The film packs Western action , comical elements , thrills , shoot'em up , brawls , and results to be quite entertaining . It's a middle-budget film with ordinary actors , technicians , decent production values and average results . A card player called Jeff Clayton (Robert Wood) plays a ranch against an owner , as he earns the card gambling and takes his ranch . Along the way Jeff meets a tied Mexican bandit called Carrancho (the braggart Fernando Sancho who would play the sequel as starring titled ¨Viva Carrancho¨ and acting lots of occasions in similar character) and frees him but he escapes robbing his horse . Jeff , then , goes to the ranch called ¨G.G.¨ where he meets two brothers : Hellen (Maria Sebaldt) and David (Francisco Garcia or Frank Stewart) and helps them . Later on , Clayton faces off Jimmy El Negro (nasty Helmut Schmid who holds a whip and usually lashing) and his hoodlums (Antonio Molino Rojo and Miguel De la Riva) who are under undercover orders a powerful lawyer (Richard Haussler) and all of them want to take over the ranches of the region . After that , the swanky Carrancho assaults a stagecoach but Clayton detains him to utilize him as a crucial witness .
This exciting tortilla/Ravioli Western packs thrills , shootouts , hilarious situations , riding pursuits and several other things . Furthermore , there are also the ordinary brawls , punches , hits , slaps and kick-asses . Italian-Spanish co-production filmed in Catalunya , full of familiar faces , action , exaggerated characters , crossfire and lots of shots and fights . Starring Robert Woods is pretty nice , he ravages the screen , he jumps, leaps and bounds , hits and runs , besides receives violent punches , kicks and wounds . Robert Woods makes a serviceable swift-shooting hero in a role . Robert starred several Tortilla/Ravioli Western as "Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace" , "Seven Guns for the MacGregors" , ¨Black Jack¨, ¨El Puro¨, "Gatling Gun" , among others . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between Robert Woods and Helmut Schmid with some looks that say it all , including a thrilling ending shotdown . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . It's a three country co-production : Spain/Italy/Germany but is clearly dominated by the Spanish contingent and the traditional leanings of the Spanish producers of the time have their stamp on the entire proceedings . The Spanish westerns of this era were far more likely to try and emulate their American source material than cultivate a distinctive style of their own the way the Italians were doing their product , though this one has penchant for hilarious happenings and roles , thanks to the boastful Fernando Sancho , playing an illiterate as well as humorous Mexican outlaw , whose role would play a lots of times ,as he starred multitude ¨Chorizo¨ or ¨Pipperone¨ Westerns interpreting the quarrelsome , swanky Mexican outlaw , such as ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨Return of Ringo¨, "Requiem for a Gringo" , "Dakota Joe" , ¨Winchester Bill¨ , "One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo" , "The Man Who Came to Kill" and several others . If you like Chorizo , Paella , Butifarra or Spaghetti or Schnitzel westerns , this "Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace" or ¨Pistoleros De Arizona¨ remains lightly watchable .
This picture "Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace¨ being regularly photographed by Carlo Carlini in Technicolor , Techniscope , though is necessary a fine remastering because of the film-copy is washed-out . Mostly filmed in atmospheric scenarios on location in Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ built by producers/directors brothers : Alfonso Balcázar , Francisco Balcázar , Juan Jose Balcazar though this Balcazar family went to bankrupt and had to sell the terrains , including the usual General supplies , Saloon , livery stable , wall paper merchandise , dressmaker , billiard parlor , barber shop , undertaker , General store , and other shops and buildings ; it resulted to be the locations where were shot lots of Westerns produced and directed by Catalan people as Alfonso Balcazar , J.J. Balcazar , Jose Antonio De La Loma , Juan Bosch , Xavier Marchal , Jose Maria Zabalza , Manuel Esteba , Ignacio F. Iquino , and Julio Buchs , among others , because Almeria was too far and the Fraga landscapes bear remarkable resemblance . There are many fine technicians , as future filmmaker Romolo Girolami , Film Editing by Teresa Alcocer , nice assistant direction and adequate production design by the usual Juan Albert Soler , the latter creates an acceptable scenario . Climatic musical score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino .
This motion picture was middlingly directed by Alfonso Balcazar , and with no originality ; he managed to make a fluid and filled with punches as well as fighting Western , though mediocre . This Italian & Spanish co-production qualifies as a low-budget, mid-brow western, a level before the seminal Spaghetti westerns . Alfonso alongside his brothers Juan Jose Balcazar and Francisco Balcázar produced and directed a lot of Chorizo or Butifarra Western , most of them starred by Jorge Martin or George Martin , Luis Davila , Daniel Martin or Robert Woods ; such as 1972 The return of Clint , 1972 Judas... ¡Toma Monedas! , 1968 Sartana no Perdone or Sonora , 1967 With Death on Your Back, 1966 Dinamita Jim , 1965 Doc , Manos De Plata , 1965 Viva Carrancho , 1965 Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace . Rating : 4.5/10 . Average
