Nevada

Once again a well-made RKO Radio Picture from yesteryear provides a fine entertainment in a summer when TV is a total washout and there are no movies at the multiplex for grown-ups over 13.

This noteworthy formula western introduces Robert Mitchum in a story that moves along fast while focusing on the early days of the Comstock Lode in Gold Hill, CA. The story is good, the acting fine, the cinematography just great. They got the history straight and everything is on-the-level except that the real Gold Hill is on a steep grade, not flat; and that's the only flaw in the movie. Filming at Lone Pine, CA certainly fooled me, as the terrain is exactly the same as around Carson City, NV and Gold Hill.

They knew how to make westerns in 1944; they don't in 2007. Unlike 3:10 to Yuma, this one doesn't turn stupid in the final 16 minutes.

Look for NEVADA in recent DVD release. Then look around the house for an old $20 Gold Double Eagle minted from Comstock gold in 1870 at the mint in Carson City. It'll be worth $200,000 in poor condition; lots more if it still looks pretty.

Cowpoke Jim Lacy (Mitchum), nicknamed Nevada, rides with his two sidekicks, an ornery wisecracking Dusty (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams), and a juvenile amorous Mexican-Irish guitarist singer, Chito Jose Gonzales Bustamante Rafferty (Richard Martin). After a winning streak with the dice, Nevada has a small fortune in yellowback bills from his craps winnings. With news of gold being up in the Comstock, these cowboys are tempted to speculate themselves.

Gold prospecting ranch owner Ben Ide takes the money and sets off to buy mining equipment, but Cash Burridge gets his thug-heavy man Joe Powell to kill Ide and recover the money. Nevada finds Ide and the money. He is the first man on the scene when the prospector is whacked by two men. The posse arrives immediately after, suspects Nevada of foul play, and Nevada is unjustly accused of a murder he didn't commit. Nevada is helped out by both a worldly saloon singer, Julie Dexter (Anne Jeffreys) and the innocent, sweet, murder victim's daughter, Hattie Ide (Nancy Gates).

Takes it time to get started, but once it does this Robert Mitchum western clocks in a nifty and involving 60 minutes of Wild West entertainment with a strong plot of a hero accused of murder and robbery, enough fast riding and gunplay and a good duplicitous villain. Chito Rafferty and Guinn Williams are Mitchum's sidekicks.

"Nevada" (Bob Mitchum] rescues "Julie" (Anne Jeffreys) from a grizzly fate and she warns him that the town they are both travelling to isn't a lot friendlier. He arrives and soon finds that is too true as he is arrested for a murder and a robbery. She tries to intercede for him with the fair-minded sheriff but when a lynch mob breaks into the jail he has to skedaddle and think on his feet to track down the real culprit and, with the help of an alchemist, find out just what is going on in this remote prospecting town. Now we know all along who is pulling the strings so there's not oodles of jeopardy here, but that said - Mitchum delivers quite well here as the decent cowboy embroiled in a battle of wits with a shrewd and greedy man who has designs not just on the town, but on "Julie" too. Jeffreys also delivers more strongly giving her character a little more oomph than was more common for the leading lady in these once-a-week procedural westerns. We even get a jolly ditty from his pal "Dusty" (Guinn Williams) and it's quite entertainingly paced for an hour of fairly action-packed drama.

Apart from westerns, Robert Mitchum always looks slick in these black and white films, particularly in the 40's. He has an arched lip which sometimes has an evil curve when he's angry. He's usually pushed to his limit, but it's always the tall, broad shoulders that surfaces in every film he's in.

"Introducing Bob Mitchum" the screen announces as a very young, very handsome Robert Mitchum rides his horse into view, pauses for an adorable close up, then rides away. If you want to get technical about it, Nevada isn't really his first movie. He had bit parts or was an extra in nineteen films in 1943, but if you want to see the first time he was given a leading role, this is the one to rent.

In an adorable first vehicle, Bob Mitchum plays a cowboy in the middle of the gold rush craze. While towns I'm very familiar with are rattled off by the actors-Sacramento, Placerville, Grass Valley, and Hangtown-the main characters know too many people who haven't struck gold when they tried, so they try their hand the old fashioned way: by gambling. Bob wins seven thousand dollars off a crooked gambler, then heads to Carson City because a pretty girl suggested it. The trouble is, coincidentally, seven thousand dollars is missing from the town and Bob finds himself the immediate suspect! Don't worry too much about the new western star, though. He's got two very loyal sidekicks, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and Richard Martin, who are always thinking of inventive ways to rescue their buddy.

I'll put my bias aside and admit that this isn't the best western flick to come out of the genre, but for Robert Mitchum fans, it really is a must see. It's so adorable to see him smiling, excited for his first lead, and galloping around on his horse during the chase scenes.