Cinq cartes à abattre

The corrosion of any sort of quality in the screenwriting of recent decades makes tight plotting a surprise wherever one finds it. Here it is. The ongoing verbal duel between Martin and Mitchum is Shakespeare compared to the posturing of recent tough-guy flicks. Also see Martin's acting in "Rio Bravo" to find significant talent in an often-overlooked comic actor.

Tightly-wound tale of bitter revenge, with lots of shooting and a high body count. In the gold-mining town of Rincon, Colorado, a tinhorn cheating at cards is lynched by his fellow poker players, who then find themselves at the mercy of a serial killer intent on picking them off one by one. Strong adaptation of a novel by Ray Gaulden provides the perfect opportunity for Robert Mitchum to get back into preacher's garb (following "The Night of the Hunter"), though Dean Martin as a professional gambler looks a bit piqued around the gills. There's some confusion in the final third regarding an important plot twist, and Roddy McDowall's sniveling lynch-mob leader is wearing; however, the salty mood of the piece and the mercurial characters are intriguing and enjoyable. As sagebrush whodunits go, this one stands fairly tall in an uncrowded genre. Yaphet Kotto is excellent as a no-nonsense bartender, while Inger Stevens provides a smart, sophisticated love-interest for Dino playing a barbershop proprietress-cum-Madame (another unusual facet). *** from ****

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.

It's a film noir/Western/suspense of bizarre beauty and extraordinary performances ; being based on a novel by Ray Gaulden and interesting screenplay by Marguerite Roberts . A card shark is caught cheating, he is taken out and lynched , later on , this engenders several murders . The players in an ongoing poker game are being mysteriously killed off, one by one . A professional gambler (Dean Martin) who attempted to prevent the lynching tries to ensnare the assassin with the aid of a preacher (Robert Mitchum) with a weapon .

Suspenseful film dealing with a card player who is lynched by the drunkards he was playing against. Tension from the opening game going on until ending and never lets up , being for Agata Christie aficionados . This is a tremendously exciting story of an obstinate card player and a strange preacher with a gun . It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark characters , strong supporting work , solid plot and in whodunit style . The tale is almost grim , a priest comes to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . Main cast is frankly magnificent . Sympathetic Dean Martin as as a reluctant card gambler and nice Robert Mitchum as a gun-toting preacher . First-rate Robert Mitchum in similar role and performance to ¨Night of the hunter¨ that was the acting of his life . In addition , Roddy McDowall steals the show as the cynic Nick . Supporting cast is extremely good such as Inger Stevens as Lily Langford , Katherine Justice as Nora Evers , John Anderson as Marshal Dana , Yaphet Kotto as Little George , Denver Pyle as Sig and Whit Bissell as Dr. Cooper , among others . Good Technicolor cinematography by Daniel F. Fapp . Enjoyable musical score ties up a top-notch Western package ; it is composed by the maestro Maurice Jarre . Furthermore , agreeable song by Dean Martin , including lyrics by Ned Washington . Watchable results for this offbeat Western .

This well-paced in cracking style flick is compellingly directed by Henry Hathaway and usually works very well , taking a firm grip on the action and suspense . Here he directs efficiently Dean Martin and with strong screen presence by Robert Mitchum , both of whom collaborated in some Western . Hathaway himself was only even nominated for an Oscar , but his movies themselves are testimony to his skills to heighten narrative tension and shoot action so exhilarating it made adrenalin run . He does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in a large frame with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action . Henry was a craftsman who had a long career from the 30s with successful films , and especially Westerns , as ¨Brigham Young¨ and ¨Raw Hide¨ . In his 60s Hathaway still got the vigour to make some fiery movies as ¨From Hell to Texas¨, ¨How the West was won¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, and ¨Shoot out¨ . He was an expert on Western genre as he proved in ¨True grit¨ , ¨Five card stud¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ ,¨How the West was won¨ , ¨Rawhide¨ , ¨Brigham Young¨ , ¨Buffalo Stampede¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ and ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨. Rating : nice Western that will appeal to Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin fans .

A gambler by the name of "Van Morgan" (Dean Martin) is playing cards late one night inside a saloon in the small mining town of "Rincon". When he briefly excuses himself and leaves the table, the other men discover one of the players cheating. Led by a man named "Nick Evers' (Roddy McDowell), they lynch him before Van can stop them. Not long afterward those men at the card game begin to die one by one. But who is killing them? Anyway, rather than spoil the mystery I will just say that this is an enjoyable western with good actors and a decent storyline. I especially liked the way the film kept trying to tantalize the audience about the identity of the killer for a good portion of the movie. I also enjoyed the romantic situation that Van Morgan found himself caught up in between "Lily Langford" (Inger Stevens) and "Nora Evers" (Katherine Justice). Tough choice. At any rate, this is a fine movie and it should appeal to those who enjoy a good western from time to time.