Just watched this one… or should I say, just watched some of it… It was so boring I literally fell asleep (for about half an hour!) I had higher hopes for this one being penned by Italian horror king Dario Argento, but I was unexpectedly let down. I was even let down by Morricone’s soundtrack! Okay, the main theme was definitely Morricone and surely decent, but the other tunes had much to be desired. The entire time I fealt like I was watching The Dirty Dozen and Von Ryan’s Express, which isn’t a bad thing, but if I’m watching a spaghetti western, that’s what I want to see!
I’m confused though… I feel I must have missed something when I was sleeping. When everyone first got together with the Dutchman, he told them they were each getting $1000 and the rest of the gold was for the revolution… so why at the end did it seem like some big secret to everyone when he was going to take the gold minus the gang’s $1000 each? When I was sleeping, did I miss him mentioning that they were all going to split the gold or something?
When I first bought this, I had high expectations for it. I didn’t think it was bad, just never reaching as high as the title would suggest. A film titled ‘Five Man Army’ gives me the impression of five men taking on insurmountable odds to accomplish a mission as well as lots of action. This movie was more of a heist picture than anything else. And during the finale, I expected a major action set piece delivering on the title which would have made it all worthwhile. Unfortunately, that never happens.
What happens is the ‘Five Man Army’ kill a few soldiers and then proceed to do the same to each other as they all seemingly have separate designs on the money they’ve taken. Actually, I was kind of hesitant to see this because of Graves in the lead, but upon seeing the movie, I thought he was better than I ever thought he would be.
But the most gratifying thing about the film, was getting to see the much revered Japanese actor, Tetsuro Tamba in a film of this type. It’s only a shame it wasn’t a better vehicle. Director Chang Cheh delivered a far better movie utilizing a similar title (SEVEN MAN ARMY) in 1976, and that film delivered about a group of men facing incredible odds (7 against thousands) for five days and nights, and that film was based on a true story.
Taken as a simple, slowly paced heist picture, FIVE MAN ARMY works as a decent timewaster, but nothing overly memorable, IMO.
And what’s the story on Don Taylor’s involvement? I’ve heard he was fired and I heard he walked away from the movie. Anybody have anything else about it?
Does anybody know the image quality of the Thai DVD?
It says in the DB that it’s 16:9, is it anamorphic?
I know the US bootleg is letterbox, just wondering if it’s the same transfer.
If anybody has the disc could they post screenshots?
DVD availability now appears to be Shoarma & Triple X -both the same cut version -but I recall spotting an uncut version for sale a while ago has anyone viewed /compared the 1980’s UK- MGM VHS pre cert edition please 8).
[quote=“cultcine, post:28, topic:100”]Does anybody know the image quality of the Thai DVD?
It says in the DB that it’s 16:9, is it anamorphic?
I know the US bootleg is letterbox, just wondering if it’s the same transfer.
If anybody has the disc could they post screenshots?[/quote]
The Thai DVD appears to me to be taken from the same source as the Shoarma disc.
Incidentally, a few years ago I (along with the late Donald S. Bruce, Tom Betts, and few other folks) had the opportunity to speak with this film’s star, Peter Graves, at the Golden Boot Awards in Beverly Hills, California.
We asked him several questions about this film and he readily and cheerfully answered them.
First off, he says that the ENTIRE film was directed by Don Taylor with only a few pick-up shots being handled by the producer, Zingarelli.
He said he had never heard the story about Taylor supposedly walking off the set after only one day–and swore that was not the case, at all.
He also said that he highly enjoyed working on this film and was disappointed that it didn’t do better box office when it was released.
Graves is a very nice guy!
