chipe I really wanted to like this Western. It had a promising start. I expected good results from Rory Calhoun who starred in and co-produced the movie along with an experienced director of Westerns and a good cast of actors. But the movie became laughable due to (1) the script and direction which was loaded with incredible coincidences and lucky encounters, everything is telegraphed in the previous scene; and (2) poorly filmed shoot-outs where the hero should have been killed many times over. It had a good ending, though.***Spoilers***. The story: while Calhoun is fighting in the Civil War, five bad guys kill his family. Calhoun knows who four of them are, but not the 5th. He kills the four one-by-one in a man-to-man duel instead of just shooting them on sight. It is also unbelievable that he can't get the name of the 5th man from any of the four.After killing the 4th man, Calhoun heads home. By coincidence his girl visits his deserted home with her oily new "boyfriend" who is intent on acquiring the home. He tells her that Calhoun likely was recently killed (because left wounded in bad terrain!), and then he departs. The girl mopes inside Calhoun's neat deserted home, and mops, but lo and behold, Calhoun is inside. She tells Calhoun that most of the town is against him since he became a gunfighter tracking down those who had killed his family. Lo and behold, in the next scene Calhoun is in town getting the cold shoulder from most of the townsfolk (why?). Calhoun needs a loan from the local banker, who lo and behold, is the one pursuing his girl and who wants his land.Calhoun knocks out a boorish saloon masher and has his Mexican friend drag the masher outside. The masher and his friends start to torture the Mexican in the mistaken belief that the Mexican (not Calhoun) knocked out the masher, but incredibly the Mexican doesn't say that he only dragged the guy out to the street! Then --most incredible of all-- the masher turns out to be the 5th man Calhoun was looking for, and for no good reason he starts a shoot-out with Calhoun! Why? Calhoun would have no idea who was the 5th man! The masher did not know that the Mexican would tell Calhoun.

bkoganbing Rory Calhoun stars in the title role as the Domino Kid who came back from the Civil War to find his father killed. Calhoun's a pretty fast gun so after he's identified four of the five perpetrators and successfully killed them all, he's headed home to try and reclaim his ranch. Both his ranch and his woman Kristine Miller are coveted by entrepreneur Andrew Duggan. Always Calhoun has on his mind the unknown fifth man who is more than likely hunting him.Domino Kid combines a lot of good action and for the short running time of 74 minutes gets a lot of plot involved as well. Calhoun's a man who'd like to change for the better, but knows full well if he gets a line on the fifth man he's off to the hunt. As for the fifth man with such veterans of screen villainy like James Griffith, Roy Barcroft, Peter Whitney and even Duggan who knows who this fifth man is. In fact we don't find out until the film is almost over.Western fans all over will love the Domino Kid. The film hasn't aged a bit since 1957.

classicsoncall Well this one was a bit anti-climactic when all was said and done, wasn't it? After all, the first four of the five guys The Domino Kid set out to kill to avenge the murder of his father were dispatched within the first twenty minutes. That left almost a whole hour to get to the final showdown with bad guy Lafe Prentiss (Peter Whitney). But say, weren't you sidetracked by that ending just a bit? After all, in your typical oater, the fifth man should have been well dressed town boss Wade Harrington (Andrew Duggan), who had an eye on Domino's old girlfriend (Kristine Miller). All signs pointed to him and then, nothing. And I thought I knew every Western convention there was to know.Anyway, if I didn't know better, this looked like Rory Calhoun's warm-up for his TV Western series that came out the following year - "The Texan". In fact, he didn't even have to change his outfit. His character Bill Longley rode into town wearing the same vest and intimidating potential outlaws with the same fast gun reputation. It comes as no surprise then that Calhoun and his partner Victor Orsatti produced that series just as they did the movie here. The series had cooler music over the end credits though.Well if you're a Rory Calhoun fan, this one is OK, but the gunfights are somewhat awkward. He takes an unnecessary bullet to the shoulder against Number #4 Sam Beal, and the gunfight finale against Lafe defies all semblance of credibility, as this villain couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if he walked into it. A couple other reviewers on this board question the accuracy of Domino getting his fifth man, so a quick recap goes like this: #1 Haines in the opening scene; #2 Trancas in a showdown; #3 Ed Sandlin who sent Dragger (Denver Pyle) to bring him in; #4 Sam Beal; and #5 Lafe Prentiss. I thought Harrington would be a bonus.

louis-godena Veteran cowboy director Ray Nazarro came up with a winner with this fast-moving little oater. Just goes to show what a good script can do with a less than sterling budget. Rory Calhoun plays the title role, a war veteran returning west to avenge his murdered father (there were five of 'em, but who was the *fifth* man?). A series of successful shoot-outs bring Rory to the final showdown, not only with adversaries Andrew Duggan and Peter Witney, but with his own sense of justice and revenge. Helping him along are Kristine Miller and Robert Burton (who, like in just about every other minor western of the 1950's, plays the honest sheriff). A good performance by Eugene Inglesias as Domino's boyhood friend adds to the just-north-of-the-border ambiance of this comptetent film. An all-around enjoyable treat!