Editing 5 Card Stud

{{short description|1968 film by Henry Hathaway}}
{{About|the 1968 Western film|the 2002 romance film|5 Card Stud (2002 film)|the poker game|Five-card stud}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = 5 Card Stud
| image          = 5CardStyd1968Poster.jpg
| caption        = US film poster
| director       = [[Henry Hathaway]]
| producer       = [[Hal B. Wallis|Hall Wallis]]
| writer         = [[Marguerite Roberts]]
| starring       = [[Dean Martin]]<br />[[Robert Mitchum]]<br />[[Inger Stevens]]<br>[[Roddy McDowall]]<br />[[Katherine Justice]] <br /> [[Yaphet Kotto]]
| music          = [[Maurice Jarre]]
| cinematography = [[Daniel L. Fapp]]
| editing        = [[Warren Low]]
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1968|07|12|Chicago|ref1=<ref>{{Cite news |date=1968-07-12 |title=5 Card Stud (Advertisement) |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |page=17, Section 2}}</ref>|1968|07|31|New York City|ref2=<ref name="nyt"/>|1968|08|14|Los Angeles|ref3=<ref>{{Cite news |title=5 Card Stud (Advertisement) |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=13, Part IV}}</ref>}}
| runtime        = 103 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| gross          = $3,500,000 (US/ Canada)<ref>"Big Rental Films of 1968", ''Variety'', January 8, 1969 p 15. Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors.</ref>
}}
'''''5 Card Stud''''' is a 1968 American [[Western (genre)|Western]] [[mystery film]], directed by [[Henry Hathaway]] and starring [[Dean Martin]] and [[Robert Mitchum]]. The script is based on a novel by Ray Gaulden and was written by [[Marguerite Roberts]], who also wrote the screenplay of ''[[True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit]]'' for Hathaway the following year.

==Plot==
In 1880, an unknown drifter and gambler in the small town of Rincon, 100 miles (161 km) from [[Denver]], Colorado, is caught cheating at a [[five-card stud]] poker game. The players, led by the volatile Nick Evers, take the cheating gambler to [[Lynching|lynch]] him. One of the players, Van Morgan, tries to prevent the others from administering frontier justice, but is unable to stop the hanging. Morgan leaves town, but later returns, when he hears that several of the other players from the poker game have become victims of grisly murders. Morgan starts relationship with Lily, the barbershop owner. 

The town has a new resident, a stern and somewhat edgy [[Colt Single Action Army|Colt .45]]-carrying [[Baptists|Baptist]] preacher, named Reverend Rudd. As more members of the lynch mob are killed off one by one by strangling, it becomes clear that someone is taking revenge, and it is up to Morgan to solve the mystery. Nick is shown to be the one telling Rudd who was at the game and involved in killing the stranger, who is Rudd's brother. Nick tells Rudd falsely that George was involved, Rudd kills George. As George is dying he puts his hands together like he is praying, Morgan knows that George never prayed, thus realizes that Rudd is the murderer, and he kills Rudd in a shootout. Last scene is with Morgan and Lilly as Morgan rides off to Denver and Lily is going to follow him in a week. Lily doesn't really play role in story...

==Cast==
* [[Dean Martin]] as Van Morgan
* [[Robert Mitchum]] as Reverend Jonathan Rudd
* [[Inger Stevens]] as Lily Langford
* [[Roddy McDowall]] as Nick Evers
* [[Katherine Justice]] as Nora Evers
* [[John Anderson (actor)|John Anderson]] as U.S. Marshal Al Dana
* [[Ruth Springford]] as Mama Malone
* [[Yaphet Kotto]] as George "Little George"
* [[Denver Pyle]] as Sig Evers
* Bill Fletcher as Joe Hurley
* [[Whit Bissell]] as Dr. Cooper
* [[Ted de Corsia]] as Eldon Bates
* [[Don Collier]] as Rowan
* [[Roy Jenson]] as Mace Jones
* Bob Hoy as Deputy Marshal

==Production==
''5 Card Stud'' was shot in Mexico and filming wrapped in May 1968.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1968-05-12 |title=Mexican Shots End for '5 Card Stud' |work=[[Springfield Leader and Press]] |page=B6}}</ref>

The song led by Reverend Rudd at his first service in Rincon is "Mercy's Call," a late-19th-century [[Baptists|Baptist]] hymn written by [[William H. Doane|W.H. Doane]].

This film marked one of the final appearances of [[Inger Stevens]], and the second time that Mitchum played an unorthodox preacher (following 1955's ''[[The Night of the Hunter (film)|The Night of the Hunter]]''). ''5 Card Stud'' brought together director Henry Hathaway and Dean Martin for a second time; the first was the 1965 film ''[[The Sons of Katie Elder]]'' starring [[John Wayne]].

== Reception ==
In a contemporary review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', critic [[Vincent Canby]] identified ''5 Card Stud'' as one of a recent spate of "Buddy System" Westerns, such as: ''[[El Dorado (1966 film)|El Dorado]]'' (1966) with [[John Wayne]] and Mitchum; ''[[The Way West (film)|The Way West]]'' (1967) with [[Kirk Douglas]], Mitchum and [[Richard Widmark]]; ''[[The War Wagon]]'' (1967) with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas; ''[[Bandolero!]]'' (1968) with [[James Stewart]] and Dean Martin; and ''[[Villa Rides]]'' (1968) with [[Yul Brynner]], Mitchum and [[Charles Bronson]]. Canby wrote: "Without important exception, all of these titles, stories and settings are interchangeable, to say nothing of the stars, some of whom are beginning to look as if they'd been hatched from dinosaur eggs. ... Buddy System Westerns are somehow basically soft."<ref name="nyt">{{Cite news|last=Canby|first=Vincent|date=1968-08-01|title=Screen: Buddies Out West|page=24|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', critic [[Roger Ebert]] wrote: "'Five Card Stud' is not a great movie, but it's a polished, professional one, and it's a good deal more than a common Western. ... But, it also has something rather rare, a well-made story. Most action Westerns are directed by rote: good guy, bad guy, a standard pattern of fights, an eventual triumph for the gentleman in the white hat. Not this one, which presents a suspense story in a Western setting."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=1968-07-16 |title=Reviews: Five Card Stud |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/five-card-stud-1968 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0062626|title=5 Card Stud}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|5_card_stud_1968}}
* [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4570/5-card-stud#overview 5 Card Stud] at [[Turner Classic Movies]]

===DVD reviews===
*[http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s526stud.html DVD Savant review] by [[Glenn Erickson]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061019185701/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/fivecardstud.php DVD Verdict review] by Eric Profancik
*[http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=3614 digitallyOBSESSED! review] by Mark Zimmer

{{Henry Hathaway}}

[[Category:1968 films]]
[[Category:1968 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Maurice Jarre]]
[[Category:Films directed by Henry Hathaway]]
[[Category:Films produced by Hal B. Wallis]]
[[Category:Films set in Colorado]]
[[Category:Films set in 1880]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films about poker]]
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) films]]