Nevada Smith

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Nevada Smith
DVD Cover
Directed by	Henry Hathaway
Produced by	Henry Hathaway Joseph E. Levine (executive producer)
Written by	John Michael Hayes Harold Robbins (novel The Carpetbaggers)
Starring	Steve McQueen Karl Malden Brian Keith Arthur Kennedy
Music by	Alfred Newman
Cinematography	Lucien Ballard
Editing by	Frank Bracht
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Running time	128 minutes
Language	English
IMDb profile

Nevada Smith is a 1966 Western film made by Embassy Pictures and Solar Productions, in association with and released by Paramount Pictures. It was produced and directed by Henry Hathaway with Joseph E. Levine as executive producer, from a story and screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on a character from Harold Robbins' 1961 novel The Carpetbaggers. The music score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Lucien Ballard.

The film stars Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy, Suzanne Pleshette, Raf Vallone, Janet Margolin, Pat Hingle, Howard Da Silva, Martin Landau and Paul Fix.

[edit] Plot

Steve McQueen is the title character, who goes by an assumed name (his real name is Max Sand) and hides his purpose of revenge when he joins a gang of outlaws led by Tom Fitch (Karl Malden), one of three men who killed Max's white father and Indian mother (the other two men are Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy) and Jesse Coe (Martin Landau). To put the viewers on Max's side, the torture-murder of his mother is shown briefly as she stands, naked to the waist, while having a knife running across her back.

[edit] Notes

The character of Nevada Smith originally appeared in Harold Robbins' novel The Carpetbaggers, which was also filmed by Paramount Pictures in 1964 (this particular film serves as its prequel). The role was played by Alan Ladd as a mature man.

The film was shot by Lucien Ballard's photography on approximately 46 different locations in the Inyo National Forest and the Owens Valley in the Eastern Sierra.

Hathaway's direction emphasizes violence, with the three supporting actors Landau, Kennedy, and Malden reaching high registers of emotion and reaction as they mete it out, and vengeance is exacted from them. Suzanne Pleshette gives a very touching performance as a Cajun woman who helps McQueen escape from a swamp prison and during their escape, dies from a snakebite. Brian Keith as the gunsmith who teaches Max the fundaments of gunplay and Raf Vallone as the priest who guides Max out of his quest for vengeance are both impressive.