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 movie is a prequel to The Carpetbaggers.
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.
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.
The plotline of the movie resembles that of the origin issues of the comic book series The Rawhide Kid, drawn by Jack Kirby.
