Nevada Smith [Blu-ray]

Director: Henry Hathaway Henry Hathaway

Overview

Henry Hathaway's film is based on a character from Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, who, in turn, based it on cowboy actor Ken Maynard. Set in the West of the 1890s, the film opens with the torture and murder of the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) by a trio of gunslingers seemingly motivated by their hostility toward the mixed nature of the marriage, since the wife is a Native American. Swearing revenge, the young cowhand enlists the help of itinerant gunsmith Jonas Cord Brian Keith, who teaches him how to shoot while counseling against revenge. Nonetheless, Sand doggedly scours one town after the other before finally running up against one of the murderers, Jesse Coe (Martin Landau). He finally kills Coe in a vicious knife fight, but is severely wounded himself and has to be nursed back to health by Neesa (Janet Margolin), a young Kiowa woman. He next heads for Louisiana where another of the murderous trio, Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy), is serving a prison sentence in a remote swamp. In order to get close to the man, Sand stages a robbery, and is soon among the prison inmates. This was the only film on which McQueen worked with Landau, the only other person admitted to the Actor's Studio out of thousands of applicants in 1957.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/18/2023
UPC:	0738329263447
Original Release:	1966
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	2:10:00
Sales rank:	1,622

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Steve McQueen	Max Sand aka 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
Sheldon Allman	Sheriff
Lyle Bettger	Jack Rudabough
Bert Freed	Quince
David McLean	Romero
Merritt Bohn	River Boat Pilot
Steve Mitchell	Buckshot
Sandy Kenyon	Clerk in Bank
Ric Roman	Cipriano
John Lawrence	Hogg

Technical Credits

Henry Hathaway	Director,Producer
Joseph E. Levine	Executive Producer
Steve McQueen	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Hathaway's revenge Western, minimal enough in its dialogue to seem like a silent at times, is a perfect setting for McQueen's perennially aggrieved persona. Although often primitive in its technique, the austere beauty of the film's Western locations, its leisurely pace, and the methodical nature of the hero's pursuit imbue its inevitable violence with a strangely meditative cast. Unlike action films of recent decades, where revenge is usually swift and sure, Nevada Smith underlines the exhaustive nature of McQueen's search and the sheer physical toll of killing even one man. As the years pass, the film records the ugly transformation of the vulnerable kid into a stone-cold killer. Except for Arthur Kennedy, who is reliably good in the meatiest of the roles afforded the villains, McQueen so dominates the film that the excellent cast really only needs to use a fraction of their talent. Among its spectacular locations are Mount Ritter and Banner Peak in California, and Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello