More than a Western. More than a Western indeed, perhaps a straight forward revenge drama in substance? But it is also a fine character study of a man coming to terms with growing up faster than he ever thought he would have to. What makes the film smart and lifts it above average are the structured segments, as director Henry Hathaway weaves a potent and interesting story by making each part of Nevada Smith/Max Sand's journey an involving character piece, one that puts you firmly on side with the protagonist and his vengeful quest. Credit has to go to McQueen for putting great gusto into the character when it was badly needed, for to save the film from being standard fare we need the leading man to involve us in his troubled and confused state, thankfully he does this with bells on. The locations and sets put gloss on the story and in the main the rest of the cast do very well, however, I'm one of the few amateur reviewers who feels that Karl Malden just doesn't cut it as the chief villain of the piece. I feel the character who carried out these vile crimes should have been far more menacing than the shaky overplayed villain that Malden gives us. Nevada Smith brings great action sequences, a memorable story, and an ending that brings the character full circle. These things that combine to give us an involving entertainment that stars a great leading man, who in turn is directed with very professional and genre knowing hands. 8/10
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Singing cowboy Whip Wilson, the foreman on a cattle drive, quits his job to pursue five bank robbers who murdered his brother.
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons her husband to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
The story about a man framed for a crime he didn't commit, who returns to wreak havoc following his release from prison.
Three brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find one of their brothers dead and their cattle stolen. They decide to take revenge on the culprits.
Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
The Marshal of Santa Fe returns home to find his town almost wiped out by Mexican bandits and enlists the help of a young Mexican boy and his mother to track them down.
Elliott is hunted by Curtis who has spent six years behind bars because of his testimony. After knocking out several baddies and putting up with the zany antics of his sidekick Taylor, Elliott guns down his antagonist, but Luana Walters, the girl he almost marries, will not abide a gunslinger so Elliott is compelled to ride off alone into the sunset once more.
Steve Kinney and his henchman, Mort, are trying to stir up trouble between the local ranchers and farmers, behind a wave of rustling and lawlessness. Mort kills Vic, a Kirby cowhand, and lays the blame on Dan Harper, the leader of the farmers faction. Storekeeper Fuzzy Q. Jones, fearful of losing the outstanding charge-accounts he has on his books, drags his reluctant pal, Billy Carson, into the fray, and the two soon prove Kinney and his henchmen to be behind the valley's troubles.
A white man trades with the Comanche for the release of a female stranger and the pair cross paths with three outlaws who have their eyes on the handsome reward for bringing her home and Comanche on the warpath.