Nevada Smith (1966)

Set in the 1890s West, a young boy (Steve McQueen) sets out to avenge the death of his father (Gene Evans) and Indian mother (Isabel Boniface) at the hands of three killers (Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy, Martin Landau). Based on a character's backstory from THE CARPETBAGGERS by Harold Robbins (played by Alan Ladd in the 1964 film version) whose back story was eliminated from the film version and directed by Henry Hathaway. The film is a standard revenge western in three sections as he pursues the three killers. The most interesting section is the Louisiana swamp prison section and the least interesting is the sequence with McQueen and a Catholic priest (Raf Vallone) who insufferably preaches (or nags if you prefer) to him about right and wrong. At age 35, McQueen is way too old to play the young innocent boy who is still in his teens as the story begins and probably in his mid to late 20s as the story ends. Watching him playing boyish is painful at times but he remains a strong screen presence and eminently watchable if not entirely believable. With Suzanne Pleshette, Brian Keith, Janet Margolin, Pat Hingle, Howard Da Silva, Lyle Bettger and Joanna Moore.