The Five Man Army (1969)

Peter Graves is the Dutchman, a American living in Mexico who gathers a group of four specialists to help him accomplish a desperate mission.

His goal: to steal $500,000 from a train heavily guarded by Mexican soldiers.

For the mission, he lures a knife thrower (Samuri), an acrobat (Luis Dominguez), an explosive expert (Capt. Augustus) and a strongman (Mesito) with the promise of some quick money.

They sign on at the promise of a $1,000 payday. They also figure their share might be much greater given the bounty at stake if the job goes as planned.

After all, they’ve all run afoul of the law before. Taking the gold shipment for their own would make them all rich men.

But the Dutchman is sincere in his pledge that he’s doing this for the revolution.

He lost his wife and adopted family to the military government that rules Mexico, and is eager to do anything he can to help the peasants succeed in overthrowing that government.

Review:

A fabulous Ennio Morricone score is wasted on a film that’s certainly watchable, but should have been much better. The biggest problem: too much formula, too little grit.

With Bud Spencer in the cast, we naturally get an extended scene of our heroes eating, for no other purpose than to show off his character’s big appetite.

Though the four specialists have ridden miles and miles to reach The Dutchman — changing from U.S. to south-of-the-border duds along the way — he feels the need to introduce them to one another, describing their past exploits and misadventures.

The biggest problem of all is the mission itself. Capt. Augustus predicts they’ll all die it’s so difficult. In truth, all five survive without a scratch. Almost without the threat of a scratch as they bring down guards with knives and slingshots!

Oh, Samuri does fall off the train at one point. But he runs really fast through fields and over hills to catch up. Robbing a train never looked so easy.

Directed by:
Don Taylor

Cast:
Peter Graves … Dutchman
Bud Spencer … Mesito
James Daly … Capt. Augustus
Nino Castelnuovo … Luis Dominguez
Claudio Gora … Manuel Esteban
Tetsuro Tamba … Samuri
Carlo Alighiero … Capt. Gutierrez
Daniela Giordano … Maria
Annabella Andreoli … Perla

Also with: Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (as Jack Stuart), Marino Masé, José Torres, Artemio Antonini, Luigi Bonos, Dan Sturkie, Osiride Pevarello, Pietro Torrisi, Fortunato Arena, Dante Cleri, Gildo Di Marco, Steffen Zacharias

aka:
Un esercito di cinque uomini

Score: Ennio Morricone

Runtime: 105 min.

Memorable lines:

Augustus: “A train? That should be easy.”
Luis: “Perhaps you not think so once you find what this train is like.”
Mesito: “I don’t care what it’s like. For a half a million dollars, I’ll put it on my back and carry it away.”

The Dutchman to Mesito: “A suggestion: put your money into something you can’t eat.”

Capt. Gutierrez, pressing Maria for information: “You will find heroism is for men, chica. It is much easier for a woman to be persuaded to forsake her ideals.”

Capt. Augustus, when outnumbered Mexican rebels guard their escape: “Some men die for money. Some men die for causes. They’re gonna die for us.”

Capt. Augustus: “We’re as good as dead, and you know it.”
Dutchman: “Well why’d you accept then?”
Augustus: “Cause we’re dead already. Have been. For a long time. Our times are over, gone.”

Trivia:

Peter Graves was star of the U.S. television series “Mission Impossible” at the time and made this film during a hiatus from that show.

James Daly has a long acting career, primarily on TV shows, and spent seven years in the recurring role of Dr. Paul Lochner on the hit show “Medical Center.” He is the father of “Cagney and Lacey” star Tyne Daly.

Daniela Giordano said producers wanted an actress who could speak English for the part she landed. In the final cut of the film, her character screams a couple of times, but barely speaks.

Tetsuro Tamba as Samuri, finding himself in the custody of Mexican regulars in The Five Man Army (1969)

James Daly as Capt. Augustus hearing about the heavily fortified train The Dutchman plans to rob in The Five Man Army (1969)

Nino Castelnuovo as uis Dominguez, getting ready for action in The Five Man Army (1969)

Daniela Giordano as Maria and Annabella Andreoli as Perla, two Mexican girls about to create a diversion for the The Five Man Army (1969)