Firstly, things I loved : The idea of a mystery / western movie. How most of the cast did their roles fairly. The music while Yaphet Kotto's death, which was a variation on Maurice Jarre's theme music, as joyful as the background's atmosphere, yet with a smart tense twist. A number of lines : "There's only one thing worse than a crook, that's a clumsy crook", "Somebody gave Stoney a new string tie. Only it was made of barbed wire, and a little tight", "Sometimes the truth is actions, not words". And the theme song which was the top of this movie for me.Then, things I didn't love : Oh, dear. Take a list : Dean Martin was too indifferent; like it's "I'll say the lines, do the moves, then give me the money please". And while he was 51 year old, he seemed older, with run-down, if not sick, features. For instance, during his scene in the cemetery, he was too pale as if he was the one to be buried !Director Henry Hathaway didn't do anything dazzling along the way, or maybe didn't want to. Actually, more than one point tells you that not much effort was exerted. In one moment, when Martin punches Roddy McDowall in front of the latter's sister, you'll notice that there wasn't a proper sound effect for the punch. And in another, when the same 2 clash in the cemetery, their fight was weak, childish, and shot while both of them were wearing the same color and outfit (so you couldn't tell who's who !). Let alone that the few action scenes were done routinely. That's why I felt TV-ish western for all the time.The romantic part wasn't taken care of seriously. I mean the young girl loves the lead, and he loves the older woman; so why is that ? Does the girl related to issues like land and stability, and the lead is always a traveling gambler, so that's why he preferred the barbershop's owner ? Is that woman more experienced, so she's more suitable for him ? Well, the movie itself doesn't give a hoot, and the whole romantic scenes seemed eventually irrelevant.Speaking about the writing, the matter of Robert Mitchum saying a line that ends a scene, while he walks away from the people, repeated dully. I thought that Mitchum didn't have to turn the chair over the card table to assure for Martin that he's the killer. And I didn't get the constant talk about the coming development with Ruth Springford as Mama Malone; that wasn't a relief, or part of the drama, or sort of satire which serves some purposed substance ?? Was there any use out of this, other than filling the blanks between the scenes of the main "loose unknown killer" plot ??Roddy McDowall can be a lot of characters, but the violent psychopath killer isn't one of them. He tried his best, and did well, but he wasn't the character for me, and the "very well" rank could have been given for another actor in that role. While Jarre's music is nothing but one theme and variations for it, it did bore sometimes, and – worse than that – sounded sarcastic in the wrong place; like the first sequence. Then, that awful climax. OK, I can't describe it as a climax in the first place. It's all about talking endlessly, then one fast bullet form the protagonist to kill the antagonist ?? Nobody ever bothered themselves to make something more big and satisfying ?? This is not a way to end a movie, and not a way to kill a proficient gunslinger like Mitchum's character. They didn't have the time, the money, the energy ?? I really don't know. But what I do know is that when this lazy executive spirit dominated, the movie got cold, and it turned out to be that Dean Martin wasn't the only indifferent around ! They even gave the mystery's solution away in the original poster (s); which's a proof for how uninterested most of this movie's makers were. Now it could be a fact that an uninterested movie equals an uninteresting movie !

It's a film noir/Western/suspense of bizarre beauty and extraordinary performances ; being based on a novel by Ray Gaulden and interesting screenplay by Marguerite Roberts . A card shark is caught cheating, he is taken out and lynched , later on , this engenders several murders . The players in an ongoing poker game are being mysteriously killed off, one by one . A professional gambler (Dean Martin) who attempted to prevent the lynching tries to ensnare the assassin with the aid of a preacher (Robert Mitchum) with a weapon .Suspenseful film dealing with a card player who is lynched by the drunkards he was playing against. Tension from the opening game going on until ending and never lets up , being for Agata Christie aficionados . This is a tremendously exciting story of an obstinate card player and a strange preacher with a gun . It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark characters , strong supporting work , solid plot and in whodunit style . The tale is almost grim , a priest comes to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . Main cast is frankly magnificent . Sympathetic Dean Martin as as a reluctant card gambler and nice Robert Mitchum as a gun-toting preacher . First-rate Robert Mitchum in similar role and performance to ¨Night of the hunter¨ that was the acting of his life . In addition , Roddy McDowall steals the show as the cynic Nick . Supporting cast is extremely good such as Inger Stevens as Lily Langford , Katherine Justice as Nora Evers , John Anderson as Marshal Dana , Yaphet Kotto as Little George , Denver Pyle as Sig and Whit Bissell as Dr. Cooper , among others . Good Technicolor cinematography by Daniel F. Fapp . Enjoyable musical score ties up a top-notch Western package ; it is composed by the maestro Maurice Jarre . Furthermore , agreeable song by Dean Martin , including lyrics by Ned Washington . Watchable results for this offbeat Western .This well-paced in cracking style flick is compellingly directed by Henry Hathaway and usually works very well , taking a firm grip on the action and suspense . Here he directs efficiently Dean Martin and with strong screen presence by Robert Mitchum , both of whom collaborated in some Western . Hathaway himself was only even nominated for an Oscar , but his movies themselves are testimony to his skills to heighten narrative tension and shoot action so exhilarating it made adrenalin run . He does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in a large frame with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action . Henry was a craftsman who had a long career from the 30s with successful films , and especially Westerns , as ¨Brigham Young¨ and ¨Raw Hide¨ . In his 60s Hathaway still got the vigour to make some fiery movies as ¨From Hell to Texas¨, ¨How the West was won¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, and ¨Shoot out¨ . He was an expert on Western genre as he proved in ¨True grit¨ , ¨Five card stud¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ ,¨How the West was won¨ , ¨Rawhide¨ , ¨Brigham Young¨ , ¨Buffalo Stampede¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ and ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨. Rating : nice Western that will appeal to Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin fans .

Probably wouldn't have stuck with this one if I didn't know Robert Mitchum was showing up eventually but it ended up getting a lot better as it went on. The plot was interesting and I liked the way they didn't reveal the killer in a sensational twist seeing as most people would have worked it out by then. A good example of suspense being better than surprise.That being said the structure of the film was a bit loose, It spent a lot of time on things that didn't really have any importance to the story when I thought it could have spent more time establishing certain characters motivations and relationships and I thought sometimes the snappy style dialog was a bit stilted. Some of the acting was also a bit awkward. It was only about a third to about a half way through the movie that I decided I liked it but in the end it was quite enjoyable and once again Mitchum was awesome

I can't believe the raves about Roddy McDowell's performance. He ruined the movie. He's surrounded by typical tough-guy western stereotypes, which I accept as part of the genre, but he's an insipid and unconvincing villain who sounds more like an effete English aristocrat than the conniving and dangerous psycho that his character Nick is supposed to be. Bob Mitchum must have wondered what he was doing in a western with this wimp. A disastrous piece of miscasting. Thank god everybody else could carry the movie, especially the veterans Martin and Mitchum, although their presence in scenes with poor little Roddy just emphasizes how much he doesn't suit his character. Just think of Hugh Grant playing Indiana Jones or The Man With No Name and you'll get my drift.