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Five Minutes to Live

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Five Minutes to Live
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBill Karn
Screenplay byCay Forrester
Story byPalmer Thompson
Produced byJames Ellsworth
Ludlow Flower
StarringJohnny Cash
Donald Woods
Cay Forrester
Pamela Mason
Vic Tayback
CinematographyCarl E. Guthrie
Edited byDonald Nosseck
Production
company
Somera Productions-Flower Film Productions
Distributed bySutton Pictures
Release date
  • December 7, 1961 (1961-12-07) (United States)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$300,000
Box office$5,655,000
Five Minutes To Live

Five Minutes to Live is a 1961 American neo-noir[1] crime film directed by Bill Karn. It was retitled Door-to-Door Maniac for an American International Pictures rerelease in 1966. The film stars Johnny Cash, in his first theatrical film role, Donald Woods, Vic Tayback, and Cay Forrester, who wrote the screenplay and whose husband, Ludlow Flower, produced.[2] Cash performed the film's title song, with a guitar solo by Merle Travis, who also appears in the film as Max.

Plot

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Fred sits in a dark room, detailing his most recent bank robbery and talking about how he teamed with hardened criminal Johnny Cabot to execute his plan. Cabot plans to take Nancy Wilson, wife of the bank's vice president Ken Wilson, as a hostage. He intends to hold her until Fred calls confirming that they have the ransom money. Cabot watches the Wilson house as Ken leaves for work and their son Bobby heads off to school. Posing as a door-to-door guitar instructor, Cabot talks his way into the house and takes Nancy hostage.

At the bank, Fred enters Ken's office and demands a $70,000 ransom to spare Nancy's life. He tells Ken to call home for proof that Nancy is being held hostage, then informs him that if he does not call Cabot again in five minutes, Nancy will die. Ken responds that he has been planning to leave Nancy to abscond to Las Vegas with his mistress Ellen. He tells Fred that he will be doing him a favor by killing his wife. Fred does not believe that Wilson will let his wife die. He is proven correct when Ken finally cracks and agrees to pay the ransom.

Fred calls Cabot and starts the clock again. After the five minutes have passed, Fred presses Ken to hurry. Meanwhile, at the Wilson house, Cabot is enjoying terrorizing his hostage. He begins forcing her to listen to his songs about her impending demise, shooting at her, and making sexual advances. Back at the bank, Fred has captured by the police, who arrived after someone tripped the silent alarm. Cabot grows nervous after not receiving the expected call from Fred. Bobby returns home for lunch.

The police arrive outside the house. In a panic, Cabot grabs Bobby and attempts to flee, running right into police gunfire. Bobby pretends that he has been shot to encourage Cabot to release him. Upset by the apparent shooting of the young boy, Cabot returns fires and is killed by the police. Nancy runs outside to find her son still alive and well. Fred finishes recounting his story to the police, as Ken drives to Las Vegas with his wife, not his mistress.

Cast

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Remake

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A proposed remake of the film to be directed by Jan de Bont was announced in 2012.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; Ursini, James; Porfirio, Robert (2010). Film Noir: The Encyclopaedia. Overlook Duckworth (New York). ISBN 978-1-59020-144-2.
  2. ^ Five Minutes To Live at IMDb.
  3. ^ Jeremy Kay (20 January 2012). "Jan De Bont to remake crime drama Five Minutes To Live". Screen.
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