Five Guns West (1955)

During the Civil War, the Confederacy pardons five criminals and sends them into Comanche-territory to recover Union-seized Confederate gold and capture a Confederate turncoat.

Director:

Roger Corman

Writer:

R. Wright Campbell (screenplay)

Stars:

John Lund, Dorothy Malone, Mike Connors

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Lund	...	Govern Sturges
Dorothy Malone	...	Shalee Jethro
Mike Connors	...	Hale Clinton (as Touch Conners)
R. Wright Campbell	...	John Morgan Candy (as Bob Campbell)
Jonathan Haze	...	William Parcell 'Billy' Candy (as Jonothon Haze)
Paul Birch	...	J.C. Haggard
James Stone	...	Uncle Mike
Jack Ingram	...	Stephen Jethro
Larry Thor	...	Confederate Captain
Jack Bohrer
Boyd 'Red' Morgan	...	Hoagie (as Boyd Morgan)
Lionel C. Place	...	(as Lionel Place)
William Taylor

Storyline

Shalee Jethro (Dorothy Malone) helps her father run a desert stagecoach station. Five desperate outlaws arrive at the station to await a gold shipment they plan to rob, and Shalee becomes their hostage bait in several ways, and then the men begin to fight among themselves. four of them attack her but she is saved by Govern Sturges (John Lund), who also turns out to be a Confederate officer planted among the gang.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | civil war | 1860s | criminal | pardoned convict | 

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Taglines:

Kiss for Kiss! Bullet for Bullet! (every original poster)

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Roger Corman's first film as director. Working on a strict nine-day schedule, he was so nervous that, while driving to the set and it started raining, he pulled to the side of the road and threw up.

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Goofs

At 45 minutes into the film when the gang rides into the ranch the contrail of a modern jet are visible in the background.

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Quotes

Opening title card: Desperate for men during the last days of the War Between the States, the South found it necesssary to offer pardons to outlaws to carry out special assignments. Strange dark figures rode under the flag of the Confederacy.

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Connections

Featured in The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (1999)

User Reviews

Not at all bad, though the villains didn't look too villainous

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).

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Five Guns West

Filming Locations:

Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Palo Alto Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1