[quote=“sartana1968, post:80, topic:100”]2 and 3 times very ;)[/quote][quote=“tomobea, post:79, topic:100”]A GREAT FILM!!![/quote][quote=“Stanton, post:78, topic:100”]Very or very, very?[/quote][quote=“sartana1968, post:77, topic:100”]a very bore film :([/quote]i think some of readers find themselves little confused - so just for the record, we are talking about Forest Gump, not Five Man Army
Im talking about Five Men Army! Dont think Forest Gump is a western??? or is it…in some of the members minds!
Well, I thought Sartana68 was talking about 5 Men army too.
But my question would have been the same anyway.
Howard Hughes has written an interesting article in the latest edition of Cinema Retro on Five Man Army. Some interesting stuff in it, particularly on locations used etc which I know our own Mr Betts assisted him in researching. More of this was shot in Italy than you might of thought.
It’s well worth a read if you get the chance.
Has he also found a conclusion who the director was?
He seems pretty sure it was Taylor and that Zingarelli was only the producer. Daniella Giordano was apparently only on set a short time and everyone but her names Taylor as the director. There are also photos of Taylor on set, which would not be the case if he was only there on the first day.
Watched this last night - what a theme tune! Film was an entertaining caper movie (it’s the first spaghetti I’ve been able to watch in one go in a while) - Loved the train Robbery.
Cast wasn’t bad - it was weird hearing Bud Spencer talk without sounding like himself (if you know what I mean). Workmanlike direction but nothing special and to be honest it does take a while to get going. The introductions of each character are particularly clunky but once they’d made a break from soldiers the movie rattled along at a fair old clip.
It’s movies like this that really make me appreciate just how good an actor Bud Spencer is - his facial acting is second to none in this. I could watch him all day.
Graves was good and well cast considering his mission impossible background (and particularly the train episode).
Overall I’d give the film 7.5/10 - rounded up to 4 stars as I loved the music.
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Just watched this for the first time last night and thought it was good solid entertainment. However i didnt think it was a Western but more of an adventure film. The train scenes were very well thought out and i liked the long chase to get back on the train. Good 8/10.
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English friendly DVD availlable soon !!!
The first time I saw this I didn’t care too much for it, thought it was too lame and not enough gunplay. But recently watched it again and can safely say that I really enjoyed the film much more this time around. Great cast in this and they seemed to be having fun and getting along just fine with whatever they had to do. More of a caper/heist than an action packed western, but still an entertaining one that i’ll be watching again in the future.
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I recentky watched the Schröder media DVD. Finally I found this film available on DVD for a decent price.
Now I can get rid of my taped version with German dubbing 8).
I mostly agree with the comments made about the film in this thread. It is a nice watchable movie, at least IMHO. It can’t be all masterpieces. I enjoy the movie especially when Giordano walks in and there is tension betwen her and the samurai. Nicely scored music by Morricone in the background. Nice piece of filming.
The scene where samurai falls of the train and has to run back is a bit overdone. This is the worst part of the movie for me. Also, Messito does not look like somebody who can drive a truck 
But over all I like to watch this movie just for the fun of it.
,
The film starts Peter Graves as the Dutchman. I find Dutchman to be the main protagonist of the story, and it’s his motivations that drive the plot. His motivations are slowly released throughout the film, but it’s not until the end that we get what he was truly after the whole time. The ending is one of my favorite zapata western endings. I also enjoyed Bud Spencer’s character, Meisto, who is a strongman and somewhat funny, loud animal, who brings come comedic elemtents, to an otherwise serious and revolutionary story. James Daly’s performance as Captain Augustus is good, but not memorable. Overall It’s an above average zapata western, but it’s ending is has become one of my favorite’s in recent memory.
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I like the movie as well, but we are in a minority, so it seems.
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What is the picture quality of the Schröder DVD? Is the title sequence the Italian one?
Thanks. I’m deciding which DVD to buy.
It is very decent in every aspect, but it left me cold. Something is missing,
Not as boring as A reason to live, a reason to die, but rather as borish as Red Sun.
Because he doesn’t have time to aim, Spencer throws a rifle-with-bayonet like a spear…
It’s one of his most iconic scenes.
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I recently acquired the Spanish DVD. I was wondering what the story is regarding the cuts. I heard the Spanish DVD is the only uncut version available. Does the German DVD also contain the restored violence and nudity? I am in the camp of people who like this film. It has some really good scenes and I find it entertaining from start to finish.
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Although obviously not as politically fleshed out and serious in tone as, say, A Bullet for the General, I enjoy this one-off, genre outlier for what it is: a flawed, yet well-paced, engaging, action/heist train ride of a Zapata Western with many memorable scenes, an exhilarating finale, and a rousing, emotive, signature score by “Il Maestro” himself. I would even go so far as to say that the opening theme easily ranks among the rightfully revered Morricone’s top fifteen, if not top ten, all-time finest.
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I’m with you. I think it is underrated but a little anti-climactic because when you have Peter “James Phelps” Graves leading the mission, there is no way you can fail. 
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Hahaha! 
Very true!