5 Card Stud (1968)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Marguerite Roberts (screenplay)
Ray Gaulden (novel)

Release Date:

22 November 1968 (France)

Genre:

Western | Mystery

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Poker | Beautiful Woman | Lynching | Serial Killer | Cardsharp

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	...	U.S.Marshal Al Dana
Ruth Springford	...	Mama Malone (saloon owner)
Yaphet Kotto	...	Little George (Mama's bartender)
Denver Pyle	...	Sig Evers (rancher)
Bill Fletcher	...	Joe Hurley (livery stable owner)
Whit Bissell	...	Dr. Cooper (Rincon, Colorado)
Ted de Corsia	...	Eldon Bates (head of Miners Association)
Don Collier	...	Rowan (gold miner)
Roy Jenson	...	Mace Jones (Evers' hand)

Also Known As:

Five Card Stud (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

103 min | Argentina:105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (certificate #21845)

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Van Morgan and the Reverend Rudd are shooting at the wind mill they empty their guns. The next scene shows them reloading both weapons. The revolvers had swing out cylinders. Later in the gunfight in town, when they reload their pistols, they are now using Colt Peacemakers that have a loading port to the right side of the cylinder.

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.

Soundtrack:

5 Card Stud

A Deadly Poker Game

5 Card Stud is a re-make of Dark City which was released in 1950 and was Charlton Heston's feature film debut. Dean Martin is now playing the Heston part and in many ways he's reprising the role he did in Some Came Running. The role of gambler comes natural to him, it was one of many professions Dino tried in his youth before discovering show business.

In the original the part Robert Mitchum plays originated with Mike Mazurki. Mazurki had a limited role in Dark City so Mitchum's part has been built up considerably. As always Robert Mitchum is interesting.

The original Dark City involved a high stakes poker game in which Don DeFore got trimmed of the rent money and just about everything else. Rather than go home, he kills himself. Soon afterward his psychotic brother goes on a rampage against everyone in that game.

It's no suicide here, but a lynching as the victim is caught cheating. If you've seen Dark City than you already know who the murderer is and it's not too hard to figure it out here.

In the supporting cast, standing out are Roddy McDowell as the spoiled son of a local rancher who leads the lynch party and Yaphett Kotto who is the bartender in the saloon where the fatal poker game took place.

Martin and Mitchum work well together, this is good entertainment.