Pôquer de Sangue

5 Card Stud is a re-make of Dark City which was released in 1950 and was Charlton Heston's feature film debut. Dean Martin is now playing the Heston part and in many ways he's reprising the role he did in Some Came Running. The role of gambler comes natural to him, it was one of many professions Dino tried in his youth before discovering show business.

In the original the part Robert Mitchum plays originated with Mike Mazurki. Mazurki had a limited role in Dark City so Mitchum's part has been built up considerably. As always Robert Mitchum is interesting.

The original Dark City involved a high stakes poker game in which Don DeFore got trimmed of the rent money and just about everything else. Rather than go home, he kills himself. Soon afterward his psychotic brother goes on a rampage against everyone in that game.

It's no suicide here, but a lynching as the victim is caught cheating. If you've seen Dark City than you already know who the murderer is and it's not too hard to figure it out here.

In the supporting cast, standing out are Roddy McDowell as the spoiled son of a local rancher who leads the lynch party and Yaphett Kotto who is the bartender in the saloon where the fatal poker game took place.

Martin and Mitchum work well together, this is good entertainment.

Not a bad movie. Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin pull this one off pretty good. There are a few flaws in the plot but it all works out in the end. It's a good popcorn movie to watch when you have nothing to do. Besides the mild violence, I think your kids could watch this one with you as a family movie.

Roddy McDowall plays the whinny little weasel perfect. You hate him from the start to the ending, and can't wait for him to get his. And this is what a great actor can make you feel. And Inger Stevens plays the temptress so well. How could anyone not fall for a beautiful woman like her? She could make a good man go bad, and a bad man blush.

So break out the popcorn, sit backs and don't expect too much, and you might have a smile on your face after the movie.

Despite his attempt to stop the execution, Van Morgan (Dean Martin) was hit by a gun on his head and thrown out, at night, in the streets of Rincon, Colorado and the clumsy crook was lynched…

Feeling uncomfortable, Van Morgan leaves for Denver the next day … In the days of his absence, two of the seven card players have been dead, one being drowned in a flour barrel, the other got it with a twist of wire…

For Little George (Yaphet Kotto) who went to see Van in Denver, it looks to him somebody is out to kill every man at that party which is a real good reason for Van to steer clear of Rincon if he is figuring on coming back…

Meanwhile, a gold rush has brought a bunch of outsiders to the town so, on his return, Morgan finds new faces like Jonathan Rudd (Robert Mitchum), the preacher with a Bible in his hand and a Colt in his belt ; and Lily Langford (Inger Stevens), with her elegant barbershop and her gorgeous lady 'barbers.'

Robert Mitchum plays the man who is looking for the man who is looking for him… Tension mounts when Nick Evers (Roddy McDowall) saves the hunter a long hunt… Dean Martin waits as the gambler who doesn't bank on his cards, because if he does, he winds up broke

Inger Stevens was an undervalued actress. She was often cast as the cool, blond beauty the leading man took for a sex object/partner but never given a major role in anything, never given a chance to shine in her own film. Dean Martin in 5 Card Stud. Clint Eastwood in Hang em High. George Peppard in House of Cards. Despite all the stations now rerunning classic TV, the Farmer's Daughter languishes in a vault.

Tightly-wound tale of bitter revenge, with lots of shooting and a high body count. In the gold-mining town of Rincon, Colorado, a tinhorn cheating at cards is lynched by his fellow poker players, who then find themselves at the mercy of a serial killer intent on picking them off one by one. Strong adaptation of a novel by Ray Gaulden provides the perfect opportunity for Robert Mitchum to get back into preacher's garb (following "The Night of the Hunter"), though Dean Martin as a professional gambler looks a bit piqued around the gills. There's some confusion in the final third regarding an important plot twist, and Roddy McDowall's sniveling lynch-mob leader is wearing; however, the salty mood of the piece and the mercurial characters are intriguing and enjoyable. As sagebrush whodunits go, this one stands fairly tall in an uncrowded genre. Yaphet Kotto is excellent as a no-nonsense bartender, while Inger Stevens provides a smart, sophisticated love-interest for Dino playing a barbershop proprietress-cum-Madame (another unusual facet). *** from ****