Five Card Stud
Dean Martin's a high-stakes gambler who gets embroiled in a mysterious case of vigilante justice when townsfolk catch another gambler cheating and lynch him. Pretty soon, the tables are turned, and members of the lynch mob are being murdered one by one. Robert Mitchum co-stars as a gun-toting preacher in this gritty Western directed by veteran of the genre Henry Hathaway.
Member Reviews
Murder mystery westerns don't come along every day ! - kap0n3
Dean Martin is cool and steady as the gambler who takes part in a game of 5 card stud that turns deadly. When he tries to stop the lynching of a cheating player, he's overpowered. Soon after the lynching, every one in the game is methodically murdered in the most inventive ways. One man is strangled with barbed wire, another is drowned in a flour barrel, etc. Dean spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out who's doing the killing.
While Dean is great, Roddy McDowall is fantastic as the sniveling brother of Dean's girlfriend. He's a mean, cowardly, lying weasel, and no one ever played a weasel better.
Yaphet Kotto is fine as the bartender, and Inger Stevens has a small, shining role as the local purveyor of tonsorial delights (a barber). Robert Mitchum comes into the film a little late; while he's straight and true as the scripture-spouting preacher who sweeps out the long abandoned church and begins hold services, you know he's hiding something.
All in all a fine film. Maybe a little too long; the whole movie doesn't amount to much more than enjoyable entertainment, but the actors and the acting in it are really worth watching.Fan of Old Westerns - Waya
I grew up watching the old westerns and never tire of watching the Duke,Clint, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Van Cleef, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, etc etc. One of the most under rated western stars, in my mind, is Dean Martin. One of my all time favourite movies is Rio Bravo and Martin as "Dude" was a great performance.
Five Card Stud is a notch above the numerous westerns of that era and although it will never be a classic, is fun to watch. The plot plays out as a western mystery which was a little different for the time. Instead of watching a CSI re-run, spend a fun hour and a half with Dean and Robert.
Member Reviews
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Murder mystery westerns don't come along every day ! - kap0n3
Dean Martin is cool and steady as the gambler who takes part in a game of 5 card stud that turns deadly. When he tries to stop the lynching of a cheating player, he's overpowered. Soon after the lynching, every one in the game is methodically murdered in the ...Fan of Old Westerns - Waya
I grew up watching the old westerns and never tire of watching the Duke,Clint, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Van Cleef, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, etc etc. One of the most under rated western stars, in my mind, is Dean Martin. One of my all time favourite movies is ...