Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Robert Woods is Jeff Clayton, who has already won $5,000 at poker when the game’s big loser returns, asking for one last hand.

This time, the stranger will wager his portion of a ranch. He loses, tries to gun down Clayton in despair, and loses again, winding up dead on the floor of the saloon.

Clayton rides off, much more interested in the $5,000 than the partial ownership of a ranch.

At least until he stumbles across a Mexican named Carrancho, tied out in the desert and left to die.

Clayton saves him. How does Carrancho pay him back? By stealing his horse and the $5,000.

With nothing else left, Clayton sets off for Creek Town in search of the GG Ranch, where he’s now part owner.

In Creek Town, he finds a whip-wielding enforcer named Jimmy Nero with an interest in owning ranches and a band of henchmen ready to help force the owners to sell.

At the GG Ranch, he finds pretty Helen Greenwood (Maria Sebaldt), her younger brother David (Frank Stewart) and a cold welcome.

So cold, Helen rushes off for a meeting an an attorney named Dundee (Richard Haussler) to find out how the GG Ranch can rid itself of the new partner.

Her opinion will change over time.

And Clayton’s familiarity with the rascal named Carrancho will pay off more than once.

Robert Woods as Jeff Clayton, spotting a possible ambush in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Fernando Sancho as Carrancho, showing off one of his trusty knives in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Review:

A moderately entertaining early Spaghetti. Now what we need is a print with at least English subtitles and one that runs longer than 77 minutes (most sites list the true run time in the neighborhood of 90).

Woods plays an athletic hero in his first Western, diving here and there and rolling around as much as he shoots. He saves Helen’s brother after he’s been falsely accused of robbing a bank, then fakes the young man’s death so he won’t be in danger from those who tried to lynch him.

Sancho turns in the type of boisterous performance he’d become famous for. He’s certainly deadly with those little knives he carries around. And he has a mean streak. At one point, he has an option of saving an enemy about to tumble down a cliff or help him along. He helps make the fall a certainty, then spits on the man as he drops to his death.

The action scenes are fairly well done — especially an attempt by Nero’s men to ambush Clayton in a barn — and there’s a neat little bit of humor at the end involving the two male leads.

But the script also gives up the film’s “twist” very early and the available print doesn’t make very good use of Jimmy Nero and his whip in spite of his potential as a truly nasty villain.

The success of this film quickly spawned another — “The Man from Canyon City” — in which Sancho revived the Carrancho character.

Helmut Schmid as Jimmy ‘The Black’ Nero,’ a villain with a whip to match his fast gun in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Richard Haussler as Dundee, an attorney making a bid for the GG Ranch in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Directed by:
Alfonso Balcazar

Cast:
Robert Woods … Jeff Clayton
Fernando Sancho … Carrancho
Helmut Schmid … Jimmy ‘The Black’ Nero
Maria Sebaldt … Helen Greenwood
Frank Stewart …. David Greenwood
Richard Haussler … Dundee, attorney
Antonio Molina Rojo … Dingus
Miguel de la Riva … Jack
Albert Gadea … Gypsy
Hans Nielsen … Judge Keystone
Paco Sanz … Craig, the banker
Jaime Avellan … Sheriff

Also with: Norman Preston, Pedro Gil, Cesar Ojinaga, Fernando Rubio, Carlos Hurtado, Juan Torres, Rafael Anglada, Francisco Garcia, Jose Castellui, Barbara Frey

Runtime: 91 min.

aka:
Pistoleros de Arizona
5,000 dollari sul’asso

Music: Angelo Frenceco Lavagnino

Songs:
“A Gambling Man” sung by Don Powell

Maria Sebaldt as Helen Greenwood, confiding in Attorney Dundee in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Frank Stewart as David Greenwood, one of the other owners of the GG Ranch in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Memorable lines:

Sorry, I watched a non-English print of this film.

Francisco Sanz as Craig, a banker who pays a high price for his honesty in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Maria Sebaldt as Helen Greenwood welcomes the judge (Hans Nielsen) and sheriff (Jaime Avellan) back to town in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Trivia:

* This was the first Western produced by Balcazar Studios and the first Spanish Western to be sold to MGM, according to Simon Gelten’s review on the Spaghetti Western Database. The studio would produce many more, including both of Giuliano Gemma’s Ringo films.

* This also marked the Spaghetti Western debut of Robert Woods, though producers left the ‘s’ off his last name. It wasn’t the last time that would happen.

* In a Once Upon a Time in Spaghetti Westerns podcast episode, Woods recalled that the first stunt he did for the film was falling off a cliff. “I got up. I was bruised. I was bleeding. The director — Alfonso Balcazar — said, ‘That was greet, let’s do another.’ I said, ‘You want to do another, direct yourself. I’m not doing that again.’ So he took me back to the office that night and tore up my contract.” The contract was for five films. “I decided, if I have to do those kind of stunts, I’m okay with that. So we finished the film.”

* Marie Sebaldt went on to a long career in German television. And, according to IMDb, she was the German dubbing voice for a pair of American stars — Joanne Woodward and Eva Marie Saint.

Robert Woods as Jeff Clayton and Fernando Sancho as Carrancho confront Nero’s henchmen in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Maria Sebaldt as Helen Greenwood, being questioned by one of Nero’s men in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Robert Woods as Jeff Clayton, held at gunpoint by one of Nero’s men in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)

Frank Stewart as David Greenwood, Robert Woods as Jeff Clayton and Fernando Sancho as Carrancho, ready for a showdown in Five Thousand Dollars for One Ace (1965)