"Five Card Stud" is one of a few westerns that combine a western background spun with a murder mystery. As such, the formula works fairly well. Starring Dean Martin as a gambler and Robert Mitchum as a preacher with a hidden past, the scene takes place in Rincon, Colorado, where a gold strike of some size has been discovered and where tensions are a bit high. One night, Martin, as Van Morgan, hosts a 7 player game of 5 card stud, a game at which he is fairly competent with. He takes a break, Roddy McDowell takes over, and immediately catches an outsider trying to palm a card, and a lynching ensues. Morgan attempts to stop the lynching, but is knocked unconscious for his effort, and the hanging concludes. Later, two murders occur, and the connection seems to be that both murdered players were in this particular card game. Mitchum arrives on the scene, playing a western preacher as only he could, and unfortunately, the murders keep happening, again by some form of strangulation or hanging. Tensions continue to mount, until finally only Morgan and McDowell's character are left, and the preacher, Jonathan Rudd, is watching with some degree of mystery and an aura of suspense. The final confrontation does take place, and the murders do stop in Rincon. Good musical background by Maurice Jarre, fine support cast in Inger Stevens, Denver Pyle, Yaphet Katto, and Katherine Justice, with able direction by Henry Hathaway. Good western fare.