Nevada Smith (1966)

Here I am near a half century old- a lifelong fan of Steve McQueen- The Great Escape, Bullitt, The Sand Pebbles- yet I never saw this flick until last nite on AMC. Granted it's a little hard to accept Steve as a

half-breed teenager throughout this picture as they never really try to age him,but what the hell- it's a classic. Max Sand (Steve) pursues Martin Landau, Karl Malden & Arthur Kennedy who have seen fit to torture and kill his parents. It's no Mission Impossible to get Landau. Malden is no One Eyed Jack here but is a great character. Kennedy helps Max find The Bend in the River but can't ford it. Even Val Avery from Magnificent Seven and Hombre is here as a slimy bartender. Brian Keith treats Max as part of his Family Affair, but no eggrolls are given out.

When Max is recovering at a Kiowan Indian reservation post knifefight, the "Indian" who ministers to him is the famous Italian actor who cried for our damaged environment. Who was Mrs Coe? Wowie! I'd a stuck around to comfort that merry widow.

Gene Evans- rapist/ miner from The Bravados (similar theme as Nevada Smith) plays Max's Dad.

I liked Steve's scenes with Suzanne Pleshette but Strother Martin role is wasted. Guess there was a failure to communicate.

Steve's time in a Louisiana prison colony predates his role in Papillon and Paul Newman's Cool Hand Luke. Newman plays an apparent halfbreed (actually Anglo raised in Mexico then with Apaches) in Hombre.

Seriously a good coming of age inside a western. The required reference to Sonora and Karl Malden cinch it for me. 2015 addition: Max Sand's canned peach snack previously appeared in Season 1 of Wanted Dead or Alive- 1961.