Themes: Murder Investigations, Prospectors and Land Rights
Main Cast: Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Inger Stevens, Roddy McDowall, Katherine Justice
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum play deadly adversaries in this curious mixture of the western and mystery genres. During a poker game in Rincon, Colorado, a stranger in the game is lynched for cheating. One of the gamblers, Van Morgan (Dean Martin), tries to prevent the lynching but is rebuffed and promptly leaves town. Soon a gold rush hits Rincon, bringing all manner of men and women -- including self-ordained preacher, Rev. Jonathan Rudd (Robert Mitchum) and brothel madame Lily Langford (Inger Stevens). Learning that two of the men in the poker game have been murdered, Van returns to Rincon to find out why. Once in town, Van is diverted from his investigation by the attentions of Lily and of Nora Evers (Katherine Justice). But when two more of the poker game's participants are killed, Van must spring into action to track down the killer. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Five Card Stud deserves credit for trying something new with the Western, namely combining it with a typical murder mystery story. Unfortunately, screenwriter Marguerite Roberts and original author Ray Gaulden seem to think that just grafting the two genres together is all that was needed. After coming up with a viable gambit -- a Ten Little Indians-style serial murder among the participants of a particularly unfortunate poker game -- the writers didn't follow through. There's far too little mystery in the mystery, with the identity of the killer fairly obvious and the red herrings equally so. There's also a bit too much padding, especially in the unconvincing manner in which the initial killings turn the town of Rincon inside out and produce open warfare. By this point in his career, Henry Hathaway had been involved with enough westerns that he could have directed Stud with his eyes closed. This turned out to be both a positive and a negative. On the plus side, there are several sequences which reveal his sure hand and experience; on the minus side, things feel a bit tired and the flic drags far too often. The cast tries hard, with Robert Mitchum taking top honors and Dean Martin coming off much better than might be expected. But Roddy McDowall flounders, and Inger Stevens and Katherine Justice have to contend with parts that are quite poorly written. And Maurice Jarre has provided what surely is one of the worst and most inappropriate scores ever written for a Western. Stud holds some interest, but on the whole it falls far short of the mark of a good "oater." ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
5 Card Stud is a 1968 Western, released by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Henry Hathaway, the script, based on a novel by Ray Gaulden, was written by Marguerite Roberts, who also wrote the screenplay of True Grit for Hathaway the following year. The film features Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum.
In the 1880 town of Rincon, Colorado, a gambler is caught cheating at a five-card stud poker game. One of the players, Van Morgan, tries to prevent the others from administering frontier justice, but is unable to stop the man's lynching. Morgan leaves town, but later returns when he hears that a couple of the other players from that ill-fated game have been murdered.
The town has a new resident, a stern preacher named Reverend Rudd. As more members of the lynch mob are killed off one by one, it becomes clear that someone is taking revenge and it is up to Morgan to solve the mystery. Finally, only he is left. He discovers the identity of the killer just in time.
