A behind-the-scenes snap of the Western movie, Five Card Stud, 1968, starring legends Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum.


 Many noted the coincidence that both had appeared in superior Westerns with John Wayne, where both acted as the town drunk: Dean in the marvellous Rio Bravo and Robert in the less interesting El Dorado.


Five Card Stud would not have made their list of finest work. Many critics pointed out that Dean pretty much phoned in his part, a view I shared, as he seemed uninterested in the movie. By this stage, though perhaps not noticeable at the time, he had largely given up on acting. He still had The Wrecking Crew, the last and least of his awful Matt Helm movies; Airport, part of a wonderful ensemble; the forgotten Showdown; and his very last starring role, the absolutely horrendous Mr. Ricco. For his final role, he bounced back, again as part of an ensemble, in the poor Cannonball Run II. He hammed it up, seemed to be enjoying himself, and gave the rubbishy script more than it deserved. He was surrounded by friends, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis. It was still a sad farewell. I did find it enjoyable just to see the three together again.


Robert still had plenty of fuel in the tank, giving us wonderful pictures like Ryan’s Daughter, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Farewell, My Lovely, and others.



Five Card Stud did okay at the box office but quickly disappeared. Its hook, and it was a pretty good one, was that it was really a whodunit, as it involved a serial killer who had to be unmasked. It’s worth a look. But only once. An interesting tidbit I read was that during its five-month shoot, Dean kept to himself. He spent his free time in his trailer watching television. He was a well-known Western fan.


My favorite bit of it was the theme song. It had a good pedigree: melody by Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) and lyrics by Ned Washington (Rawhide, High Noon). It wasn’t released as a single, so it’s probably largely unknown. Give it a listen... Continue reading 

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