The Five Man Army / Un esercito di 5 uomini (Don Taylor, Italo Zingarelli, 1969)

This one’s getting a TV screening tonight at 23:00 on Irish language channel TG4

Friday is Western Night, and they show some really great stuff here, rather like the BBC from 40 years ago.

I haven’t seen this on a TV schedule since I was a young teenager … and although I’ve watched it loads of times since then on VHS and DVD, I’ll be recording it tonight. :wink:

PS: They show films in English, just incase anyone was going to ask if a SW got dubbed into
Irish Gaelic

https://www.tvguide.co.uk/m-detail/717079/76047389/the-five-man-army

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A few screen captures from last night’s broadcast … it was uncut and included the usually missing sequence of ‘Luis Dominguez’ Nino Castelnuovo sneaking out of Mexico, before his meeting with ‘Mesito’ (Little Table) Bud Spencer … Peter Graves is just awful in this, with corny delivery and completely out of place vibe … but I can just about overlook that as it’s a fun little adventure movie.

The TV rip looks better than the Warner Archive DVD … so hopefully they’ll make amends and release a nice BD version :wink:



The blink and you’ll miss it topless moment! :wink:

… and what happens if you mess around with this nice young Mexican lady …


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Is there any chance that this broadcast can be uploaded anywhere for the good people of SWN, who do not have access to this TV channel? TIA.

For you, … none at all.

Couldn’t exactly place what it is I didn’t care about his performance when I watched this, but I think that’s the perfect way of putting it. Didn’t seem to really belong to the world of the film.
Also, clearly saw an edited version of this since I was really taken aback by the violence in that second screenshot you sent lol.

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This movie’s page in the SWDb has been updated to the new 3.0 format. Please do have a look. Let us know if you can add anything, or if there’s aspects that need change or expansion.

There is now a new poll going for this one too. Head up to the original post at the top of the page to participate! :cowboy_hat_face: (trust level 1 and above as always, of course).

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I really like this one. The zapata aspects of the film are more there as a background setting for the heist style. As of now I only have a not-too-good-looking Hungarian dvd, hope a good Blu ray will be released.

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I hope so too. The warner archives dvd is good btw.

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Nice flick. Not a cell phone in sight. Just a bunch of pals rob a train and hurt a lot of people. A Blu ray is needed.

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I think this movie is a lot of fun. Peter Graves gets to play James Phelps in the spaghetti west, Tetsuro Tanba gets to play a samurai in the spaghetti west, and Bud Spencer gets to be…well…Bud Spencer. What more can you ask for in a film?

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I agree, a great lighthearted fun flick

Added some info and pictures n stuff to the film’s page, as I am learning more about it and we’ll enjoy it in HD soon

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I learned something the other day from a Plaion Pictures FB comment. They will include three versions, however no Italian language version. Apparently (aside from the fact that someone else holds the rights in Italy and dont ask me what’s stopping them from dealing with them) the Italian version is also cut differently…
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Esercito_di_cinque_uomini,_Un/BluRay

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It also has different credits, which look better than the more familiar Mexican revolution montage credit sequence, which has always bugged me, because the reflection of the camera lens can be seen throughout … :roll_eyes:

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