Esercito di cinque uomini, Un
From The Spaghetti Western Database
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Un Esercito di cinque uomini (Year: 1969 / Director: Italo Zingarelli & Dario Argento)
Also known as
The Five Man Army | Die Fünf Gefürchteten (Germany) | Un esercito di 5 uomini | Der Dampfhammer (Germany) | Dicker, lass die Fetzen fliegen (Germany) | Ejercito de cinco (Spain) | 5 hommes armes (France) | Fem Professionella Man (Sweden) | Viiden miehen armeija (Finland) | 5 Kisilik ordu (Turkey)
Cast and Crew
- Cast: Bud Spencer (Mesito/Panchito), Peter Graves (Dutchman), James Daly (Augustus Bennett), Claudio Gora (Manuel Esteban), Tetsuro Tamba (Samurai), Carlo Alighiero (Captain Gutierrez), Nino Castelnuovo (Luis Dominguez), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (as Jack Stuart) (Mexican officer), Daniela Giordano (Maria), Marino Masé (train engineer), José Torres (Mexican spy), Annabella Andreoli (Perla), Artemio Antonini, Luigi Bonos (as Gigi Bonos) (priest), Marc Lawrence (carnival barker), Osiride Pevarello, Dan Sturkie, Pietro Torrisi, Fortunato Arena (Commandant of execution squad), Dante Cleri (mayor od pueblo), William Conroy (uncredited), Gildo Di Marco (uncredited), Tony Norton (uncredited), Steffen Zacharias (poker player)
- Story: Dario Argento, Don Taylor
- Screenplay: Dario Argento, Marc Richards
- Cinematography: Enzo Barboni [Metrocolor, Delta Vision]
- Music: Ennio Morricone
- Producer: Italo Zingarelli
Story
The movie is set during the Mexican Revolution in 1914. The Dutchman gathers his men for a major task: he wants to rob a military goldtrain. All five men have their own specialized skills and knowledge of dynamite and train robbery.
Before they can start with their plan to rob the train, they rescue a leader of the rebellion from execution by the mexican government troops. In the next village they are arrested when one of them - Luis Dominguez - is recognized by a Mexican officer. Their escape is quite spectacular.
At a quite place at the railroad track they work out their plan to rob the goldtrain, which is heavily guarded by Mexican soldiers. Of course they succeed and capture the gold.
Then the unity of the five men army disappears when Luis and the Dutchman claim the gold for themselves. The next betrayal comes from the Dutchman who claimes all the gold for the Mexican Revolution. He pays his former comrades only 1000 dollar and tries to get away with the gold.
This plan fails because of the Mexican army which attacks the village. United the five men army defends themselves and the gold. When the army has fled, the Mexican rebels take over the village and gratulate the five men with their brave piece of work. Viva la revolution!
Review
Five Man Army can best be described as a marked-down Magnificent Seven. Peter Graves, James Daly, Bud Spencer, Testuro Tamba and Nino Castelnuovo play the quintet of the title. Caught in the middle of the 1914 Mexican Revolution, the five men pool their individual skills in hopes of incapacitating the enemy. With Mission: Impossible star Graves in the lead, it's only natural that the plan involves the "impossible" task of relieving a nasty general of a large gold shipment. Set in Mexico but filmed in Italy, this spaghetti western was bankrolled by MGM, the same folks who brought you the popular The Dirty Dozen and who were undoubtedly hoping that lightning would strike twice.
DVD
- USA: Shoarma Digital
- Brazil: Ocean Pictures
