5 CARD STUD

Having just watched a disappointing Western directed by Henry Hathaway (‘Nevada Smith’) I didn’t have high hopes for this one released two years later in 1968.

However I was pleasantly surprised.

Intriguingly the basic story is a Western version of ‘And Then There Were None’ except here it is five characters who are getting knocked off, rather than the ten in Agatha Christie's original. 

The five in question are guilty of murdering a newcomer to the town who is exposed at cheating at cards during a poker game.  A seventh player at the game (Van, played by Dean Martin) had stepped away at the crucial moment and was unable to prevent what happened.

He doesn’t approve of the lynching but nor does he feel like helping the marshal arrest the guilty parties.  Maybe that’s because their ringleader Nick (a superb performance by Roddy McDowell) is the brother of Nora who is sweet on Van.  

Presumably Nora is aware that Nick is an obnoxious jerk (he makes no effort to hide it) but Van wishes to protect her from knowing just what bad things he is capable of. 

When one by one the five get killed the identity of who is responsible is not difficult to guess, since the killings coincide with the arrival in town of a preacher, Rudd, who is very handy with guns, played by Robert Mitchum,

Another newcomer is Lily (played by Inger Stevens) who runs a barber shop / brothel (one dollar buys you a shave, twenty dollars gets you ‘miscellaneous’)

Inevitably she and Van get into a relationship which makes Lily and Nora rivals.  But in a good example of how the script keeps us off-balance when the two women do meet they immediately like each other.

In fact the screenplay is a model of its kind, just doing enough to flesh out what might otherwise be rote characters although a lot of credit must also go to the cast which is uniformly excellent.   Nora is played by an obscure actress Katherine Justice who gives a pleasing performance.  Also making a strong impression is Yaphet Kotto early on in his career, playing a barman George who sadly gets killed off despite being an innocent party.

At the top of the bill Martin and Mitchum deliver suitably accomplished and laidback performances.

It all builds satisfyingly to the inevitable confrontation between Van and Rudd.  As Roger Ebert noted, it's a polished and professional film, based on a well-made story.  Credit must go therefore to the screenwriter Marguerite Roberts.  She was very well paid in the 1930s and 1940s but was blacklisted in the 1950s for refusing to appear before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee.  Then in the 1960s her career blossomed again, with films such as this, followed by 'True Grit' the following year.