This was a western with a good cast and another intense, interesting revenge story. It's fairly long at 130 minutes but Steve McQueen is usually charismatic enough to carry a film, and he does so here, too.

As the title character, "Nevada Smith," McQueen is joined by a number of well- known actors of the 1960s: Suzanne Pleshette, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy, Raf Vallone, Martin Landau Janet Margolin and Pat Hingle.

McQueen plays a man who is totally dominated by thoughts of revenge. It motivates his every move. I don't recommend that attitude, but it makes for a good movie.

It was nice to see this in 2:35:1 widescreen. Even though I owned a new tape, that nice western photography made the DVD purchase worthwhile.

If you remember The Carpetbaggers, you'll note the scene where Jonas Cord, Jr. tells his surrogate father Nevada Smith about how he researched and discovered his real story. That his real name was Max Sand and that when three vicious outlaws killed his parents, he spent years tracking them down to mete out justice.

From that small speech in The Carpetbaggers came the motion picture Nevada Smith which starred Steve McQueen in the role that was destined to be Alan Ladd's last. Talk was that Ladd would have liked to do it himself, but he would never have been convincing as the young Nevada.

The outlaws who McQueen is on the trail of are three of the most vicious ever created in Hollywood. Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy, and Martin Landau each admirably fit their despicable characters. So does Brian Keith as Jonas Cord, Sr. who became McQueen's friend and benefactor.

There are three substantial women's parts in this film. Janet Margolin is the Kiowa Indian girl who went into the white man's world and became a prostitute who cares for McQueen when he's wounded in the Kiowa Village. And there's Joanna Moore, a most grateful widow of Martin Landau who wants to thank Steve good and proper for her new station in life. She's the one with the title quote for the review.

One of the unsung roles in the film however is that of Suzanne Pleshette who plays a Cajun swamp girl who gets bitten by a water moccasin while helping McQueen and Arthur Kennedy bust out of a prison work camp in Louisiana. His treatment of her is McQueen at his most ruthless, he's just using her to get out a jail to get a crack at Kennedy. In fact he deliberately got himself thrown into prison for that purpose. When Pleshette realizes that when she's dying in the swamp of the untreated snakebite, it's maybe her finest moment in her film career.

Nevada Smith was a very good part for Steve McQueen, it stands high with his legion of fans and holds up very well forty years later.

NEVADA SMITH is a little talked-about but very entertaining revenge western in which the iconic Steve McQueen gives another of his intensely likeable and taciturn performances. The only problem with his role here is that he's a bit old to be playing a kid; he was in his mid 30s by this point but looked a lot older. The film begins with a truly horrendous and shocking opening sequence involving a double slaying with torture and a woman being skinned alive; I certainly wasn't expecting this in a 1966 film and audiences at the time must have been absolutely horrified.

The rest of the narrative sees McQueen hunting and tracking the three villains responsible for this outrage (in a fine bit of casting they're played by Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy and Martin Landau). He tackles them one at a time and the story is no hurry, so there's plenty of time for supporting players to show up and do their bit; Brian Keith in particular shines as a paternal figure who shows McQueen how to look after himself. There's not a huge amount of action, but that which does take place is well directed and exciting, making this a superior picture.