Nevada Smith (1966)

A naive half-Indian, half-white man evolves into a hardened killer as he tracks down his parents' murderers.

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Harold Robbins (novel), John Michael Hayes (story),

Stars:

Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve McQueen	...	Nevada Smith
Karl Malden	...	Tom Fitch
Brian Keith	...	Jonas Cord
Arthur Kennedy	...	Bill Bowdre
Suzanne Pleshette	...	Pilar
Raf Vallone	...	Father Zaccardi
Janet Margolin	...	Neesa
Pat Hingle	...	Big Foot
Howard Da Silva	...	Warden
Martin Landau	...	Jesse Coe
Paul Fix	...	Sheriff Bonnell
Gene Evans	...	Sam Sand
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Mrs. Elvira McCanles
John Doucette	...	Uncle Ben McCanles
Val Avery	...	Buck Mason

Storyline

Nevada Smith is the young son of an Indian mother and white father. When his father and mother are killed by three men over gold, Nevada sets out to find them and kill them. The boy is taken in by a gun merchant. The gun merchant shows him how to shoot, to shoot on time, and to shoot straight. Everything that Nevada does goes to killing those three men. He learns to read and write just to learn their location. He pays people to tell him where they're at. He even goes to prison to kill one of them. While the movie is a Western and has plenty of action, it also takes a deep look into vengeance and how one can change after a haunting incident.

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Plot Keywords:

nevada | prison | escape | murder of family | knife fight | 

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Taglines:

Some called him savage- and some called him saint... some felt his hate- and one found his love... and three had to die...

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 June 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kostaja Nevada Smith

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Embassy Pictures Corporation, Paramount Pictures, Solar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min 139 min (original length)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene in the cattle pens when Max (Steve McQueen) fights Jessie Coe (Martin Landau), Max crouches behind a fence and opens the gate to let the cattle out. Some cattle come out the gate while others knock down the fence, and Max must dodge the flailing legs and hooves of the stampeding cattle. The knocking down of the fence was accidental, and McQueen was very nearly trampled for real. Shots of Max rolling clear of the hooves were added when it was decided to use the accidental footage.

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Goofs

When Martin Landau swings the chair at Steve McQueen as he enters the saloon bedroom, you can plainly see that a piece of plexiglas is in the door frame to protect McQueen.

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Quotes

Father Zaccardi: Don't, don't say what you will or won't do. Just remember when you ride out of here, God goes with you.
Nevada Smith: ...I'll keep that in mind.

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Connections

Spin-off Nevada Smith (1975)

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Soundtracks

"Frankie and Johnny"
(traditional, 1904)

User Reviews

Has some flaws but is still a good film.

The problem with any Steve McQueen western is that none measure up to The Magnificent Seven, his best cowboy role and one of the best westerns of all time.

Nevada Smith is not a perfect screenplay but it is nonetheless entertaining. It is the tale of a young boy who seeks revenge on three men who viciously tortured and murdered his parents. It has a predictable plot and some directorial flaws, but overall it meets the criteria for a good film; it is entertaining.

At age 36, McQueen is a bit hard to believe as a 'kid'. The story obviously spans many years in Max Sand's life and if the writers had played this up more McQueen's age would not have mattered. Even showing Max and Alex Chord in a winter setting followed by spring, something to show an extensive passage of time would have helped make McQueen's age more fitting (if he'd lost weight prior to filming it would also have helped). More emphasis should have been placed on his progression from illiterate, green half-breed to savvy gun slinger. The passage of time while he learned to read, use firearms, kill his first victim and recover from wounds at the Indian village, should all have been used more extensively to make Max Sand age into the character portrayed by McQueen.

But regardless of McQueen's actual age, by the time Max kills the first of the three men he is tracking and then gets himself thrown into a Louisiana prison to find another one, his character's age and looks are believable.

A superb cast of supporting actors backs up McQueen. Brian Keith is the perfect father figure who takes Max in and teaches him to use firearms and tells him about life and how to find the men who killed his parents. Suzanne Pleshette cannot be made to look bad no matter how hard the make up department tries. Even dirty and sweaty in the swamp, her natural beauty and class shine. These traits and her unique voice and soft movements steal any scene she is in. She almost upstages McQueen. Martin Landau, Arthur Kennedy and Karl Malden are as bad as any movie villains I ever saw.

POSSIBLE SPOILER: In the end, Max does the right thing. He purges his hate and embraces the bigger meaning of life. He doesn't forgive the murderers; he just elevates himself above them. He doesn't kill Fitch, instead after wounding him severely he walks away from a life of violence. For some reason, I believe he returns to the Indian tribe of his birth and to Neesa, the Indian woman who truly loves him. In any case, ultimately the film works.