Cheap Nevada Smith (DVD) (Steve McQueen, Karl Malden) (Henry Hathaway) Price

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Customer Reviews of Nevada Smith

Another McQueen Classic
Nevada Smith is up there with The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven as Steve McQueen's best roles. In this western, McQueen plays Max Sands, a young man bent on revenge of the three men who brutally killed his parents. The three villains are played to perfection by Karl Malden, Martin Landau, and Arthur Kennedy. Really this movie is three or four separate stories brought together by Max's revenge. Beautiful scenery throughout ranging from the mountains of the Northwest to the swamps of Louisiana with a good musical score to back up the story. Brian Keith is exceptional in his role as McQueen's mentor. This is classic McQueen. The anger he feels for these three men is obvious as he chases them around the country, even working alongside them so that he can be around in case he gets a chance to exact his revenge. The DVD does not offer any extras besides the widescreen presentation, but the movie looks better than it ever did before. A truly great western with both great characters and an excellent storyline.

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Don't forget the way back
If you're ever curious why people made such a fuss about Steve McQueen check out NEVADA SMITH, Henry Hathaway's sprawling tale of vengeance and obsession.
McQueen plays young half-Indian/half-white Max Sand, whose parents are murdered by a trio of bandits (Martin Landau, Arthur Kennedy, Karl Malden.) McQueen was 36 years old in 1966, the year NEVADA SMITH was made, and was probably a decade past the time when he could effortlessly portray a naïve young hero. There's a brief, disturbingly violent scene at the beginning of the movie where the three villains are torturing Smith's parents, and the woman portraying McQueen's Kiowa mother doesn't look much older than 35. Still, McQueen brings a wide-eyed innocence to his performance that tremendously helps us suspend disbelief. Besides, I believe I counted exactly zero close-ups in this action western. If you want to check out the crow's feet around McQueen's eyes you'll have to look hard and fast to see them.
McQueen gets a chance to play against some Hollywood professionals at the top of their games. Brian Keith is growlingly good as traveling gunsmith Jonas Cord, who plays Polonius to McQueen's Laertes, and plies the young stranger with instruction and advice. Max Sand won't be argued out of his mission to avenge the death of his parents, and the pragmatic Cord reluctantly agrees to be his mentor. It's through Cord and, later, a priest Sand comes across, that the movie is allowed to question its central theme - vengeance. Cord argues the practical ("You'll turn into one of the rats you're hunting,") the priest the spiritual. It's a tribute to the brilliance of McQueen's performance that by the time we reach the last scene we can see how both arguments have contributed to his maturation. Karl Malden plays the evil, racist Tom Fitch with sadist gusto. Malden overacts a bit in one of those rare roles that benefits when an actor takes it over the top. Watching the suspicious Fitch interrogate the no-longer-naïve Max Sand is one of the highlights of the movie.
The underrated Hathaway shot most of NEVADA SMITH on location, and the realistic look is used to great advantage. He doesn't go for the landmark shots a la John Ford in Monument Valley, choosing instead to play scenes in anonymous swamps and deserts. The realism shoots through all the way to stunts and props and costumes. Instead of elaborately choreographed fist fights with exaggerated sound effects every time a blow is struck, the characters in NEVADA SMITH scratch and claw, bite and kick when they fight. The clothes they wear are torn and dirty and they stay dirty.
NEVADA SMITH has enough going for it to appeal to those who aren't typically fans of westerns. If you are a fan this is a must-see.

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Long, a bit slow, but worth it
Steve McQueen starts out as a naive half-breed boy seeking out
the three men who murdered and multilated his parents. At first he can't even shoot a pistol, a flaw remedied by Brian Keith in a wonderful role. From there it's uphill, or downhill, depending on your point of view. McQueen's character, Max Sand, loses his innnocence and becomes a hard man, a killer. This allows him to hunt down the men, but at a cost of part of his soul. Unfortunately, I never found any of the villains to be particularly villainous, which is made up by the other characters, including the late Iron Eyes Cody as an Indian chief. Good movie, made when MrQueen was at the top of his form.