danc-26 The musical score was at times interesting, at times odd and out of place. Martin and Mitchum are fun to watch. McDowell as the villain is not the best casting choice, but he does have a sniveling quality that works. It was one of the last westerns with a polished, studio look; at that time, westerns were beginning to take on a gritty, rough-around-the-edges, contemporary feel. Denver Pyle is always a welcome ingredient in any western. The plot is interesting: Who will be the last man standing? Some of the scenes were staged poorly, but some of the dialogue was snappy. There were a few leaps of logic, but I was impressed that ammunition was referred to correctly as "cartridges," not as "bullets."

gridoon2018 I'm more of a Mystery than a Western fan myself; "Five Card Stud" is a rather unique genre crossover - a bit like "Ten Little Indians" with gunfights thrown in. Leisurely paced but never boring, occasionally humorous without losing its seriousness, it is particularly recommended to those looking for the offbeat. It may be a little disappointing that the most obvious suspect turns out to be the person responsible for the killings, but the ironies and the morally grey areas of the story remain strong. The film also benefits from a great cast: Robert Mitchum is both amusing and larger-than-life as a preacher who's also an ace shooter ("By day he sweats for a pinch of yellow dust, and at night he squanders it on LUST!"), but extra-sweet Katherine Justice and extra-slimy Roddy McDowall stand out as well; and in 1968 it was still fairly uncommon even for an excellent black actor like Yaphet Kotto to be allowed, like he is in "Five Card Stud", to hold his own against an otherwise entirely white cast. Score and photography are top-notch. *** out of 4.

kenjha After a poker player is lynched for cheating, the members of the lynching party start dying one by one. This Western is fairly well made by veteran Hathaway, but the plot is too simplistic to raise it above mediocrity. The identity of the killer is so obvious that even a two-year old can figure out who done it. Apparently, there are no two-year olds in town, as nobody seems to have a clue who it could be. Martin is his usual unflappable self as one of the card players who tried to stop the hanging. Mitchum plays a variation on his psycho preacher character in "The Night of the Hunter." McDowall seems out of place in a Western. Stevens provides love interest.

bensonmum2 During a game of cards, one of the players is found the be a cheat. The others decide that running him out of town isn't good enough and lynch the cheater. Soon afterward, however, the men in the lynching party begin dying violent deaths. In the Old West, a showdown between two armed men was one thing, but murder is murder.Considering the cast assembled for Five Card Stud (Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Roddy McDowall, Yaphet Kotto, Denver Pyle, and Inger Stevens) I expected a solid and enjoyable Western. And while each of these actors does their best to prop-up the movie, they are let down at almost every opportunity by uninspired directing and a weak plot. The movie is billed as a Western/Mystery. But, there's no mystery. It is so painfully obvious who the killer is that I'm shocked it took Dean so long to figure it out. Hathaway does nothing to add any suspense or drama. I was expecting, and hoping, for a big twist ending to save Five Card Stud, but it never came.But the worst part of the movie has to be the editing. Five Card Stud is over-long and needlessly bloated with scenes that go nowhere and do nothing to advance the storyline. Better editing to create a tighter, leaner movie could have done wonders and might have made it really enjoyable.