Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Rosie Searle 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.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

hrkepler 'Five Guns West' is legendary Roger Corman's debut as director, although he had produced couple of movies before. The film was shot in nine days on $60.000 budget. It shows that the film was made by first time director with being little uneven at places, but it is still entertaining piece.Turing the Civil war, South desperately is in the need of men, so Confederate States gives pardon to five hard criminals and sending them behind enemy lines to capture the traitor and bring back the stolen gold. Sending criminals to do official government business is always interesting premise and the film doesn't disappoint at that department. The characters are interesting, and quite well developed (this is probably due to the low budget - not enough action, but plenty of interesting interactions between characters), so even with the low amount of shooting, the film is entertaining enough to keep the viewer interested - with five hardened criminals and stolen gold in the game, it can't be any other way.Quite well written screenplay, good acting, and filmed in Pathe color, 'Five Guns West' doesn't feel much like rushed low budget independent production. Nothing spectacular, but should interest hardcore Corman (and Western) fans enough.

Michael_Elliott Five Guns West (1955) ** (out of 4) Fairly typical Western has the distinction of being the first film directed by Roger Corman. In the film, John Lund, Mike Connors, Bob Campbell, Jonathan Haze and Paul Birch play convicted men who are given a shot at a full pardon if they sneak into Union territory and hold up a stagecoach carrying $30,000 in gold. If you've ever seen a movie dealing with outlaws given a shot at redemption then you've pretty much already seen this thing. There's certainly nothing Oscar-worthy here but at the same times it's decent enough to serve well as a 78-minute time killer. I think what works in the film's benefit the most is the cast. Again, there aren't any major names in the bunch but all five men make for good performances and the characters are so detailed that you'll have no problem liking them. It was great fun seeing Campbell and Haze playing the brother team. The two are so good together than you can easily believe they are brothers. Most Corman fans will recognize Haze from countless future films including A BUCKET OF BLOOD. Dorothy Malone plays the female who works at the stagecoach office where the men end up staying. She's not too bad here even though that Southern accent is constantly going in and out from one scene to the next. The film really doesn't contain any new twists on the old story and this here is the biggest problem. Going in its easy to tell who will end up doing what and everything plays out just like you'd expect it to. For the most part the film is all dialogue as the men just sit around waiting and waiting for this stagecoach to show up. They talk, threaten one another, talk some more and continue to wait for the coach to show up. With the low budget you sort of expect this but Corman does keep everything at least moving at a good pace.

helpless_dancer What was good for westerns was equally bad for the horror genre...and that was Roger Corman's leaving one and going to the other. What a goofy idea this was for something called entertainment. The Confederate Army was in such bad shape it had to recruit a group of scumbags from death row to bring in a traitor and 30K in gold. They couldn't find a few men in the ranks who could do the job? Just couldn't make it without employing a handful of untrustworthy thieves and killers? Way beyond stupid. Seldom have I seen cornier more overblown performances. And those fight scenes! A class of sixth graders could have been more convincing. Avoid this claptrap.

Arnold-7 This early film by Roger Corman was a promising start to what turned out to be an extraordinary career as a director and producer. It demonstrated his ability to tell an interesting story without much to work with. The story was interesting, it moved right along, and there was a bit of a surprise at the end.