5 Card Stud is a rather obscure Western from 1968. It stars Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum in the Autumn of their acting careers. The plot revolves around a mild mystery and features some decent action. Really though, the presence of Martin and Mitchum is the main reason to watch what would be a B-movie without them.
Martin is the star and he was 50 years old when he made this film, but he still had that easy going charm of his, but it was now tinged with a touch of world weariness that works for the part. He plays Van Morgan, a gambler living in the small western town of Rincon, Colorado. When the film begins, he is in the middle of a card game late one night in a saloon. After one of the gamblers is caught cheating, the card game turns into a lynching party despite Van's best attempts to stop it. Van decides to blow town for awhile following this incident and he heads for Denver. Martin also performs the catchy title tune over the opening credits.
While Van is away, gold is discovered near Rincon and a host of strangers come to town, including the new pistol packing preacher played by Robert Mitchum. Also in all the hubbub of the gold strike, two murders take place, both of the victims being members of that opening card game. Van hears of the deaths from his old friend George, the bartender from the saloon where the card game took place. Suspecting that someone might come looking to kill him too, Van heads back to Rincon to try to discover who might be behind the killings.
One of the more interesting aspects of the film is its central mystery, but unfortunately, the identity of the killer is very easy to deduce. This doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the movie, but it does make the coy way the script tries to hide the culprit seem rather pointless.
The supporting cast is filled with recognizable character actors. Roddy McDowall plays the son of a local rancher. At first his effeminate, Englishness seems out of place, but he plays slimy so well that he soon overcomes it. His father is played by Denver Pyle. Yaphet Kotto, whose name you may not know, but you'll sure recognize his face, plays George.
Along with the main plot there's a superfluous love triangle between Van and the nice rancher's daughter and the local Madam who runs a barber shop/whore house combination. Martin has an easy charm with the ladies, but the chemistry between he and Inger Stevens as the madam is much stronger than it is between he and Katherine Justice, with whom he seems much closer to a father figure, or a much older brother. Fortunately the romance doesn't get in the way of the gunfights.
The film is directed by Henry Hathaway, who is another person connected with this film who you might not recognize by name, but will surely recognize his work. He has 67 directing credits to his name on IMDB, stretching from 1930 to 1974. He directed James Cagney in 13 Rue Madeleine, Marilyn Monroe in Niagara, and John Wayne in True Grit, among many, many others. His biggest contribution here is to keep the pace moving and letting his stars do their thing. He also directs the action scenes well, even if they don't truly break any new ground.
It is the pairing of Mitchum and Martin that provides the film's real joy. They both do great work on their own, but their spark when they share a scene is the movie's highlight. Martin wasn't a great actor, but he had charisma enough to play this part convincingly. Mitchum, with that great voice of his, had presence of a different kind. He was always able to play one of those characters where you weren't sure what he was capable of and the same is true here. Something about his darkness contrasting with Martin's smoothness made a potent combination.
There are very few Westerns that I've watched more than once, but this one I've seen several times over the decades and I've enjoyed it every time. It's not a classic by any means, but sometimes pure entertainment value trumps artistry.
