Movie Review: Nevada Smith (1966) directed by Henry Hathaway
Max Sand (Steve McQueen) is the son of a failed prospector and his wife, a woman of the Kiowa tribe. While he’s out doing chores some miles from their house, Max is approached by three men. We will come to know them as Jessie Coe (Martin Landau), Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy) and Tom Fitch (Karl Malden). They claimed to have served with Mr. Sand during the American Civil War (this might be true for one of them) and ask directions. When Max gives those directions, they drive off his horse before setting out for the mine. By the time Max has recaptured the horse and returned, his parents have been murdered in a particularly gruesome way–and all for nothing, as the gold mine is dry.
Max swears vengeance on the killers, as one does. The rest of the movie follows him on that journey.
This 1966 movie is interesting for being a prequel to the 1964 movie The Carpetbaggers, which was based on a 1961 novel of the same name by Harold Robbins. Nevada Smith (an alias adopted by Max after his own name got too hot) was a supporting character (played by Alan Ladd, his last role) in that movie, which had to skip some of the background revealed in the book for time, and was considered juicy enough to carry its own movie.
The biggest hurdle is that 35-year-old Steve McQueen is playing a mixed-race teenager. You’re going to have to take the movie’s word for it; the other characters call him “kid” or say “you look young” or clock his supposed Native American features, but the make-up team doesn’t even try to disguise him.
Max is naive at first, and ill-equipped for a journey in the outside world. But he meets a few kindly strangers like gunsmith Jonas Cord (Brian Keith), who teaches him basic shooting skills and poker, and encourages him to learn to read.
One by one, Max tracks down his parents’ killers. He grows steadily more cunning and able to use violence, as well as forming bonds with Kiowa woman Neesa (Janet Margolin) and Cajun woman Pilar (Suzanne Pleshette), though these are both broken by his insistence on following the path of revenge.
Just before his confrontation with final target Fitch, Max encounters monastic priest Father Zaccardi (Raf Vallone), who introduces him to religion and tries to turn the young outlaw from his vengeful ways. What will happen in this final encounter? (Well, from the previous movie we know that Nevada Smith survives and returns to work for Mr. Cord. But besides that.)
There’s some nice cinematography, and the action scenes are good. The acting is professional but kind of flat, which may have to do with the script more than the actors. And Mr. McQueen is hideously miscast except for during the action scenes.
Content notes: Murder by torture (mostly offscreen and not showing us the results), prejudice against Native Americans and mixed-race people (including outdated language), prostitution, extramarital sex. General lethal violence as standard for Westerns. Older teens should be able to handle it.
This movie is competently made, but the thought process behind it baffles me. I’m going to say it’s the least good Steve McQueen movie I’ve seen. Recommended as a double feature with The Carpetbaggers which will add depth to the character in the other movie.
There was a 1975 TV movie sequel which I have not seen, and starred none of the same people.
