5 Minutes to LiveThe film opens with Vic Tayback getting the third degree in a police detective's office. He tells the cops, "It all started back in New Jersey were Johnny killed those two cops..." The film cuts away to a warehouse were two men are breaking in. A pair of cops pull up which starts a gun-battle that ends with one of the men, and both cops dead. The survivor is Johnny Cabot, who is played by Johnny Cash. He knows he is now hot, so he grabs his girl, and flees town for the west coast. He cools his heels in a rundown $2.50 a day motel outside of L.A. He starts to grow bored with his dolly and the lack of money.He jumps at the offer of a big payoff for a one day job when contacted by local heavy, Tayback. Tayback has the "perfect" plan. They are going to hit the largest of the local banks for no less than 70 grand. Cash asks as to how only the two of them could pull this off. Tayback lays it all out for him. They will grab the manager's wife as a hostage, and then threaten to kill her if the money is not handed over.Tayback tells Cash he has spent months planning the job and that nothing can go wrong. Cash is to grab the wife while Tayback goes to the bank to pay the manager, Donald Woods, a visit. Next morning they begin the caper. Cash poses as a door to door salesman to gain entry to the banker's house and get a grip on the wife. Tayback calmly enters the bank and asks to see the manager on an urgent matter. He is shown into Woods' office where he quickly fills in Woods on what he must do. Of course it turns out there is a fly in the ointment. It seems Woods has been getting some on the side and had planned to leave for Vegas that night with his new love. Woods sees no reason to pay! Tayback plays it cool and calls the house where Cash is holding the woman. "If you don't hear from me in 5 minutes, kill the woman!" Now the game of chicken starts, will Woods stand his ground or cave? Back at the house, Cash is having a grand old time smacking the wife around and destroying the furniture. Woods meanwhile has agreed to the terms and gets Tayback the money. Tayback tells Woods he will call from outside the bank and have Woods' wife released. Smooth as could be, Tayback heads for the exit. Another fly enters the picture as the guard recognizes Tayback from a poster and jumps him. To Woods horror several bystanders also pile on Tayback. Woods runs for the nearest phone and calls the police. At the house, Cash is enjoying himself so much he loses track of the time. The couples' son, Ronnie Howard, shows up just as the police do. Cash grabs the kid as a shield and runs out the back door. A quick exchange of gunfire and Cash is dispatched.The wife is played by Kay Forester who also wrote the screenplay. The director was Bill Karn. His claim to fame is that fun grade d film, MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD. Despitethe low origins there are several things that make this film work. First, the cast is all quite good with Cash looking great as a gunman with a screw or two loose.Second is the overall look of the film which was lensed by Carl Guthrie. Guthrie worked on such film noir as, THE WOMAN IN WHITE, FLAXY MARTIN, BACKFIRE, THIS SIDE OF THE LAW, HIGHWAY 301 and CAGED. A neat little low, low, low budget gem. I loved it!

This is one incredible film. I'd never even heard of Johnny Cash as an actor before catching this on TCM last week.The plot line is irresistible and to have Cash as the bad guy…you couldn't come up with a more intriguing scenario.I couldn't help thinking of Elvis as I watched this spectacle. He always took good-guy roles in his silly movies but there's none of that nonsense here. Cash is an appalling creature in "Five," a killer and a sadist.Cash's cold victimizer is nothing short of mesmerizing. His every interaction keeps you watching and guessing.This movie is odd in its use of black humor. The cheating bank official cynically fantasizes about using the robbers as wife killers, and just as crudely seems to re-embrace his neglected spouse after her ordeal.And talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder coming of age AFTER this movie came out. Boy, does the wife bounce back quickly! This movie definitely leaves me wondering whether Cash made any other films. If so, it's hard to imagine him outdoing this performance. Wow!

Five Minutes to Live (1961) ** (out of 4) Bizarre thriller about a couple thieves who take a woman (Cay Forrester) hostage to get money from her husband (Donald Woods) who just happens to be Vice President at a local bank. One of the bad guys (Johnny Cash) stays behind with the wife while the other goes to the bank and unlucky for the woman, this guy is a raving maniac who enjoys to torture women. Being a fan of Cash I had always wanted to check this film out and now that I've seen it I'm really not sure what to think. On one hand, it's pretty silly story-wise as there are all sorts of plot holes in the thieves big plans but on the other hand you have some rather outrageous scenes of violence that will put the previous year's PSYCHO to shame. As a "thriller" the film works in parts because the violence is rather shocking. Cash not only physically abuses her with countless slaps, throws to the floor and pistol-whips but he also comes on to her sexuality and not in a consensual manor. The scenes of violence are rather tense but at the same time I can't help but think in some ways that the film is a spoof. Now, what I consider a spoof might hit others as bad film-making but just take a look at the editing here. The film goes for these over dramatic moments by quick edits to the actor's face and then we get silly one-liners. Some of the dialogue given out must have been seen as extremely silly as I'm doubtful a master writer like Cash would be saying them as something real. As far as Cash's performance goes, it's not too bad. He's obviously not a trained actor and he makes some silly facial gestures throughout but for the most part he comes off believable as this psycho. Character actor Woods has seen better days but he isn't too bad. Forrester on the other hand is pretty bad and many of her tears come off incredibly fake and at times laughable. We even get a young Ron Howard playing the couple's child. Cash plays his guitar throughout the film and he even sings the title song, which never made it onto any of his Greatest Hits collections for obvious reasons. To say this film is uneven would be an understatement but it's so bizarre that it's easy to recommend to fans of horror, film noir or just downright strange movies.

I think Johnny Cash could have made quite a career for himself in the movies. I know he did some acting. But, of course, we would have lost out on his music. This shows Johnny really young, with the slick black hair, a quick trigger, and a nut-case mentality. He has been hired by a professional bank robber to hold hostage the wife of a bank official. He taunts her, threatens her. He is truly psychotic. Early on, he shoots down his girlfriend in cold blood because she wants a piece of the action. The weakness in the movie isn't the acting; that's pretty good. It's the lame plot. The plot for the bank robbery is laughable. Vick Tayback sits in the bank and literally robs it without using a weapon and just walking into a safe with the husband. There is a subplot of phone calls among various people. I was interested to see what was going to happen, but it all seemed so implausible. There's also another subplot: the bank official husband is having an affair with a possessive woman. When you watch this, just think of the possible pitfalls. To enumerate them would give away too much. See for yourself.