ROBERT DIX RETURNS TO FIVE BLOODY GRAVES

Robert Dix Interview

The exploitation Western, FIVE BLOODY GRAVES, written, produced and starring Robert Dix, directed by Al Adamson and co-starring Scott Brady and John Carradine… while not the vision Robert had in mind, is a compelling, action-packed movie just the same… And it stands out, being that the entire film, long before THE BOOK THIEF, was narrated by none other than the Grim Reaper…

ROBERT DIX: It’s the first time that Adamson and I worked together. What happened was I wrote the original screenplay which was very different than what ended up on the screen for several different reasons: One of them was Al fell in love with the leading lady and was very distracted, but the other was, we were on short money and I had some good faith money and Al met my bucks and we opened up an account, and we produced the movie, the Western, originally called THE LONELY MAN.

Director Al Adamson

I researched a gunfighter from the American West name of Ben Thompson, and this is based on a true story of Ben. But what happened was there we were in Utah… Monument Valley and Goblin Valley… Some of that scenery that you saw in the Western… But there was coverage lacking in some of the scenes, and by the time they got back in the editing room in Hollywood… the character… the stream of consciousness of the voice of Death, Gene Raymond, was added…

John Bud Cardos

It was kind of a stream-of-consciousness or narrative track that was needed and the theme of what they eventually called FIVE BLOODY GRAVES was that everybody, with the exception of Thompson, met their death by the end of the story so it was kind of like the consciousness that was expected by the audience as people met their demise throughout the story… It was a “gag” that worked well.

The entire Robert Dix interview can be found on podcast form, so go and google away... And for lots more about his career you can purchase his book OUT OF HOLLYWOOD... Robert Dix and his friend, actor/stuntman Gary Kent are very important to the cult/film/freak universe, forever and always.