5 CARD STUD

STARS: Dean Martin,Robert Mitchum,Roddy McDowall and Inger Stevens
Genre: Western
Year: 1968
5 Card Stud is a mystery western.Directed by the great Henry Hathaway(Niagara,TrueGrit,Airport etc.),it is based on a novel by Ray Gaulden.
The movie is set in the town of Rincon,Colorado,during the 1880's.A gambler is caught cheating during a 5 Card-Stud poker game.The other members decide to lynch him(a common way of punishing crimes in the old West).One of the players Van Morgan(Dean Martin) tries to stop the lynching,but fails.Morgan leaves town but later returns when he hears that the players who lynched the man are being killed off one by one.
He strikes up an alliance with a preacher Jonathan Rudd(Mitchum) to get to the killer.But as more members of the lynch mob are killed,it becomes clear to Morgan that someone is killing the players to take revenge for the lynching.In the end,when he is the only one left from the game,he uncovers the identity of the killer.
Since,its basically a mystery movie,i cannot reveal the end of the movie.It waould just spoil the fun for anyone who decides to watch the movie after reading my review.Overall,its not a great movie but a good one.As for the performances,Mitchum and McDowall really stand out in their roles.Martin looks tired and old(he was 51 at the time).The script is by Marguerite Roberts,who went on to write the script ofr the classic True Grit(1969).It's worth a watch once.
My rating 5/10.