Nevada Smith

After witnessing the brutal massacre of his family , a young man (Steve McQueen) set out a personal vengeance against a hideous band (the trio formed by Martin Landau , Karl Malden , Arthur Kennedy) . He swears revenge and will do pay one by one the murderers . He carries the vengeance in his heart after seeing his family butchered . Previous rules of the code of west are dated , he is nowadays guided by vendetta . The protagonist combines raw ferocity , toughness and untamed youth . He learns about the life with the experience only a master gun-fighter (Brian Keith) can offer . He is going after those who killed them . He travels the southwestern and goes to Abilene as cowboy . In this cattle town the rowdy , free-spending cowboys attracted saloon keepers , gambling houses , brothels with prostitutes (Janet Margolin) and all types of frontier men , the city became notorious for its lawlessness and vice , there he found his main enemy (Martin Landau) . Later on , he goes to Northern and crosses paths to track down and hunt foes . He is become an outlaw with a price on his head and carries out bank robbery , murders and being severely wounded . But he is trapped . He is imprisoned in a prisoner camp that is a hell on the earth , the inmates are tortured , harassed and humiliated by the wardens (Pat Hingle , Howard Da Silva) in a gaol where rules the strongest law . He along with a convict (Arthur Kennedy) and helped by a gorgeous young woman( Suzanne Pleshette) are involving the preparatives for the scape . He also meets a good priest (Raf Vallone), explaining him a moralising speech.

This is a violent , lengthy Western based on the character created by Harold Robbins in ¨The Carpetbaggers ¨(adapted to cinema by Edward Dimitrick with George Peppard) . In the movie there is action , tension , adventures , violence and results to be quite entertaining . The great Steve McQueen gives a very good acting in his peculiar style . Support cast is frankly awesome , such as : Brian Keith , Raf Vallone , Pat Hingle , Howard Da Silva , Janet Margolin , Martin Landau , Paul Fix , John Doucette , Gene Evans , among others . The picture is well photographed , including magnificently detailed outdoors and stunning locations in glittering colour . As it packs an evocative and colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Lucien Ballard . Excellent music by the veteran and classic Alfred Newman . The motion picture was finely directed by Henry Hathaway (True grit, Five sons of Katie Elder) .

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.

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 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.

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.