I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Before making "Five Minutes to Live", Johnny Cash's only prior film credits included a handful of TV Western guest appearances. On the flip side, seven year old Ron Howard, billed here as Ronnie, already had a pretty extensive career spanning five years. I don't think any of this really matters as far as the picture goes, but I like getting into this kind of trivia.What you have here is the makings of a cult classic, but up until today I had never heard of it. It's packaged as one of two hundred fifty films as part of the Mill Creek Mystery Collection, and as my habit goes, I pick the flicks to watch at random. I'm well past the half way mark by now and never noticed Johnny Cash's name on any of the DVD sleeves or I would have put this at the head of the line. After watching it though, it might just as well stay at the back of the pack.Well, to be fair, if you're a Johnny Cash fan, you'll want to catch this little gem, but for all the wrong reasons. His performance here is maniacally sadistic, juxtaposed with occasional riffs on his guitar belting out lines from the title song. It's all kind of surreal in it's own way, and perhaps there was a method to the madness of Cash cashing in on his growing celebrity status as a country singer. Otherwise I wouldn't get this at all.The single plot element that really could have taken this film over the top was the idea that bank president Wilson (Donald Woods) was OK with ex-con Fred Dorella (Vic Tayback) having his wife killed if he didn't fork over seventy grand. That whole story line went down the drain well before it had to, and it would have been much more interesting if Wilson told Dorella to just go ahead. And by the way, why go through the pretense of having Wilson cash Dorella's check - he was robbing the bank!!! Anyway, it looks like most of the posters on this board had a fine time with the flick so I don't want to throw any more cold water on it. You'll have to see it and judge for yourself. For my money, it was worth the proportional price I paid for the Mill Creek box set, which would have pegged it at about twenty cents. If you do catch the film, pay attention when the bowling alley owner Max (Merle Travis) encounters Tayback's character early in the story and orders him up a 'club and soda' - wouldn't that just be a plain club soda?

This movie starts out fair enough. We see Johnny Cash shooting down police officers, his face jiggling as his machine gun rattles. A cool song of his comes on called, appropriately enough, "Five minutes to live". A couple of scenes pass buy, introducing the characters, who seemed interesting, at first. Johnny Cabot is an ex-con looking for a way to make some quick cash. Nancy Wilson is a housewife too caught up in activities outside the home to spend time with her family. Donald Wilson is her bored bank president husband, who is seeing another woman on the side. And then there's "Ronnie" Howard, as their son. There's a couple of other characters, two cons who include Johnny in their scam in robbing the banker. If he doesn't give them the cash, his wife gets shot by Johnny Cash. So the first few minutes were promising. Them, when Johnny got the banker's wife into her home alone, I could tell this was going to be boring. After Johnny smashes some pottery and forces himself upon Nancy, there really wasn't much left for them to do except sit around playing guitar while one points a gun at the other. I'll admit a bit of suspense comes into play, as the two wait for the call from the banker that will save the woman's life,but this accumulates to nothing, as, rest assured, owl' Donald comes to the rescue just in time to save his wife. The problem with this movie was, it tried it's best to NOT be dark. It added bland humor at every possible moment, gave Ronnie some mildly funny jabs, and makes sure the ending is as happy as possible. Ronnie doesn't get shot, after all, bad guy dies, Donald ends his affair, and they all lived happily ever after. The movie is wrapped up with a little bow, as Nancy and Donald drive off with grins on their faces and stars in their eyes.This overshadows the somewhat dark performance by Johnny Cash, and the first 10 minutes or so, which has several people shot down by Johnny. In my opinion, it looks like they tried to make a film noir for Andy Griffith fans, and just didn't pull it off successfully. Maybe, if this film were remade by the Coen Brothers, we would have a good film. I can see William H. Macy as Donald Wilson right now... Note:I was calling the hero character Donald Wilson. The character's name is Ken Wilson, while the actor's name is Donald Woods. My mistake.

This does not make sense. Why would the plot say that these killers went door to door killing whoever answered the door. That is a down right lie. No where in the movie did this ever happen!!!! It had only one motive, one event, no maniacs going door to door. I just wanted to know why it is stated that a band of killers go from door to door killing the people who answer the door. There is no band, just two characters who are involved with this bank robbery. There is basically one hostage and one ransom plea of $70,000. If you are going to rob a bank, you would not use your real name, would you? The manager of the bank discovers a wanted poster with the robber's name and picture. Too obvious.

I had never heard of this flick before I discovered it at the dollar store. It was only a buck so i had to get it and I can definitely say it was worth the money. I almost feel as if i should go back to the store and insist they let me pay them so more(it was that worth it to me) Johnny Cash's hair is perfect it's almost another character altogether. When he gets mad it gets mad and when he's cool it stays cool. And it stays cool most of the films as Johnny Cash does a good job playing the well dressed bad guy. The guitar playing is really interesting and kind of creepy. Creepy because who wouldn't be a little freaked out by a guy whose been sent to kill you; singing and playing the guitar? I liked the story line, of course it's very dated being as it was a low budget film made in 1961; but it was still enjoyable. I also really liked Vic Tayback's performance. I know he's been in a lot of things but I only really remember him when he was fat and balding Mel Sharples on ALICE. Seeing him in this movie made me want to look for some other stuff he's in. Also, little Ronnie Howard is adorable!