Five Bloody Graves (1969)

Robert Dix plays Ben Thompson, a man seeking vengeance against the Yaqui chief Setago for the death of his wife, on her wedding day no less.

It turns out finding Setago won’t be difficult because the Yaqui are on the warpath, killing every white settler they can find.

And they have help courtesy of two gunrunners — Clay Bates (Jim Davis) and Horace Wiggins (Ray Young) — who make their living selling rifles to Indians.

Next on Setago’s kill list is a group of settlers who’ve been kicked out of Tucson as undesirables.

That group includes gambler Jim Wade (Scott Brady), his pretty blonde wife Lavinia, saloon madam Kansas Kelly and a dark-haired beauty named Althea who works for her.

Along for the ride is preacher Boone Hawkins (John Carradine), who’s armed with a Bible, a derringer and a lecherous mind.

Thompson and half-breed Joe Lightfoot try to guide the small band through Yaqui country to safety. That job won’t be any easier once the gunrunners join their under-siege contingent.

Review:

The film’s poster promises “the most sadistic and sensual slaughter the West has ever witnessed.”

What viewers get is a grade-Z production featuring lots of fake blood and very little that would be considered “sensuous,” unless those scenes were chopped from the print that’s now widely available.

There are some unintentionally hilarious scenes, which at least give the film some camp value. Just check out the death speech by Scott Brady’s character.

In another scene, gambler Jim Wade is slapping around his wife, Lavinia. Not liking what she’s seeing, the saloon madam conks him over the head with a bottle, knocking him unconscious. Whereupon she’s promptly scolded by the wife for possibly hurting her abusive husband. Wow!

Robert Dix, son of Richard Dix of Cimarron (1930) fame, co-produced and wrote the film. At the time, he was married to Darlene Lucht, the actress who plays Althea.

John Cardos had the privilege of playing dual roles, Joe Lightfoot and his half-brother, the feared Setago. Though his performance as the Indian chief consisted mostly of sitting on a horse on a hill — the same hill for the entire film — directing the attacks being carried out by the other Indians with a maniacal look on his face.

You probably won’t recognize her nearly 20 years later, but Paula Raymond played the female lead — a female attorney no less — in the excellent Robert Taylor Western Devil’s Doorway (1950).

Oh, lest I forget, this film is narrated by death, whose monotone approach doesn’t change one iota during the film’s climatic showdown.

Directed by:
Al Adamson

Cast:
Robert Dix … Ben Thompson
Scott Brady … Jim Wade
Jim Davis … Clay Bates
Ray Young … Horace Wiggins
John Carradine … Boone Hawkins
Paula Raymond … Kansas Kelly
John Cardos … Joe Lightfoot / Setago
Darlene Lucht … Althea Richards
as Tara Ashton
Julie Edwards … Lavinia Wade
Ken Osborne … Dave Miller
Vicki Volante … Nora Miller
Maria Polo … Little Fawn
Gene Raymond … Voice of Death
Victor Adamson … Rawhide
Fred Meyers …. Driver
Hill Woelfel … Val

Runtime: 82 min.

Memorable lines:

Voice of Death, regarding the late Mary Thompson, killed by Setago’s arrow on her wedding day: “Weep not for her. She’s found peace. No yesterdays to regret. No todays to endure. No tomorrows to fear.”

Nora Miller, explaining to her husband why she’s hanging out with a former lover: “Two Yaquis tried to take me home for a plaything. Ben here happened by just in time.”

Ben Thompson, trying to provoke a fight: “Yaqui has body of woman.”

Horace Wiggins, when he and Clay Bates find a staked-out Indian squaw: “I want to see, Clay.”
Clay, dismounting with lecherous intentions: “I’ll do all the seeing.”

Lavinia Wade: “Do you know what Indians do to white women?”
Kansas Kelly: “Now that kind of thinking isn’t going to help.”

Preacher Hawkins: “It’s never too late to wash yourself clean.”
Althea Richards: “I don’t feel dirty, Mr. Hawkins.”

Ben Thompson: “There’s nothin’ permanent about me except death.”

Althea Richards, after watching Jim Wade slap around Lavinia: “Jim and Lavinia? Jim’s been doing that for years. Most women like it.”

Kansas Kelly: “Rest the horses? What about my fanny, Ben?”
Ben Thompson: “What about it?”
Kelly: “It’s sorer than hell.”
Ben: “I’m sure not for the first time.”

Althea Richards: “If anything happens to them (Jim Wade and Ben Thompson), we don’t have a prayer.”
Kansas Kelly: “Huh. I’d rub me all over with berry juice, got out there and find me a handsome Yaqui buck.”