Nevada Smith | | Cast : | Steve McQueen, Karl Malden | | Director : | Henry Hathaway | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 10, 1966 | | DVD Released Date : | March 01, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | McQueen In A Cowboy Hat | Content
 | This was a film that never made it on to my radar although I am a fan of westerns and Steve McQueen. Last month, I watched a special on TMC about McQueen and they had a clip from "Nevada Smith", it looked interesting, so I ordered one from Amazon.The verdict? It is a terrific little film. Henry Hathaway, a skilled director with a long list of impressive credits, did a terrific job telling this Harold Robbins story and McQueen is great. Loads of wonderful character actors and georgeous scenery, artfully recorded adds up to a fun experience. I am glad I have it in on my shelf. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 20, 2005 | | Summary | Go get em Max...just don't forget the way home | Content
| This movie is a great study on revenge. Steve McQueen plays Max Sand who chases the killers of his father and mother. Along the way he meets Brian Keith, in what is possibly one of his best roles, as the gun dealer Jonas Cord. Jonas takes Max under his wing and plays mentor to help him find the killers. This is after trying to get Max to realize the challenges that he must face in order to find, survive and shoot the killers. The dialogue and friendship between Jonas and Max is the best part of the movie.
I enjoyed the ending very much but wished they would have gone a little bit further in showing what becomes of Max. This is another movie that not many know about but should.
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| Rating | | | Date | July 16, 2005 | | Summary | Great Movie! Great Message! | Content
| This film is a wonderful story that takes the viewer on an emotional and spiritual journey as its protagonist (Nevada Smith) goes on a calculated hunt to find and exact revenge on his parents' three brutal murderers. He's warned early on by a friend (Brian Keith) that he'll eventually become like the people he's after. A heartbreaking scene, in the backwaters of Louisiana, underscores that the prediction is coming true. There, as he hears a stunning rebuke from an indignant Suzanne Pleshette (who gives a great performance here), the realization begins to dawn upon our hero that he is not as righteous as he (or we) suppose.
After he is two-thirds through with his "mission," Nevada Smith (i.e. Max Sands) is given a Bible to read by a priest whose family has been massacred by Indians as a child. The knowing priest warns Max that those who seek revenge ultimately become so consumed with anger and hate that they destroy themselves most of all. Steve McQueen, with his sometimes quizzical, sometimes resistant looks, is the perfect actor to play the part of the aggrieved young man who slowly processes what he is doing and what it is doing to him. Nevada Smith echoes the story of Ben Hur in that the example of Christ praying on the cross ("Father forgive them, they know not what they do") is the final ingredient needed to soften the vengeful spirit of one whose family has been destroyed by the evil hand of man. By the film's climax an "awakened" Max (like Ben Hur) finally "ceases from anger and forsakes wrath." (Psalm 37:8) The ending scene, with it's swelling score (perhaps the best in movie history!) majestically underlines the true strength and heroism Nevada Smith has found in leaving vengeance to God and makes this film end on a high note that few movies have ever reached. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 04, 2005 | | Summary | A Fifty Star Movie | Content
| I can not say enough good things about this movie. It was INTELLIGENT in the writing and the story was superb.
Yes it is hard to believe Steve McQueen as a kid as he looks older than his Kiowa mother, but when one ignores that one of the best movies of all times is played out before your eyes.
Karl Malden is fantastic. Steve McQueen is fantastic. Brian Keith is fantastic. Martin Landau is fantastic...even the bit part actors are fantastic.
You do not run into many movies like this that make sense, are pro Christian and have a character at the end who actually grows and becomes a better person.
5 stars, but it deserves 50. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 10, 2004 | | Summary | Don't forget the way back | Content
| 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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