Nevada Smith (1966) - Turner Classic Movies

Nevada Smith

2h 8m 1966

Brief Synopsis

A part-Indian cowboy avenges his parents' murder.

Cast & Crew

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Henry Hathaway

Steve McQueen

Nevada Smith/Max Sand

Karl Malden

Brian Keith

Arthur Kennedy

Suzanne Pleshette

Photos & Videos

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Nevada Smith (1966) -- (Movie Clip) He's Ridin' My Father's Horse

Nevada Smith (1966) -- (Movie Clip) There Ain't No Gold

Nevada Smith (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Blind Indian Revenge

Film Details

MPAA Rating

Genre

Western

Action

Release Date

Jan 1966

Premiere Information

Miami, Florida, opening: 10 Jun 1966

Production Company

Embassy Pictures; Solar Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Paramount Pictures

Country

United States

Location

Inyo National Forest, California, USA; Owens Valley, California, USA

Screenplay Information

Based on a character in the novel The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins (New York, 1961).

Technical Specs

Duration

2h 8m

Sound

Mono

Color

Color (Eastmancolor)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1, 2.35 : 1

Synopsis

Max Sand is a young halfbreed living in the mountain and desert West of the 1890's. One day three gunslingers torture and kill his parents. Swearing an oath of vengeance, Max makes a funeral pyre out of the family shack and sets out to track down the killers. He is befriended by Jonas Cord, a traveling gunsmith and ammunition maker, who tries to dissuade him from his mission but, failing that, teaches him how to defend himself with a gun. Searching town after town, Max eventually finds one of his parents' murderers, Jesse Coe, and kills him in a brutal knife fight. After his own wounds have been cared for by Neesa, a Kiowa girl, Max heads for Louisiana, where a second killer is serving a prison sentence. Max stages a fake holdup, is thrown into jail, feigns friendship with the man, Bill Bowdre, and joins him in an escape. Aided by an amorous Cajun girl, the two men make their way through the swamps. As they reach freedom, Max reveals his true identity and guns down Bowdre; the girl also dies from a snakebite. Five years have passed since Max began his vendetta, and he has changed from a naive cowhand into a hardened criminal. Finally, Max finds the last man, Tom Fitch. In the showdown, Max shoots his opponent in both legs but is unable to kill him. He throws away his guns and rides off to ask Jonas Cord for a job; calling himself Nevada Smith, he hopes to make a new life for himself.

Director

Henry Hathaway

Cast

Steve McQueen

Nevada Smith/Max Sand

Karl Malden

Brian Keith

Arthur Kennedy

Suzanne Pleshette

Raf Vallone

Father Zaccardi

Janet Margolin

Pat Hingle

Howard Da Silva

Martin Landau

Paul Fix

Sheriff Bonnell

Gene Evans

Josephine Hutchinson

Mrs. Elvira McCanles

John Doucette

Uncle Ben McCanles

Val Avery

Sheldon Allman

Lyle Bettger

Bert Freed

David Mclean

Steve Mitchell

Merritt Bohn

Riverboat pilot

Sandy Kenyon

Ricardo Román

John Lawrence

Stanley Adams

George Mitchell

John Litel

Ted De Corsia

Crew

Del Acevedo

Lucien Ballard

Director of Photography

Frank Beetson Jr.

Robert R. Benton

Frank Bracht

Frank Caffey

Production Manager

Herbert Coleman

Unit Production Manager

Charles Grenzbach

Sound Recording

Henry Hathaway

Jack Hayes

John Michael Hayes

Screen story & Screenplay

Howard Joslin

Unit Production Manager

Tambi Larsen

Joseph Lenzi

Assistant Director

Paul K. Lerpae

Special Photography Effects

Joseph E. Levine

Executive Producer

Joseph E. Levine

Harold Lewis

Sound Recording

Nellie Manley

Hairstyle Supervisor

Daniel J. Mccauley

Assistant Director

Alfred Newman

Hal Pereira

Gertrude Reade

Al Roelofs

Howard Roessel

Unit Production Manager

Leo Shuken

George C. Thompson

Special Effects

United States Department Of Agriculture--forest Service

United States Department Of Interior--bureau Of Land Management

Frank A. Wade

Wally Westmore

Makeup Supervisor

Videos

Nevada Smith (1966) -- (Movie Clip) There Ain't No Gold Intense cruelty from big actors (Martin Landau, Arthur Kennedy, Karl Malden) as bandits assaulting the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) who arrives too late, in Nevada Smith (1966), directed by Henry Hathaway.

Nevada Smith (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Blind Indian Revenge Part-Indian Max (Steve McQueen) getting schooled by retired gunman Jonas Cord (Brian Keith) about the futility of his plan to avenge the murder of his parents, in Henry Hathaway's sprawling Western Nevada Smith, 1966.

Nevada Smith (1966) -- (Movie Clip) He's Ridin' My Father's Horse Martin Landau features, one of three who killed the parents of novice gunman Steve McQueen, the part-Indian title character, found in a Western saloon, a bartender (Bud Cokes) briefly intervening, in producer-director Henry Hathaway’s Nevada Smith, 1966, based on a character in Harold Robbins’ The Carpetbaggers.

Film Details

MPAA Rating

Genre

Western

Action

Release Date

Jan 1966

Premiere Information

Miami, Florida, opening: 10 Jun 1966

Production Company

Embassy Pictures; Solar Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Paramount Pictures

Country

United States

Location

Inyo National Forest, California, USA; Owens Valley, California, USA

Screenplay Information

Based on a character in the novel The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins (New York, 1961).

Technical Specs

Duration

2h 8m

Sound

Mono

Color

Color (Eastmancolor)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1, 2.35 : 1

Articles

Nevada Smith

July 28, 2003

A follow-up to The Carpetbaggers (1964), Nevada Smith (1966) finds McQueen in the Alan Ladd role, but traces his background in a manner that we'd today call a "prequel." Young Nevada finds his parents brutally slain by a gang of thugs (led by Martin Landau), then teams up with an aging gunfighter (Brian Keith) to learn the skills of gunplay and find the men who murdered his family. A fairly routine story is given life by McQueen's flinty screen presence, with Suzanne Pleshette cast improbably as a Cajun farm worker and character actors like Pat Hingle, Howard Da Silva, Gene Evans and Lyle Bettger rounding things out.

Hathaway was faced with staggering logistical problems, with the movie set amidst 42 locations (in the California mountain ranges of the Long Pine, Bishop and Mammoth mountains) and with 68 speaking parts to contend with. Cinematographer Lucien Ballard used the spectacular scenery to full advantage; Hathaway had used the mountains so many times before that Ballard's camera never catches the same place twice.

Interestingly, McQueen's role is quite similar to his character on the then-popular TV series Wanted: Dead Or Alive, with the exception being that bounty hunter Josh Randall stalked men for money while Nevada Smith hunted them for vengeance. Still, it's intriguing to think of McQueen's volatile nature running up against Henry Hathaway's authoritarian direction in this film.

Producer/Director: Henry Hathaway
Screenplay: John Michael Hayes
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Editor: Frank Bracht
Art direction: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Al Roelofs
Music: Alfred Newman
Cast: Steve McQueen (Nevada Smith/Max Sand), Karl Malden (Tom Fitch), Brian Keith (Jonas Cord), Arthur Kennedy (Bill Bowdre), Suzanne Pleshette (Pilar), Pat Hingle (Big Foot Work Camp Trustee), Raf Vallone (Father Zaccardi), Martin Landau (Jesse Coe), Howard De Silva (Warden of Work Camp), Paul Fix (Sheriff Bonnell), Gene Evans (Sam Sand).
C-131m. Closed captioning.

by Jerry Renshaw

Nevada Smith

Nevada Smith

A follow-up to The Carpetbaggers (1964), Nevada Smith (1966) finds McQueen in the Alan Ladd role, but traces his background in a manner that we'd today call a "prequel." Young Nevada finds his parents brutally slain by a gang of thugs (led by Martin Landau), then teams up with an aging gunfighter (Brian Keith) to learn the skills of gunplay and find the men who murdered his family. A fairly routine story is given life by McQueen's flinty screen presence, with Suzanne Pleshette cast improbably as a Cajun farm worker and character actors like Pat Hingle, Howard Da Silva, Gene Evans and Lyle Bettger rounding things out. Hathaway was faced with staggering logistical problems, with the movie set amidst 42 locations (in the California mountain ranges of the Long Pine, Bishop and Mammoth mountains) and with 68 speaking parts to contend with. Cinematographer Lucien Ballard used the spectacular scenery to full advantage; Hathaway had used the mountains so many times before that Ballard's camera never catches the same place twice. Interestingly, McQueen's role is quite similar to his character on the then-popular TV series Wanted: Dead Or Alive, with the exception being that bounty hunter Josh Randall stalked men for money while Nevada Smith hunted them for vengeance. Still, it's intriguing to think of McQueen's volatile nature running up against Henry Hathaway's authoritarian direction in this film. Producer/Director: Henry Hathaway Screenplay: John Michael Hayes Cinematography: Lucien Ballard Editor: Frank Bracht Art direction: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Al Roelofs Music: Alfred Newman Cast: Steve McQueen (Nevada Smith/Max Sand), Karl Malden (Tom Fitch), Brian Keith (Jonas Cord), Arthur Kennedy (Bill Bowdre), Suzanne Pleshette (Pilar), Pat Hingle (Big Foot Work Camp Trustee), Raf Vallone (Father Zaccardi), Martin Landau (Jesse Coe), Howard De Silva (Warden of Work Camp), Paul Fix (Sheriff Bonnell), Gene Evans (Sam Sand). C-131m. Closed captioning. by Jerry Renshaw

Quotes

Trivia

The name Nevada Smith was the inspiration for the name Indiana Jones.

In the scene in the cattle pens when Max ('Steve McQueen' ) fights Jessie Coe (Martin Landau), Max crouches behind a fence and opens the gate to let the cattle out. Some cattle come out the gate while others knock down the fence, and Max must dodge the flailing legs and hooves of the stampeding cattle. The knocking down of the fence was accidental, and Steve McQueen was very nearly trampled for real. Shots of Max rolling clear of the hooves were added when it was decided to use the accidental footage.

Notes

Copyright length: 139 min. Location scenes filmed in the Inyo National Forest and in Owens Valley, California.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States December 31, 1965

Released in United States Summer June 10, 1966

This was sort of written as a sequel to "The Carpetbaggers" by basing the film on the character from the predecessor.

Released in USA on video.

Released in United States December 31, 1965 (Miami)

Released in United States Summer June 10, 1966

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