The Nevadan

Unexceptional Westerns like this one almost always followed certain well-worn conventions. A few clips on the jaw and a man was unconscious. Men wore nondescript generic Western clothing, usually including a vest. The capo may have a string tie, possibly a suit, but most of the men wore neckerchiefs which were never used, as well as guns, which were. The girl friend was pure, although maybe mixed up. There was little in the way of character development and motivations were usually simple, as Galt's is here -- "gold fever", someone calls it. They were usually shot at a studio ranch or at Lone Pine or, as in this case, in both.

Later in the 1950s ambitious directors like Anthony Mann introduced some life into the increasingly tired comic-book stories by giving us heroes who were neurotic and subsidiary characters with complicated motives. Other directors simply gave up trying and turned the cartoon into a parody, like one of those Steig cartoons in which a hand is seen drawing itself. Budd Boetticher was a director who gave up and reveled in the primitivism of the form.

That's when Randolph Scott made the Westerns he's best known for, like "Ride Lonesome." Great title there. Scott's character was reduced to a prig, as morally upright as a gastropod on its poduncle, always putting temptation behind him, never telling a lie, rejecting offers of warmth and comfort from women -- a total bore, in other words.

"The Nevadan" had the same producers as the later Boetticher films but Scott's character hadn't quite hardened into the inflexible clunk yet. He smiles here. He fibs too. He only shoots one guy, and not by outdrawing him either. It's an improvement over his later persona. But the villains aren't. Boetticher's villains were great -- Lee Marvin, Richard Boone, Pernell Roberts, James Coburn. The heavies here are not nearly as much fun. How can anyone take George MacReady seriously as a Western head heavy? He belongs in a corporation as part of a conspiracy. Faylen still sounds like the taxi driver in "Dark Passage." Ray Corey is supposed to have been a well-regarded drama teacher later on, and he gave a flawless performance in "In Cold Blood," but he brings nothing to the party here as a dull-witted joke. But the woman, Dorothy Malone, has never looked better, fresh faced, young, and innocent, as MacReady's daughter. Hollywood had a habit of glamorizing her to the point of unrecognizability. They gave her glossy hairdos, slick lips, two tons of pancake or waffle makeup, and false eyelashes the size of those canvas tarps you put up as extensions of your mobile home. She's a surprise. Nobody else in this movie is.

But it's also worth mentioning Jock Mahoney as "Sandy," one of the bad guys. He was as homely as they come, but the man's physical presence was magnetic. I'm sure he didn't deliberately try for the effect but every swift movement was as graceful as a dancer's, the opposite of John Wayne who seemed to move by putting one or two limbs in motion and letting his torso follow them sometime later on. One example: watch the scene in which Malone gives Mahoney's horse a kick in the hindquarters and Mahoney finds himself splashing down into a creek, then spins the horse around and climbs the bank as if man and animal were one being, just as the Aztecs thought.

Escaped outlaw Forrest Tucker stops a stranger following him. The stranger is Randolph Scott dressed up like a greenhorn. For no good reason, Tucker decides he needs a partner and Scott fits the bill. This is the kind of plot contrivance you just have to accept from a western like this, a programmer if there ever was one. Naturally, Scott isn't who he says he is. He just wanted to fool Tucker into taking him along so he could find where Tucker hid some gold. There's also an evil rancher, George Macready, who has a pretty daughter. The daughter's played by Dorothy Malone. Of course she and Scott fall for one another. It's all serviceable enough but nothing special. If you've seen enough westerns, all of this movie's pieces will seem familiar. Still, it's a Randolph Scott western. There are far worse ways to pass the time.

The Nevadan finds Randolph Scott in a three cornered battle for some stolen gold that escaped outlaw Forrest Tucker has hidden away. After Tucker has made good an escape from authorities, Scott turns up on his trail and proves quite useful. Still Tucker can't figure out why he's turning up all the time and being so helpful.

The other part of this mystery is George MacReady who was doing several Randolph Scott westerns at this time. He's a seemingly respectable rancher, but he's got some thugs on the payroll who include Jock Mahoney and bickering brothers Frank Faylen and Jeff Corey ready to do his bidding and he's cutting himself in on Tucker's hidden treasure.

Complicating all this is Dorothy Malone, MacReady's daughter, a lovely thing who is totally clueless about her old man. She takes a fancy to Scott and he to her which causes problems for everyone involved.

The Nevadan is a good Randolph Scott western that tries for a bit of mystery. The action is good, but the mystery isn't. The people in the film are cast in roles traditional to them so any experienced film watcher can almost predict what will happen.

Best part of The Nevadan is the inevitable three cornered shootout at the location of the loot. I think you can figure out who comes out on top.

The calibre of this slick Cinecolor Randolph Scott western is already signalled by the presence of George Macready's name in the opening credits, here playing the father of Dorothy Malone in her early brunette days in buckskin and stetson.

Both they and most of the cast (including Frank Faylen & Jeff Corey as a pair of bickering siblings) and crew had experience of working in film noirs, particularly evident in the interior scenes.

Good Scott western that makes excellent use of the neolithic Alabama Hills with the snow- capped southern Sierras in the background. I like the way the henchmen Jeff and Bart are given personalities, something most oaters don't bother with. And just who is Barclay (Scott) anyway, and why does he befriend outlaw Tanner (Tucker) in his quest to recover stolen gold. Is Barclay a good guy or not since he doesn't act like one. But first, they've got to beat out Galt's (MacReady) gang who also, surprise, surprise, wants to get the same gold. But what I most want to know is how ugly old Galt could father a delicious looking dame like Karen (Malone) who's clearly on her way up the Hollywood ladder.

There're a number of nice touches (e.g. the unexpected bucking bronco), and I can't help noticing Harry Joe Brown as co-producer along with Scott. They collaborated a few years later with Bud Boetticher on that great Ranown series of westerns that looks a lot like this one. Note how rather likable the outlaw Tanner is, also a hallmark of the Ranown series. And what an excellently staged showdown brawl in the mine tunnel. The effects are realistic and unusual for a B-western.

Anyway, it's a non-clichéd script with a number of twists, lots of scenery and action, along with an appropriate ending. So what more can this old front-row kid ask for.