This is a good western directed by the legendary Henry Hathaway, but it does have it's problems.
Steve McQueen stars as Max Sand (he doesn't use the name "Nevada Smith" until about the last 30 minutes of the movie), a half-breed Indian who seeks revenge after his parents are tortured and killed by a band of thieves. The cast of bad guys is pretty good: Karl Malden, Martin Landau, and Arthur Kennedy.
Out on the lonesome trail, McQueen meets gun salesman Brian Keith who teaches him how to shoot (an important skill for a young man seeking revenge on 3 seasoned criminals!)
Here are some of the problems I have with this movie:
* It's hard to believe that blond-haired, blue eyed, Steve McQueen has any Native American blood in him.
* The movie is sort of disjointed and episodic . . . it almost could have been 3 separate movies, with McQueen hunting one of the bad guys in each movie.
* The running time is over 2 hours . . . just a tad too long and they could have cut it down without losing anything important.
Still, a pretty good western with a wonderful supporting cast (including Suzanne Pleshette, Raf Vallone, and Pat Hingle) that's worth watching if you haven't seen it. But it will never be in my top 25 westerns.
Here are the opening credits: