The Dirty Five Out West

In the final days of the U.S. Civil War, the Confederate Army needs to stop a stagecoach carrying an enemy spy from reaching Washington, D.C. With soldiers in short supply, the Confederates pardon five convicts whose "skills"--they're all killers--make them uniquely qualified to accomplish the mission. In addition to capturing or killing the spy, the ruthless ex-cons are tasked with retrieving $30,000 for the South's coffers.

The quintet consists of: a gambler (Mike "Touch" Connors); a sociopath and his older brother (Jonathan Haze and R. Wright Campbell); a cattleman (Paul Birch); and an outlaw (John Lund), who becomes the group's de facto leader. Amid much bickering, alliances are secretly forged among the men as they make their way to a stagecoach station near an abandoned mining town. Once there, they encounter a young attractive woman (Dorothy Malone), who runs the station with her boozing uncle. Jealously quickly pits the killers against each other as they await the stage.

Made in 1955 for a paltry $60,000, Five Guns West marked the directorial debut of maverick filmmaker Roger Corman. The former Stanford University-educated engineer wasn't new to the film business. By the mid-1950s, Corman had produced three films and decided he could save money by directing his own movies. 

Five Guns West is a textbook example of how to make a film on a shoestring budget. Other than a few extras, there are only seven characters--limiting the costs of cast salaries. Most of the action takes place outdoors, so few sets were required. The Indians, mentioned several times as a threat to the mission, appear only via stock footage.

Dorothy Malone.

The only two "stars" in Five Guns West are John Lund and Dorothy Malone. After some lead roles in "A" films such as The Mating Season (1952), Lund's career had already begun a slow decline. In contrast, Dorothy Malone had forged a solid career, though she was unhappy with her parts. Corman once said that he was only able to hire her because she fired her agent and took a reduced salary. Determined to change her image, Malone died her hair blonde and sought more challenging roles. The year following Five Guns West, she co-starred in Written on the Wind (1956)--and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Paul Birch and Mike Connors.

Despite their star status in Five Guns West, Lund and Malone fail to generate much drama on the screen. Supporting player Mike Connors--billed as Touch Connors--steals the film as a charismatic gambler more interested in the $30,000 than Malone's fetching heroine. Veteran actor Paul Birch is also convincing in his few scenes as one of the five. Birch appeared in several Corman films and later had a recurring role on The Fugitive TV series as Captain Carpenter, Lieutenant's Gerard's superior in the police department.

Given its budget limitations, Five Guns West is a watchable Western reminiscent of the later fact-based blockbuster The Dirty Dozen (1967). The opening scenes on the trail are well-written and hint of a tight drama of internal friction. However, that initial promise gives way to a conventional tale once the five reach the stagecoach station. Still, it gets bonus points for an imaginative shoot-out between Lund and Wright in the crawl space of the station's house.

Rock and Dorothy Write It in the Dusty Wind; Leslie Caron Can't Replace Doris

Dorothy Malone may have won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Written on the Wind (1956), but Rock Hudson benefited more from the film's success. Along with Giant (1956) and his Jane Wyman pairings, Written on the Wind propelled Hudson into a major star. Thus, he was at the peak of his career while Malone's film roles were fading when they teamed up with Kirk Douglas in The Last Sunset. Malone's guest appearance in a 1961 two-part episode of Route 66 signaled the beginning of her transition to a television career that eventually resulted in the hit nighttime drama Peyton Place.

In The Last Sunset (1961), Malone plays the wife of a drunken, cowardly rancher (Joseph Cotten) who unknowingly offers a job to his spouse's former lover Bren O'Malley (Douglas). A Texas lawman named Stribling (Rock Hudson) wants O'Malley for the murder of his brother-in-law. The two men encounter each other at the ranch and, surprisingly, agree to put their showdown aside to help Malone and Cotten drive a herd of cattle through dangerous territory.

Considering the talent involved, including former blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo and director Robert Aldrich, The Last Sunset should have been a better film. Nevertheless, the cast keeps it interesting and Kirk Douglas makes Bren one of the most poetic cowboys in American cinema, as evidenced by the passage below:

Find yourself a nice, big boulder with the waves breaking against it. Look deep. Dream of seahorses and they'll come. Not many people know of it. Not many people care. But the sea is a place where the seamen shoe the hooves of the wild sea mare. Not many men have seen it or caught the faintest gleam of the ice green cave in the deep green sea in the heart of the cold sea stream, but the sea mare hides her young sea colt wrapped in a shy sea dream. But probably all the people know and can absolutely say that the foam on the sea is the sign that you see the mare and her colt at play.

Carol Lynley, in one of her first major roles, has the best scenes as Malone's daughter. Ironically, the two actresses share a Peyton Place connection. Carol played Allison in the film Return to Peyton Place (1961), while Dorothy Malone later portrayed Allison's mother on the 1964-69 TV series.

Malone might have improved her performance in The Last Sunset by toning down the glamour. One can almost overlook the soft blonde curls, but her heavy pink lipstick and eye shadow seem inappropriate for a woman driving the chow wagon on the cattle trail.

Finally, one can't discuss The Last Sunset without mentioning a climatic revelation that may make some viewers cringe. It's not that the revelation is surprising--I suspected it from the beginning. It's that the screenwriters insert a scene that will convince many viewers that their suspicions cannot be correct. Thus, when the "truth" (assuming Malone's character isn't lying) is revealed, the realization of what happened (and what could have happened) is an "oh my" moment. If this paragraph doesn't make sense, read it someday after you've seen the movie.

Chadwick talking with two girlfriends
at the same time.

Rock Hudson's versatility and popularity made him one of the busiest actors in the 1960s. In A Very Special Favor (1965), he trades his Western duds for a business suit as a New York-based "trouble-shooter" named Paul Chadwick. He defeats a French attorney, Michel Boullard (Maurice Chevalier), in court by sleeping with the female judge. The elderly Boullard admires Chadwick's way with the ladies. In turn, Chadwick bonds with Boullard and, feeling bad about how he won the case, offers to perform a future favor.

It turns out that Boullard is visiting New York City to spend time with his daughter--whom he hasn't seen in many years. He learns that she is a female psychiatrist (Leslie Caron) who completely dominates her fiance (a very funny Dick Shawn). Deciding that his daughter needs someone who can ignite her passion at least once, he calls in his very special favor with Chadwick.

Leslie Caron.

What follows is the kind of sex farce that Rock Hudson and Doris Day carried off so effortlessly in Lover Come Back (my fave), Pillow Talk, and Send Me No Flowers. The problem with A Very Special Favor is that Leslie Caron lacks Doris' comedic chops--and there's no Tony Randall!

It's still amusing to see Rock, who was a fine comedian, play a ladies' man masquerading as a sensitive guy who's afraid of the opposite sex. His performance, though, is just a variation of the role he played to perfection in Lover Come Back. And without Doris Day--the ying to his yang--A Very Special Favor falls flat too many times.