The 5-Man Army

Totally underrated and massive fun - this is the result of a group of nine year olds thinking up a spaghetti Western - hey, let's have a Samurai, and that guy from Mission Impossible, oooh and an impossibly big and strong one, and an acrobat, and an explosives expert, but let's keep it to only 5 that's even better than Magnificent Seven...

And so it goes....

It really is one of the best blokes' films of all time, just the right mix of adventure and fun, and all wrapped around an ingenious plot to rob a gold train.

With a good score, that'll remind you of every Western you've every heard, a couple of good chases, a jail break, and even mean and nasty Army types it really is a lot of fun...

Highly recommended as one of the classic pizza and beer movies, it is a real shame that it hasn't been seen more often... deserves to be a classic.

To begin with, this is one of the first films I ever recall watching – my father having acquired a copy on 16mm when I was still a kid!; needless to say, I've been wanting to re-acquaint myself with it for several years – particularly to see how it stacked up against other Spaghetti Westerns which, naturally, I came across much later…and, this, in spite of Leonard Maltin's unflattering rating!

As it turned out, the film lived up to my expectations in being a middle-of-the-road genre effort – not one of the best, perhaps, but reasonably entertaining all the same. Incidentally, it forms part of a handful of Spaghetti Westerns with the Mexican Revolution as backdrop; an added attraction to the film, then, is its main plot involving a caper aboard a moving (and heavily-guarded) train – it has, in fact, been referred to as a cross between THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960; in view of the select group called upon to aid in a cause) and THE WILD BUNCH (1969; which had a similar robbery as a subplot)!

While the central train sequence involves some notable tension (the elderly dynamite expert loses part of his equipment, the samurai falls off and has to run across a lengthy stretch of fields in order to rejoin his associates), the gang is never shown to be in any serious danger throughout; the final confrontation with the Army, for instance, is nothing at all like the notorious massacre seen in THE WILD BUNCH itself – in fact, none of them gets wounded or killed…and even the tension within the outfit over whether they should hand over the gold to the revolutionaries or else keep it for themselves is resolved without so much as a punch (rather it's shrugged off with a laugh!).

The multi-national group is played by Americans Peter Graves (well cast in a basic extension of his signature role in the classic MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE TV series) and James Daly (his presence here isn't displeasing yet quite baffling, as he can't have been at all a familiar name to Italians – personally, I only knew him from his brief role in PLANET OF THE APES [1968]!), Japanese Tetsuro Tamba (who's just as anonymous as Daly – perhaps the film's budget could afford only one foreign 'star') and, of course, Italians Bud Spencer (a staple of the genre and, thankfully, resorting only very briefly to his trademark comic brawling) and the youthful Nino Castelnuovo (who, naturally, sides with the Revolution all along). The supporting cast includes another genre contribution from Italian starlet Daniela Giordano (as a Mexican peasant girl who shows interest in samurai Tamba): her lovely presence is always welcome – and I still recalled the scene here in which the Army General tears off her clothes from all those years ago! – but it's not quite as captivating as in the two other films of hers that I've watched; there's also Giacomo Rossi-Stuart – who, for an actor of his stature, is given very little screen-time as a lieutenant to the Mexican General.

Having mentioned the surprise casting, one also has to question the decision behind offering the directorial reins to a minor-league American, former actor Taylor; incidentally, years later, when Giordano was asked by a magazine to comment about the film, she couldn't even recall him being on the set and that co-director Zingarelli handled most of the proceedings! Dario Argento was also behind this film as a scriptwriter – which makes the film's tameness all the more curious and, given its derivative nature, perhaps shows his ultimate disenchantment with the Spaghetti Western genre…or else he was already thinking of branching out into direction (his debut film, the seminal giallo THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE [1970], was released not long after). THE FIVE MAN ARMY is marked by yet another rousing Ennio Morricone score – which is cited by fans as being among his best from this era but, to me, it felt somewhat too similar to his work on Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy!

Finally, I couldn't really determine the running-time of the film – since it was interrupted by numerous publicity spots (I watched a VHS recording of a TV broadcast); however, curiously enough, the Italian version is listed as being only 91 minutes long on "Stracult"…whereas the edition prepared for U.S. consumption is 107 minutes!

An exiled American soldier known as the Dutchman gathers together a bunch of fellows to embark on a train robbery, telling them that although the locals think they're stealing the gold dust for the Mexican revolution, the gold is really for themselves.

Our Five Man Army is made up of the Dutchman, the Captain (an explosives expert), Bud Spencer (a…food expert I guess), the Samurai, and a young guy whose name escapes me. It's a heist movie, basically, with loads of Spaghetti Western action thrown in. And an Ennio Morricone soundtrack for good measure.

As with the majority of these films, there's plenty of gunfights to keep you going as our army square up to Mexican soldiers, get involved in riots, have punch ups and generally cause mayhem until we get to the heist, which is rather cleverly done and not without tensions.

While not an outstanding film, this is a good time waster with plenty of likable characters and a few twists thrown in for good measure.

The Five Man Army are "The Dutchman" (Peter Graves) and four colleagues from previous escapades - Mesito (Bud Spencer), a big brute of a man that can knock out an opponent with a big thump to the top of the head (so, the usual Bud Spencer character then!); Samurai (Tetsuro Tamba), a ruthless sword bearing oriental; Captain Augustus (James Daly), an expert with dynamite; and Luis Dominguez (Nino Castelnuovo) an acrobat turned outlaw and the "baby" of the group.

The Dutchman has gathered the clan with the promise of a $1,000 reward if they can successfully carry out a robbery of a train (bearing gold to the value of £1 million) on behalf of the Mexican Revolution. The catch is that the train is heavily guarded by soldiers, with the military posted at regular intervals along the journey to resist any attempted theft.

This film is an Italian/American co-production, and it does bear traits of both nations particular western styles. It is at times highly entertaining, mostly pretty dumb but always very watchable. The highlight of the movie is the contrasting characters, who are all very likable (albeit fairly clichéd). James Daly in particular has a good role as the ageing Captain Augustus, constantly doubting his (and his colleagues) ability to carry out the heist.

The actual robbery itself takes up nigh on half an hour of this movie, with very little dialogue. The scene is well filmed though and does not drag too badly at all. It also features a great scene where the bodies of the armed soldiers are waved about frantically as a signal to the nearby patrolling military that all is well.

Ennio Morricone's score is rousing (of course), but does sound like a muddled jigsaw of many of his other works. It fits perfectly, however.

It may sound like I am being critical of this film, and I guess that there are a few shortcomings with it. But if you ignore its occasional predictability and just take it for what it is - a highly entertaining yet simple western - you are pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it from beginning to end. I know I did.

Fantastic film that might shock a few spaghetti western fans. The shock? Peter Graves in a 1970 spaghetti western! Graves is his usual self,great voice,intense and even a bit light hearted at times. Terrence Hill co- hort ,Bud Spencer,a legend in the genre,plays his normal role as a tough but lovable brute of a man. This film is sort of a "Magnificent Seven" but minus two. While the story may be run of the mill,the score by master Ennio Morricone is haunting and will stick with you for as long as you grace this earth. Morricone is one of the few composers that can actually make an average film into a very good one. His music adds so much to the film. The rest of the cast is above average compared to the standard fare of the genre during that time period(early 70's). Overall a very enjoyable film that I would suggest to anyone who wants to sit back and just let their mind and body relax for an hour or two. No one can do westerns like the Italians. I wish that the genre would make a comeback but no matter what..things will never be good as the period from 1964-1974,at least as far as westerns are concerned. Give me a good ole Italian western over the American oater...ANYDAY!