Nevada Smith

A naive half-Indian, half-white teenager (Steve McQueen) evolves into a hardened killer as he tracks down his parents' murderers.

In the world of "revenge films", you have many that fall into the category of exploitation. This one rises above that and is much more nuanced, with some memorable characters. It also attempts to make comments on race and gender, though how successful it is on that is up to the viewer to decide.

How much does our protagonist rise above the revenge inside him? Well, in some ways he is pretty set in his ways. When presented with the Bible (which, amazingly, he had never heard of), all he takes from it is the "eye for an eye" bit. Maybe he never got to the New Testament.

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.

What I think is the biggest problem with Nevada Smith is casting a 40 year old blond with blue eyes to play a 16 year old half Native American. It is distracting throughout the whole story. Sometimes it is even ludicrous because a couple of times people seem to recognize on sight that he is Native American. Couldn't they have at least dyed his hair black and give him some contact lenses for Pete's sake? And what was supposed to be a sweet "coming of age" scene with the young Native American girl just looked WRONG. Steve McQueen was a good actor and all, but throughout the whole movie I was using my imagination replacing him with a young Bronson or someone a little more appropriate to the character he was playing.

A young man seeks revenge for the brutal murder of his parents. It's generally well made, but can't overcome a big casting flaw. The title character is supposed to be a teen-aged half-breed. Unfortunately, he's played by 36-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed McQueen. It's hard to buy when he is repeatedly referred to as a kid and a half-breed. McQueen tries to act young, but acting like a man half his age makes him appear mentally retarded. The film goes on too long, with an extended prison sequence (stangely reminiscent of "Papillon," which McQueen would star in seven years later) that seems out of place in a Western. The impressive cast is chock full of familiar faces.

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.