers Hall of Fame because of their work in Westerns. This is not to say Lund, Malone and especially Connors (who is the best one in the movie) are bad, it is simply they are not on the level of Peck, Widmark and Baxter. Spoilers ahead: Does Lund end up with Malone? Of course he does. He says at the end after he completes his mission to return Confederate Gold " I am coming home." ( Malone and her uncle live on a ranch). But he does not end up with gold like Peck and the other survivors of Yellow Sky. One more point: The dominant one in Yellow Sky is Baxter ( who has Peck wrapped around her finger), but here Malone does no such thing ( Lund has her wrapped around his finger). There is also no scene that sticks with you like after the shootout between Peck, Widmark and Russell you see a running Baxter (after finding out Peck survived ( unlike Widmark and Russell) yelling "Grandpa, grandpa). I should also mention Baxter was pretty handy with a rifle ( even saving Peck's life). Basically Five Guns West is an okay Western; Not great but not bad either. While Yellow Sky is one of the best westerns ever. Simply put the original gets 10/10 stars while the remake gets 5/10 stars. If you have seen neither film, I recommend actually seeing this movie first ( it is in color) then go on to the black and white Yellow Sky. You will enjoy this movie more if you do.
Review of Five Guns West
