5 Card Stud (1968)

The players in an ongoing poker game are being mysteriously killed off, one by one.

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Marguerite Roberts (screenplay), Ray Gaulden (novel)

Stars:

Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Inger Stevens

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dean Martin	...	Van Morgan
Robert Mitchum	...	The Rev. Jonathan Rudd
Inger Stevens	...	Lily Langford
Roddy McDowall	...	Nick Evers
Katherine Justice	...	Nora Evers
John Anderson	...	Marshal Dana
Ruth Springford	...	Mama Malone
Yaphet Kotto	...	Little George
Denver Pyle	...	Sig Evers
Bill Fletcher	...	Joe Hurley
Whit Bissell	...	Dr. Cooper
Ted de Corsia	...	Eldon Bates
Don Collier	...	Rowan
Roy Jenson	...	Mace Jones

Storyline

After a card shark is caught cheating, he is taken out and lynched by the drunkards he was playing against. Soon afterwards, the men who were in the lynch mob start being murdered, one after another; all by hanging, strangling, or smothering. Who will be killed next and who is responsible? Is it one of the original party seeking to cover their accursed deed, or perhaps the mysterious Rev. Jonathan Rudd, who has recently arrived in town?

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Plot Keywords:

poker game | year 1880 | serial killer | denver colorado | cheating at cards | 

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Taglines:

A card cheat was hung... then all hell broke loose!

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Genres:

Mystery | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 1968 (France)

Also Known As:

Five Card Stud

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wallis-Hazen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Mitchum narrowly escaped being crushed by a falling camera during filming.

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Goofs

When Van Morgan is playing poker in the opening scene he has a shirt on with two pockets that button down. The next morning after he crawls into town after being hit on the head the night before he has on a shirt with one pocket.

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Quotes

Van Morgan: Wanna do me a favor Mama?
Mama Malone: Depends.
Van Morgan: If I'm not back by dark, will you flip that last chair up?
Mama Malone: What if you do get back?
Van Morgan: Well, I'll just sit down and play me some cards - for money.
Mama Malone: About time. A man don't work, he ain't respectable.

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Soundtracks

5 Card Stud
Sung by Dean Martin
Lyrics by Ned Washington
Music by Maurice Jarre

User Reviews

Great murder mystery western

Murder mystery westerns don't come along every day, and while this one is kind of slow moving, it's still a great movie.

Dean Martin is cool and steady as the gambler who takes part in a game of five 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, though; the whole movie doesn't amount to much more than enjoyable entertainment, but the actors and the acting in it make this really worth watching.