When he played he played for blood. 5 Card Stud comes from director Henry Hathaway and features a screenplay by Marguerite Roberts, based on a novel by Ray Gaulden. The cast includes Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Inger Stevens, Roddy McDowall, Katherine Justice, John Anderson, Ruth Springford and Yaphet Kotto. Maurice Jarre handled the music while Daniel L. Fapp was responsible for the cinematography. In Rincon, Colorado, a gambler is discovered cheating at poker, leading the other players to carry out frontier justice by hanging him. However, Van Morgan (Martin) attempted to prevent the execution. Following this event, members of that fateful card game begin turning up dead, indicating someone is enacting their own form of vengeance. Morgan joins forces with the town’s new and unusual preacher, Reverend Jonathan Rudd (Mitchum), in an effort to solve the mystery. It's hard to believe anyone would seriously call 5 Card Stud a masterpiece, though it proves to be an enjoyable film made by people familiar with the conventions of the Western genre. Essentially a Western adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, it functions as a whodunit at its center, but is also filled with typical Western elements like fights, gun battles, murders, rowdy bar scenes and implied prostitution, while the Durango location photography is quite beautiful (the TCM HD print really shines). The film isn't without issues. Jarre’s musical score feels out of place; it’s unclear what type of movie he believed he was scoring, as it doesn’t seem to fit at all. McDowall’s portrayal of a whiny villain falls flat, the costumes are somewhat disappointing and the identity of the killer is given away too soon. Nevertheless, these shortcomings are outweighed by the presence of Mitchum and Martin. Dean Martin returns to his Western roots, reminiscent of Rio Bravo, while Mitch plays on his Night of the Hunter preacher persona, adding a touch of gunfighter charm. The female characters are underserved by the script, but Stevens and Justice both contribute positively to the film, and Kotto brings energy to what could have been a routine part. It’s an entertaining picture; Poker Oater © 7/10

Source on TMDB