The 5-Man Army

*********POSSIBLE SPOILERS********** Satisfying Italian western action pic has a crew of five assembled by "The Dutchman" (Graves) to fulfill a "mission impossible" western style -- they must rob a train car full of money without disturbing the soldiers in the other cars. Most of the film's action concerns the team's preparations for the attack (and their conflicts with each other) and a lot of drama is built up around the fact that everyone pretty much expects Graves' brilliant plan to fail. What really raises this film a bit above the norm is its witty gimmick -- the plan actually DOES go off smoothly, but their success only leads to startling revelations after the fact. Not a great movie, but good action and drama make for an above-average beer and popcorn movie. Should please fans of action westerns, but may not particularly please the fans of (scriptwriter, later director) Dario Argento, who may expect more visceral violence and who will probably miss the flair that Argento brings to his films as a director (he never was an exceptional writer, but here he has written a very clever story, and he should be given credit where it's due).

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.

I saw this movie for the first time when I was five and from that day I am a fan of men on a mission movies. This is predictable but also a great spaghetti western.It is a combination of men on a mission movies like Dirty dozen (1967) or Magnificent seven (1960) and spaghetti westerns like Good bad and ugly (1966). The best in movie is a Ennio Morricone score. The story, with screenplay of Dario Argento, is full of action and betrayals developed in a fast pace and with a great camera work. The result is a funny and entertaining movie, with situations resolved in the most impossible way. The movie should be rated along with its contemporary Clint Eastwood movies of Good Bad and the Ugly and a For a Few Dollars More!

Dutchman (Peter Graves) recruits 4 men for a train robbery: a) Luis (Nino Castelnuovo) who knows the details about the train, b) the strong Mesito (Bud Spencer), c) the gambler and explosives expert Augustus (James Daly), d) the knife throwing Samurai (Tetsuro Tanba). Half a million dollars are to be stolen to support the Mexican revolution. But they are heavily guarded, and takes a cunning plan to get on the train and take that gold. Of course, some unforeseen circumstances make it even more difficult... This is a great, straight western story: find the right men, develop the plan, go for it! Everything feels right, you get the action, the suspense, a little bit of comic relief, I don't see what's not to like. I watched the uncut 105 minutes version, various shorter versions were distributed in other countries, for example the 5 minutes from the beginning which introduce the character of Luis were dropped in the German version.

source: The 5-Man Army

You want familiar, familiar spaghetti western… look no further than "The Five Man Army". Its real lack of originality is made up by its sense of adventure and entertainment as five comrades come together to hatch up a plan to steal a railway shipment of gold from a merciless general. There's nothing mean-spirited, or violent as even when the twist makes its way in. It's rather goodwill in approach and the script does offer up the clues to where all this scheming its heading to. Some interesting names do show-up on this project. Director Don Taylor, co-writer Dario Argento, actors Peter Graves (charismatically getting by with his suave style) and Bud Spencer (being his brute self)… then there's Ennio Morricone who provides once again a characteristically fruitful signature western score that went hand-to-hand with on-screen action and nice scenic scope. You could say there's nothing particularly rousing or even memorable about this (outside the music score), however the pace is streamlined, the genre staples are well orchestrated, dialogue never distracts, characters while safe are agreeable and there's an intense moment or so in a typical, but well done spaghetti western.

Un esercito di 5 uomini (The Five Man Army) is directed by Don Taylor and written by Marc Richards and Dario Argento. It stars Peter Graves, James Daly, Bud Spencer, Nino Castelnuovo, Tetsurô Tanba and Claudio Gora. Music is scored by Ennio Morricone and cinematography is by Enzo Barboni. It's 1914, the Mexican Revolution, and five bandits of fortune plan to rob a train load of gold from the army... Out of MGM and filmed in Metrocolor, Don Taylor's film is a delicious bowl of Spaghetti. All that you would want from a film titled The Five Man Army is delivered here, as our group of tough bastardos follow firmly in the splendid men on a mission footprints laid by Magnificent Seven and Dirty Dozen et al. As per formula, this is a group of odds and sods brought together in the hope they can actually come together to achieve their goal. Each man has skills, be it dynamite, knives, guns, sling-shot or being a Samurai warrior, these dudes are bad-ass and not to be messed with. Led by The Dutchman (Graves), who is a sort of John 'Hannibal' Smith prototype, this group get into all sorts of scrapes, where peril and excitement is never far away, the makers seizing every opportunity for a chase sequence, a fight of some sort, a prison breakout, even some sexy smoulder in amongst the machismo. It all builds to a final third involving the actual train heist. Superbly staged and with thought in the writing, it's a thrilling sequence of events as the small army go about taking over a train packed with soldiers and enough weaponry to obliterate a small country. Then there's a grand finale, even taking time out for a kick in the tale. Locations are neatly photographed by Barboni, the dusty sands and rock formations a perfect setting for the blood sweat and tears. Morricone offers up another tremendous Spaghetti score. Typical compositions mix with shrill strings and disconcerting woodwinds, while the keen of ear will notice an early arrangement that will form the score for John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). There's the usual mix of good and bad in the acting department, and as is often the way in Spag Westerns some scenes have corners cut to hurry up the narrative, but this delivers on the title's promise. Great fun. 8/10

That's a good time waster, that you may watch while using the vacum cleaner or wash the dishes. And you can also forget it afterwards. You are not bored in this story of five idiots accepting ONLY one thousand bucks for risking their lives in order to pull a 500 000 £ robbery !!!!! Idiots, yes. If it was for saving a condemned man and take him out of jail, I could understand. After all, in the movie THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, they did not earn more, even less, but it was for saving poor people from slavery. But I repeat, you can see it with great pleasure though.

One of the many spaghetti westerns apparently filmed in English, "Un esercito di cinque uomini" (called "The Five Man Army" in English) is nothing really special but worth seeing. Peter Graves plays Dutchman, an American outlaw leading four other men to capture some gold to donate to the Mexican Revolution. This movie really has the feeling of a spaghetti western, what with Ennio Morricone's music and all. The scenery - rolling desert hills - is almost a character itself. Some people may wonder how many movies there can be about people battling corrupt generals, but that misses the point. The point here is to get enthralled, and I'm sure that you will. Overall, the whole movie gives one a really energetic feeling. Pretty interesting, and a neat start for Dario Argento. Watching Peter Graves, I half expected him to blurt out one of his lines from "Airplane!". Maybe that's just me, but he gives me that feeling.

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!