Nevada Smith

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.

This was a western with a good cast and another intense, interesting revenge story. It's fairly long at 130 minutes but Steve McQueen is usually charismatic enough to carry a film, and he does so here, too.

As the title character, "Nevada Smith," McQueen is joined by a number of well- known actors of the 1960s: Suzanne Pleshette, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy, Raf Vallone, Martin Landau Janet Margolin and Pat Hingle.

McQueen plays a man who is totally dominated by thoughts of revenge. It motivates his every move. I don't recommend that attitude, but it makes for a good movie.

It was nice to see this in 2:35:1 widescreen. Even though I owned a new tape, that nice western photography made the DVD purchase worthwhile.

Though there isn't much here that you haven't seen before in a western revenge drama, it's pretty well done. You can understand why the protagonist turns away at any chance of a normal life and instead concentrates on nothing but revenge. And it is undeniably satisfying to see him enact his revenge any chance he gets.

It's good for what it is, though there are some problems, that if tweaked, could have made the movie even better. For one thing, casting McQueen as a half-Indian? And casting this mid-30s actor as a character that's supposed to be young enough to be called "Kid"!?!? Plus, the escape from the swamp doesn't seem finished; in fact, with the short sequence where one of McQueen's pursuers commenting on the bullets he has left makes me believe that several minutes were edited out before the movie was released.

This sidebar story from Harold Robbins THE CARPETBAGGERS was given class treatment by Paramount as a vehicle for McQueen, who lends some authenticity to a rather routine character motivated by a quest to avenge the brutal slaying of his parents at the beginning of the picture. Henry Hathaway lends visual elegance to what's basically a drawn-out, seedy revenge tale. Alfred Newman provides the rousing music. Moderately engaging.

After witnessing the brutal massacre of his family , a young man (Steve McQueen) set out a personal vengeance against a hideous band (the trio formed by Martin Landau , Karl Malden , Arthur Kennedy) . He swears revenge and will do pay one by one the murderers . He carries the vengeance in his heart after seeing his family butchered . Previous rules of the code of west are dated , he is nowadays guided by vendetta . The protagonist combines raw ferocity , toughness and untamed youth . He learns about the life with the experience only a master gun-fighter (Brian Keith) can offer . He is going after those who killed them . He travels the southwestern and goes to Abilene as cowboy . In this cattle town the rowdy , free-spending cowboys attracted saloon keepers , gambling houses , brothels with prostitutes (Janet Margolin) and all types of frontier men , the city became notorious for its lawlessness and vice , there he found his main enemy (Martin Landau) . Later on , he goes to Northern and crosses paths to track down and hunt foes . He is become an outlaw with a price on his head and carries out bank robbery , murders and being severely wounded . But he is trapped . He is imprisoned in a prisoner camp that is a hell on the earth , the inmates are tortured , harassed and humiliated by the wardens (Pat Hingle , Howard Da Silva) in a gaol where rules the strongest law . He along with a convict (Arthur Kennedy) and helped by a gorgeous young woman( Suzanne Pleshette) are involving the preparatives for the scape . He also meets a good priest (Raf Vallone), explaining him a moralising speech.

This is a violent , lengthy Western based on the character created by Harold Robbins in ¨The Carpetbaggers ¨(adapted to cinema by Edward Dimitrick with George Peppard) . In the movie there is action , tension , adventures , violence and results to be quite entertaining . The great Steve McQueen gives a very good acting in his peculiar style . Support cast is frankly awesome , such as : Brian Keith , Raf Vallone , Pat Hingle , Howard Da Silva , Janet Margolin , Martin Landau , Paul Fix , John Doucette , Gene Evans , among others . The picture is well photographed , including magnificently detailed outdoors and stunning locations in glittering colour . As it packs an evocative and colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Lucien Ballard . Excellent music by the veteran and classic Alfred Newman . The motion picture was finely directed by Henry Hathaway (True grit, Five sons of Katie Elder) .