Nevada Smith (1966)

Steve McQueen is Nevada Smith, a young man whose father and Indian mother are slaughtered by three men convinced there’s a fortune hidden somewhere on their property.

After all, they’ve heard about the silver nugget Sam Sands used to purchase supplies in town. They figure he’s discovered a new vein in the played-out mine near his home.

With $8 in his pocket, a gun and a horse, Smith sets out to get revenge. He knows he’s looking for a man named Jessie, possibly aboard a gray horse that bears his dad’s initials.

Smith loses everything else he owns when he crosses paths with the wrong three men. Then a gun salesman named Jonas Cord (Brian Keith) tries to convince him that his quest is both futile and dangerous.

But Jonas takes the young man under his wing long enough to teach him some gun skills. And sends him off with a helpful piece of advice: Head in the richest direction.

If the three men he’s searching for have managed to steal, that’s where they’d head to spend it. And if they’re looking to steal some more … well, that’s where the money is.

Jesse Coe (Martin Landau), Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy) and Tom Fitch (Karl Malden) harrass Max Sands’ parents in Nevada Smith (1966)

Review:

The plot comes from a flashback sequence in the Harold Robbins’ novel “The Carpetbaggers.” As it turned out, it worked better as a flashback scene in the novel than as a Western, especially one more than two hours in length (the original release ran 139 minutes).

The biggest problem is the casting of Steve McQueen. The part calls for a character in his mid-teens. Nevada Smith’s youth is the key factor in why so many other characters are sympathetic to his plight.

McQueen was 35, when this film was made. He looks nothing like a boy just reaching adulthood.

And at a time when Westerns were becoming much more violent, the torture of his parents is treated way too timidly here to establish Jesse Coe (Martin Landau), Tom Fitch (Karl Malden) and Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy) as bastards who truly need killing.

All that said, the knife fight between Nevada and Jesse is one of the best you’ll find in a Western. And having Nevada get himself thrown into a swamp-encircled prison to reach Bowdre helps set the film apart.

Janet Margolin plays Neesa, the Kiowa Indian turned saloon girl who helps Nevada survive his first encounter with the men he’s seeking. Suzanna Pleshette is Pilar, a plantation worker who helps Smith survive his second.

Brian Keith as Jonas Cord with Steve McQueen as Nevada Smith in Nevada Smith (1966)

Directed by:
Henry Hathaway

Cast:
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
Josephine Hutchinson … Mrs. Elvira McCanles
John Doucette … Uncle Ben McCanles
Val Avery … Buck Mason
Sheldon Allman … Sheriff
Lyle Bettger … Jack Rudabaugh
John Litel … Doctor
Ted de Corsia … Bartender
Loni Anderson … Saloon girl (uncredited role)
Joanna Moore … Angie Coe

Runtime: 128 min.

Score: Alfred Newman

Steve McQueen as Nevada Smith confronts Martin Landau as Jesse Coe in Nevada Smith (1966)

Memorable lines:

Jonas Cord: “You an old hand at killin’?”
Nevada Smith: “I killed my share of deer and rabbits.”
Jonas: “Ever hold a gun on a man?”
Nevada: “No.”
Jonas: “You’re settin’ out to kill three of ’em, huh? Bang, bang, bang. You figure you’re going to make it because you got right on your side?”
Nevada: “It helps.”
Jonas: “They bury a sheriff about once a week out here.”

Jonas Cord, trying to talk Nevada Smith out of his mission of vengeance: “Look, just to find them, you’re gonna have to comb out every saloon, gambling hall, hog farm, and whore house between here and Mexico. What do you think you’re after, three preachers? You gonna gun ’em down at 80 yards when they’re coming out of a church social? You’re hunting three men who steal because they’re too damn lazy to work, and they kill because they love to, and they hide out like rats in the garbage. So if you’re gonna get ’em, you’re gonna have to eat, drink, and wallow in that garbage right with ’em, ’til you get so you think like ’em and smell like ’em.”
Nevada Smith: “I’ll do what I have to do.”

Suzanne Pleshette as Pilar with Steve McQueen as Nevada Smith in Nevada Smith (1966)

Jonas Cord: “All you got goin’ for you is some blind Indian revenge.”
Nevada Smith: “I’m half white.”
Jonas: “You’re all helpless.”

Pilar: “Treat me nice, Max. That’s all I want.”

Pilar, to Nevada Smith, after Bowdre’s death: “You’re a dirty, low animal. You lied to me. You used me to kill. You’re worse than the man you killed. You don’t care about me. You don’t care about anybody. You’d kill me if you had to.”
Nevada Smith: “No.”
Pilar: “No? You have.”

Priest, pointing out a crucifix to Nevada: “It’s the son of God, who came to earth to teach men love by example.”
Nevada Smith: “Well, he must have missed somebody. That looks worse than hanging.”

Tom Fitch: “The kid’s creepy. He ain’t human. He doesn’t kill people; he executes them. Yeah, he executes them.”