Nevada Smith (1966)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

(Flash Review)McQueen plays a young chap whose parents were brutally murdered by a gang of thieving cowboys. Riddled with anger, he plans to exact revenge even though he has no experience with a pistol and fighting. Along his vengeful journey he meets some influential characters. Some provide assistance, some the opposite and some a moral compass for him. How far will he take his revenge? A pretty good western with great scenery, good character development, solid story yet the editing felt a bit choppy and jumpy around the timeframe. If you like McQueen or westerns, check it out.

As far different from Harold Robbins' "The Carpetbaggers" as it can be, this western of revenge lacks the soap opera elements that made its predecessor pure "trash with class". In that film, Alan Ladd played Nevada Smith, the mentor of ruthless Hollywood executive George Peppard, basically playing a disguised version if Howard Hughes. Young Nevada is out for revenge on the three men responsible for his parent's death, something he ironically set up by revealing their location.The three killers are Martin Landau, Arthur Kennedy and Karl Malden, meeting up with Steve McQueen's half breed Nevada in ironic ways. It's insinuated that the three tortured his parents before killing them, and a visual of McQueen's Indian mother's back being sliced is horrifying to watch. Miscast but not bad, McQueen is overshadowed by the three actors playing the villains, three of the great character actors of Hollywood's golden age. To tie "The Carpetbaggers" with this, Suzanne Pleshette is cast as an Indian lady who helps McQueen escape from prison, not realizing that it's part of his revenge on fellow prisoner Kennedy.While trying to imagine Pleshette as an Indian maiden is a bit far fetched, she really scores sympathy, especially in her final scene where she curses McQueen for using her in her revenge. Howard da Silva also scores as the brutal prison warden, especially when he arranges for escaped prisoner Kennedy to be whipped and left in the water to drowned. There are many small, tender moments and even a few bonding moments between each of the killers and McQueen's vengeance seeker. The stand off between each of them is filled with tension, basically dividing this into three parts.

A great streak of classic movies by the master Steve McQueen in the turbulent 60's. Just coming off his last picture the Cincinatti Kid, Steve is back on the prairie and in the saddle for another western with revenge as the story line. Vengeance goes to new heights in this picture with a huge portion of savage fierceness. McQueen portrays a half breed White/native American youth (Max Sand) who witnesses the brutal murders of his family by three cutthroats, Martin Landua (Jesse Coe), Arthur Kennedy (Bill Bowdre) and Karl Malden as Tom Finch. Taking place in the remote southwestern United States our uneducated, naive and hungry teen proclaims revenge on each of the killers. As he seeks out the evil three across America. Unprepared, tired and hungry roaming the remote terrain he finds a rusty pistol and seeks out a well stocked traveler named Jonas Cord (Brian Keith). Max has Mr. Cord at gun point but Cord sees that the weapon is old and rusty and doesn't work.Jonas Cord happens top be a gun dealer in those parts and has sold guns and ammunition for close to 15 years. Max tells his traumatic story of his family getting ambushed by the three scoundrels to Mr. Cord and his personal quest to seek revenge by killing each one. Cord advises the half breed to go home and let it go but Sand wants to learn all he can to get retribution and closure in his life by killing each one. Cord takes on the youth and teaches him all about shooting and dirty bar room fighting. To paraphrase, "In order to be a killer you have live like one and think like one!" claims an elder Cord to an impressionable Sand. Cord also suggested that these evil three will go where the money is. The rest of the picture shows Sand in his travels seeking out each one from Brothels, bar rooms and the swamps of the Louisiana bayou. Going to great lengths to seek out each individual who slaughtered his folks with no remorse. Honorable mention to the two female co-stars Janet Margolin as the native American Neesa who nurses Sand back to health after a deadly knife fight. Suzanne Pleshette as Pillar who provides a canoe in the vast and murky regions of the Bayou to help Sand escape from prison. The scenery for the most part is breath taking. The cinementopgraphy is superb with the use of wide open spaces.

I could not believe all the big name stars, and stars that were not necessarily really big but are very recognizable, that were in this movie. It is incredible. Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith (one of my all time favorite actors), Arthur Kennedy, Suzanne Pleshette, Pat Hingle, Martin Landau, John Doucette, Gene Evans, Paul Fix, and a number of uncredited stars that I recognized as well. Just the fact that there are so many stars makes it worth watching.I really like the older movies. Those from the beginning of film through the 60s. They used to make movies that had good story lines and had actors that really knew how to act. I was very blessed to have a mom that exposed me to music and movies from every era and most every genre.The one thing about the story that had me a bit confused was everyone calling Steve McQueen a kid. It isn't that he is old, but he certainly isn't a kid and not all that young. He was 36 at the time of this movie and, frankly, I didn't think he really looked much like a kid. To me, he looked like he was in his 30s (which he was). And a bit later in the movie he runs into the wife of one of the men he is pursuing and she makes a comment about how young he looks and yet she is actually 4 years younger than Steve McQueen. The second thing that had me a bit puzzled was when he ran into 3 guys and the one said, "He is a half breed. He is part Indian." (Not necessarily the exact words, but that was basically what was said.) This was confusing since Steve McQueen does not look like anything other than very white.The story isn't a unique one. However, it was well written and all of the actors played their parts very well. The movie was able to keep my interest throughout. I never felt that it lagged. The story progression was good. Steve McQueen's parents (father white, mother American Indian) were killed by 3 vicious men and he sets out to find these men and get revenge for his parents. On his journey to find these people, he runs into a great number of others that help teach him various life lessons. He learns to read and write, how to shoot and other various lessons that will aid him in locating and killing the 3 men. It also explores how events in your life can change the path you were on making you and changing you into a different person. In this case, it is examining how revenge can take over your life and twist you into someone you never meant to be. He meets a priest who tries to convince him that there is another way to live.I will let you see the film for yourself to see if he ends up killing the men who killed his parents or if he finds a different way to live. I recommend this movie, both for the good story line, the great acting and just to be able to see all of the stars.