Whether or not this is a good film, it sure is a poorly cast one. Think about it....a 35 year-old Steve McQueen is cast as a teenager who is half American-Indian!! The guy is fair-skinned and blond and looks every bit 35--which is hilarious when people refer to him as 'boy' and 'kid'!! It's also odd, since the actor playing his father (Gene Evans) is only 8 years older! While not a major character in the film, Suzanne Pleshette is cast as a Hispanic woman--bad casting but not nearly as bad as McQueen.
This is a highly unusual film because it is a prequel to another film. In 1964, "The Carpetbaggers" had a supporting character, Nevada Smith (Alan Ladd) and "Nevada Smith" is about this guy's younger years. Though, if you think about it, McQueen really doesn't look all that much like Alan Ladd, either.
Three men on horseback approach Smith and ask where his father is. He tells them and thinks nothing of it. However, the three men are thieves and think the father has struck gold in his mine. To try to get him to talk, they skin his Indian wife alive and then kill him! Not surprisingly, when the son discovers this, he vows revenge. However, the path to revenge is long. He knows nothing about killing and is ill-prepared. But, by the end of the film, he's an experienced killer and ready for the ultimate showdown.
Aside from the bad casting decisions, I had a problem with the ending. It just didn't ring true on several levels. First, the baddie was there with his entire gang--yet he runs away and is pursued by Nevada Smith. Since he had about 10 friends, why run? And, when he did, why didn't any of his gang bother to help him or at least take a shot as Smith?! It's a shame, because if the ending were a bit better and the casting A LOT better, it could have easily earned an 8. Interesting but flawed.
This is a highly unusual film because it is a prequel to another film. In 1964, "The Carpetbaggers" had a supporting character, Nevada Smith (Alan Ladd) and "Nevada Smith" is about this guy's younger years. Though, if you think about it, McQueen really doesn't look all that much like Alan Ladd, either.
Three men on horseback approach Smith and ask where his father is. He tells them and thinks nothing of it. However, the three men are thieves and think the father has struck gold in his mine. To try to get him to talk, they skin his Indian wife alive and then kill him! Not surprisingly, when the son discovers this, he vows revenge. However, the path to revenge is long. He knows nothing about killing and is ill-prepared. But, by the end of the film, he's an experienced killer and ready for the ultimate showdown.
Aside from the bad casting decisions, I had a problem with the ending. It just didn't ring true on several levels. First, the baddie was there with his entire gang--yet he runs away and is pursued by Nevada Smith. Since he had about 10 friends, why run? And, when he did, why didn't any of his gang bother to help him or at least take a shot as Smith?! It's a shame, because if the ending were a bit better and the casting A LOT better, it could have easily earned an 8. Interesting but flawed.