FightingWesterner Five criminals, some smarter than others, are pardoned by the Confederacy in order to rob a stagecoach of Union cash and capture a Confederate traitor. The five make their way to the rendezvous, where some of them menace a young woman and her elderly uncle, leading to in-fighting and the eventual battle with the US Army.It's surprising to discover that the directorial debut of Roger Corman is not only a western, but is in color as well, with good photography by Floyd Crosby and some decent outdoor locations. On a technical level, this looks better than some of Corman's later, shoe-string black and white productions.On hand is frequent collaborators like actor Jonathan Haze, Crosby, and writer R. Wright Campbell, as well as it's distributor, the soon-to-be renamed American International Pictures.As far as the actual movie goes, it gets a bit talky at times, but it's a solid enough B-picture. Also, it's easy to see why villain Mike Conners went on to bigger and better things.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Five guns west is a western made with a low budget, but with surprising results. It tells the story of five prisoners which are released on the condition that they will go on a mission for the confederates. There was a similar story in 'Only The Valiant'(1951) and later on 'The Dirty Dozen'(1967). I wonder who came out first with this idea, it proved to be a great source for films. There is no glamor here, no handsome hero, the handsome guy (Mike Connors) is really a crook and the leader is John Lund.Dorothy Malone is the girl who lives with her uncle in a deserted town, and you feel she is starving for a man, it is hard to accept her loneliness. When she dances with each of the men, you feel she is breaking so many of her own rules, that for her it is almost as if she was making love to them. The Candy brothers, Bob Campbell and Jonathan Haze are as real as it can be, one a man with no morals and the other so limited that he does not know what morals are. Paul Birch is the good bad guy who unwillingly got into trouble with the law. They are all waiting for the stagecoach and when it comes, there are some good action scenes. Roger Corman is the type of guy who seems to succeed in anything he does, and he certainly knew how to make a western.

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