Scott LeBrun The legendary Roger Corman began his impressive directing career with this entertaining Civil War era Western. It's not memorable in any way and it doesn't really hint at any future greatness but it served to show how Corman was able to work with limited budgets and brief shooting schedules (a mere nine days in this instance).The performances are basically good in a tale of five outlaws hired by a Confederacy desperate for personnel. Their job is to intercept the path of a traitor named Jethro (Jack Ingram) and deliver him to the authorities. Adding incentive is the fact that Jethro is in possession of a substantial amount of gold. The stoic, low key Govern Sturges (John Lund) appoints himself leader of this group, and he finds that it's hard work dealing with the strong personalities of his accomplices. Complications arise when he takes a liking to Shalee (lovely Dorothy Malone), who runs a stagecoach station with her uncle Mime (James Stone).The action is unfortunately a little underwhelming as the story plays out; clearly, Corman wasn't very well suited for the Western genre and had yet to find his voice as a creator of entertainment for the youth market. Still, the scenery (reverently photographed by Floyd Crosby) is beautiful, the music (by Buddy Bregman) is nice, and some of the performances are colourful. Lund is a little TOO low key in the lead, but Malone is feisty and appealing, and future 'Mannix' star Mike Connors is fun as lusty, greedy gambler Hale Clinton. Co-starring are Corman stock company player Jonathan Haze, screenwriter R. Wright Campbell, and Paul Birch (the evil alien in Cormans' "Not of This Earth") as the rest of the gang. A young James Sikking, future co-star of TV's 'Hill Street Blues' and 'Doogie Howser M.D.', makes his film debut as a Union sergeant.Overall, "Five Guns West" is reasonably engaging, if understandably not too well known. It is worth a look for those who want to see the earliest efforts in Cormans' career.Seven out of 10.

classicsoncall I couldn't get over seeing Roger Corman's name in the opening credits as both producer and director of "Five Guns West", out the same year as another low budget flick that marked the beginning of his career - "Swamp Women". Oddly, both films featured a young Mike Connors in a lead role, but credited in each as 'Touch' Connors. In this picture, he's one of five outlaws pardoned by the Confederacy in exchange for undertaking a special assignment on behalf of the Southern cause. The entire plot becomes rather dubious because by the time the men intercept a stagecoach supposed to be bearing thirty thousand dollars in hard currency, neither their human target or the money is anywhere to be found. Dorothy Malone is thrown into the middle of the story as a bit of a distraction and something of a love interest for the nominal leader of the bad guys, Govern Sturgess (John Lund). Probably the dumbest scene in the film was that shootout under the porch between Sturgess and John Candy, the Candy Brothers impressing me as the original Dumb and Dumber. Brother Will in fact was such a hothead that it was surprising he lasted as long as he did in the story; in the course of the picture he wound up picking a fight with each of his companions. I did however get a kick out of the scene where they cut off and shook the rattlesnake's tail, a gimmick visited some fifteen years later in "Two Mules For Sister Sara". My question still is - can you really do that with a rattlesnake tail?There's really not a lot here to get excited about other than seeing an early Corman effort. From that standpoint, it's a lot better than a bunch of later stuff he did in the grade Z horror category, but at least flicks like "The Wasp Woman" and "Creature From The Haunted Sea" had some camp value. This one sets out with an interesting premise, but winds up being hijacked along with the Dawn Springs stagecoach.

RanchoTuVu 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.

lorenellroy This was Roger Corman's directorial debut and was a good indication of his ability to produce a brisk formula movie although it is also clear that the Western was not his real forte and that it was not until he turned to genres more suited to the youth exploitation market that he really found his niche.It is not without significance that in The Variety Book of Movie Lists neither Joe Dante or Martin Scorsese who contribute "Best of Roger Corman" lists mention any of his Westerns . The movie under review here is a version of the theme he returned to in a Second World War setting in The Secret Invasion and was used by Robert Aldrich for the bigger budget extravaganza The Dirty Dozen-this time given an American civil war setting.Five men are recruited from the criminal element to rescue confederate gold and apprehend a traitor.One is not however what he seems .The group is riven by internal tensions especially when waiting for the stage bringing their prey to a way station inhabited by Dorothy Malone and James Stone as her alcoholic and cowardly uncle .The group disintegrates and turns on their leader as played by John LundGood performances especially by Paul Birch(not the Lambchop and solo alternative country genius)as the grizzled veteran J.CIt is crudely done but never outstays its welcome