DOOR TO DOOR MANIAC - Johnny Cash - "Five Minutes To Live" (1961)

Now this is really a Saturday Night Special, and once more we gotta give big kudos to Tabonga for rounding up this dirty little unpolished jewel! Wow!

Where else would you expect a "Door To Door Maniac" to live than at The Camellia Gardens Motel and Trailer park? That's where all the low lifes in town end up!!

This film had a pretty small cast, but what a cast it was!
On the left bowling, is smalltime mastermind bank robber Fred Dorella, and on the right is local entrepreneur Max! You might recognize Fred as Vic Tayback with hair or Mel in 191 episodes of the TV series "Alice!" Max was played by amazing musician and songwriter, Merle Travis! Besides writing the hit song by Tex Williams and/or Commando Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke," Merle also wrote the all time classic song recorded by that ole pea picker himself, Tennessee Ernie Ford, "Sixteen Tons!"

Doris will soon find out that she doesn't know Johnny as well as she thinks she does!!

Here's the happy Wilson family! Donald Woods who'll you'll remember as the father in "13 Ghosts" and Cay Forrester as Nancy!

Yep, you're right, little Bobby here was played by Opie, or as some people know him Ronnie Howard! Ron's gone on to have a pretty good run I'd say!!

Lean and mean Johnny Cash as Johnny Cabot is almost not recognizable as the Johnny Cash we have all come to know and love!

Here's the basics, in the guise of a guitar lesson salesman, Johnny asks for a glass of water, sneaks in the house and takes Mrs. Wilson hostage while Fred is at the bank asking her vice-president husband to kick with 70 thousand dollars or Johnny's going to kill his wife!

Johnny's a real mean S.O.B. and this is one lowdown, greasy, sleazy and sometimes brutal film that will conjure up visions of Arch Hall's "The Sadist" and Orson Welles' "Touch Of Evil" in your brain all at the same time!

Whenever Johnny wasn't picking and singing, the music was provided by composer Gene Kauer, who went on to do of all things, "The Faces Of Death" films!

Meanwhile, back at the bank, Fred and Ken have their own completely separate "Fargoesque" scene going on.

There are some light moments like here, where Johnny is getting really frustrated, because he's waiting on the call, and Mrs. Wilson can't get her blabbermouth friend Priscella to shut up!!

Then Opie, I mean Bobby comes home and goofs up the whole thing, as it seems Johnny's got a soft spot in his heart for kids! Aaaaahhhhh! It's all quite touching, and you havn't lived til you've seen American icons, Johnny Cash and Ron Howard in a scene together!

I won't give away the ending! Try and find your own copy, and good luck with that!!