One of my all time favorites.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Done on a dental floss budget Five Guns West tells the story of the Confederate Army recruiting five outlaws and pardoning them from sentences of death to help recover several thousand dollars of gold bullion. It's kind of a different slant on the plot of the much bigger budgeted Virginia City. We learn that the Confederacy is much interested more in getting their traitorous agent back to stand trial as he has a lot of contacts to give the Union and pretty much blow up their spy system.The five recruited are Michael Connors, John Lund, Paul Birch, R. Wright Campbell, and Jonathan Haze and they're about what you would expect from outlaws. The mission is to intercept a stagecoach at a particular station that will be carrying the agent and the gold. That station is operated by Jack Ingram and his niece Dorothy Malone. Remember these guys are outlaws and haven't been with a woman in a while. As that line from Casablanca would read transfered here, Dorothy constitutes a second front all her own.There are a couple interesting twists in this film involving the characters and the film was Roger Corman's directorial debut. If Corman didn't have a penchant for other genres he might have made some more interesting westerns like Five Guns West.

During the Civil War, five condemned Southern prisoners conscripted already destined for death row are freed to execute a risked mission . The desperate outlaws are drafted to go on a near-suicide aim and attempt to capture a traitor throughout Indian territory . They must carry out the objective in several days with the understanding that if the Confederate don't murder them, the Union Army won't, either . The ambitious confederates commanded by Sturges (John Lund) , join forces to rob a lot of money at a stagecoach . In the hands of hardboiled director Roger Corman and a tough-as-leather cast headed by John Lund and Mike Connors , that's all the plot that's needed to make one rip-roaring Western flick. The mission is displayed in ¨Dirty dozen ¨ style and promised pardons on the condition that they undertake an assignment to head west and bring back a double-crossing Confederate spy who has a stagecoach full of Confederate gold . Meanwhile ,Shalee Jethro (Dorothy Malone) helps her uncle run a desert stagecoach station. The confederates arrive in the station to await a gold shipment they scheme to steal , and Shalee becomes their hostage bait and then the outlaws start to confront among themselves .This is an average Western with crossfire , action , thrills , shotdown , pursuits but some boring and slow-moving . It's made in low budget , however well played by two major actor as John Lund and Dorothy Malone . The secondary actors , technicians ( cameraman Floyd Crosby , musician Bregman ) and writer ( Wright Campbell who wrote various Corman's scripts ) will repeat with Roger in subsequent films . Passable support cast as Paul Birch , Wright Campbell , Jonathan Haze who acted in ¨Little shop of horrors¨ and Mike ¨Touch¨ Connors ( His Touch nickname comes from his college basketball playing days) who worked in ¨The Oklahoma Woman¨ , ¨Day the world ended¨ and many others Corman products. Furthermore , brief acting , almost extra , of James B. Sikking . The motion picture is regularly directed by Roger Corman . During the 50-60s Roger Corman directed Western as ¨The Oklahoma Woman ¨ ¨Apache Woman¨ and ¨Five guns West ¨ , but his specialty were the terror movies , Edgar Alan Poe saga, and monsters movies as ¨Attack the crab monsters ¨, ¨ It conquered the world, ¨ Beast with a million eyes¨, ¨ Wasp man ¨, ¨ Viking women and great serpent ¨ , ¨ Little shop horrors ¨ though Corman also produced several films as ¨ Night of the blood beast ¨ and ¨ Attack of the giant leeches¨ . Rating : Mediocre , only for Roger Corman aficionados .

I couldn't get over seeing Roger Corman's name in the opening credits as both producer and director of "Five Guns West", out the same year as another low budget flick that marked the beginning of his career - "Swamp Women". Oddly, both films featured a young Mike Connors in a lead role, but credited in each as 'Touch' Connors. In this picture, he's one of five outlaws pardoned by the Confederacy in exchange for undertaking a special assignment on behalf of the Southern cause. The entire plot becomes rather dubious because by the time the men intercept a stagecoach supposed to be bearing thirty thousand dollars in hard currency, neither their human target or the money is anywhere to be found. Dorothy Malone is thrown into the middle of the story as a bit of a distraction and something of a love interest for the nominal leader of the bad guys, Govern Sturgess (John Lund). Probably the dumbest scene in the film was that shootout under the porch between Sturgess and John Candy, the Candy Brothers impressing me as the original Dumb and Dumber. Brother Will in fact was such a hothead that it was surprising he lasted as long as he did in the story; in the course of the picture he wound up picking a fight with each of his companions. I did however get a kick out of the scene where they cut off and shook the rattlesnake's tail, a gimmick visited some fifteen years later in "Two Mules For Sister Sara". My question still is - can you really do that with a rattlesnake tail?There's really not a lot here to get excited about other than seeing an early Corman effort. From that standpoint, it's a lot better than a bunch of later stuff he did in the grade Z horror category, but at least flicks like "The Wasp Woman" and "Creature From The Haunted Sea" had some camp value. This one sets out with an interesting premise, but winds up being hijacked along with the Dawn Springs stagecoach.

Mediocre story about 5 southern prisoners given pardons in exchange for intercepting a Confederate spy using an alleged gold shipment as an inducement. John Lund is the good guy while all the others are the bad guys. This has some good acting concerning the participants involved, but the story is ridiculous and the premise is wildly implausible. Why trust a bunch of criminals to do this kind of a job? Good grief!This is Roger Corman's first attempt at the directors chair and it shows, but at least he filmed it outdoors instead of on cheap Hollywood soundstages. Maybe he couldn't afford it. Or the box lunches, for that matter. (laughs) It also has Dorothy Malone as the love interest who not too long afterwards, would earn an Oscar for WRITTEN ON THE WIND. Talk about a career jump!3 out of 10