Nevada Smith is the young son of an Indian American mother and European-American father. When his father is killed by three men over gold, Nevada sets out to find them and kill them. The boy is taken in by a gun merchant. The gun merchant shows him how to shoot and to shoot on time and correct.
Acting
McQueen's silent transformation from boy to hollow instrument.
Direction
Hathaway lets violence feel ugly, not heroic.
Cinematography
Harsh landscapes that mirror Max's interior desolation.
Director
Henry Hathaway
Steve McQueen
Max Sand
Karl Malden
Tom Fitch
Brian Keith
Jonas Cord
Arthur Kennedy
Bill Bowdre
Suzanne Pleshette
Pilar
Raf Vallone
Father Zaccardi
Janet Margolin
Neesa
Pat Hingle
Big Foot
Howard Da Silva
Warden
Martin Landau
Jesse Coe
Paul Fix
Sheriff Bonnell
Gene Evans
Sam Sand
Josephine Hutchinson
Mrs. Elvira McCanles
John Doucette
Uncle Ben McCanles
Val Avery
Buck Mason
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
McQueen was 36 playing a teenager; the studio considered this a risky vanity project. He fought for it anyway.
The 'half-breed' revenge narrative drew from 1960s Western revisionism, but retains problematic tropes in its Indian mother fridging.
US
