5 CARD STUD puts able players into a game and then upsets the table with badly dealt hands. Two charismatic leading men, a beautiful and soulful actress, genre stalwarts in support and a durable director all lose out in one of a number of sorry westerns that escaped the corral in 1968.

Rincon, Colorado, 1880. A stranger in town, caught cheating at cards, is lynched by the other players. ‘Gambler ‘Van Morgan’ (Dean Martin) tries to stop it, but he’s knocked out by ringleader ‘Nick Evers’ (Roddy McDowall). Morgan heads to Denver but is drawn back to Rincon when he’s informed that one by one, the other players are being murdered. He clashes with the nasty Nick, finds solace with ‘Lily Langford’ (Inger Stevens), the new lady barber (offering more than a trim) and wonders about the newly arrived ‘Jonathan Rudd’ (Robert Mitchum), a reverend who’s mighty handy with a Colt.

Not necessarily a bad outline for a plot but Marguerite Roberts script is woebegone, and everything has a half-hearted feel, more like an elaborate TV two-parter. Stevens looks great, but her wardrobe and hairstyle are glaringly inauthentic. The The ‘Colorado’ locations are actually Mexican, around much favored Durango. A snarling McDowall is baldly miscast; Roddy has a fistfight with Dean, about the least credible physical mismatch since Montgomery Clift had a footrace with Lee Marvin in Raintree County. McDowall isn’t suited to the role but he’s not as wrong as Katherine Justice, who plays his sister: she’s plain hopeless, on the level of Jill St. John.  Martin’s on coast: he’d been much better working with Hathaway, also in Durango, three years earlier as one of The Sons Of Katie Elder). He warbles the okay title tune, but the music score done by Maurice Jarre is otherwise a detriment. Jarre had whipped up a great western soundtrack for The Professionals in 1966 and did a pretty good one in ’68 for Villa Rides, but his compositions here are as out of place as Inger’s costuming. Mitchum is the easily best thing in the picture, giving the mysterious preacher some casually sly and sinister shading.

Body language 101. McDowall v. Mitchum, all Bob has to do is stand there for one round KO.

The leads were all busy that year, with uneven results. Mitchum had the okay Villa Rides, weird Secret Ceremony and terrible Anzio. Martin coasted thru the blah How To Save A Marriage And Ruin Your Life, passable Bandolero! and lousy The Wrecking Crew. Stevens adorned and endured the mixed bag of Firecreek, Hang ‘Em High, Madigan and House Of Cards. Hathaway erased this ledger blot the following year with True Grit. 

Adding to their credits tallies: John Anderson, Denver Pyle, Bill Fletcher, Roy Jenson, Whit Bissell, Ted de Corsia and Don Collier.  José Trinidad Villa, a son of Pancho, has a bit part. Box office of $12,100,000 placed at 68’s spot #31.