Nevada Smith (Paramount Pictures) (1966)

‘Nevada Smith’ Tells of Youth Of ‘Carpetbaggers’ Character It doesn’t happen very often, but it happens—a character in a motion picture intrigues the fancy of fans to such an extent that they write the producer and beg for more of him. The producers are more than glad to oblige, since they have a ready-made audience for a forthcoming picture, and that’s how so many “sequels” and “Sons Ohana ..” come into being. This is what happened in the case of the character “Nevada Smith” in Joseph E. Levine’s recent screen success “The Carpetbaggers” —with a twist! Instead of wanting to know more about this fascinating character, the public wrote in asking how this intriguing character “got that way-” The answer is being provided— not in sequel but in prologue form — in Levine’s “Nevada Smith,” a Solar Production for release by Paramount Pictures, which opens at the Theatre in color and Panavision. It stars Steve McQueen as “Nevada”; Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy and Suzanne Pleshette and co-stars Raf Vallone, Janet Margolin, Howard Da Silva, Pat Hingle and Martin Landau. For a gripping story as to how “Nevada Smith” got that way, the services of noted screen writer John Michael Hayes were recruited and he set to work on the character, which was created by novelist Harold Robbins for his best-seller and later box-office smash “The Carpetbaggers.” The script was handed to veteran Hollywood hit producer-director eeeeee AL LIC wessee Henry Hathaway, working under the executive producership of Levine; the production was given layish mounting, and the result is some two-and-half hours of top motion picture entertainment in the western genre which is put in a class by many in Hollywood with such important western productions as “High Noon,” Gunfight at the OK Corral,” “The Magnificent Seven” and “Stagecoach.” While it is a western—and has plenty of hard riding, six-gun smoke and action, action, action to prove it—“Nevada Smith” is also described as a powerful and revealing study of the regeneration of a man — in this case a lone gunslinger out for revenge who is so blinded by this compulsion as to obscure any other motive for living. Hathaway, who is responsible for the direction of the now-historic “Lives of a Bengal Lancer,” which provided such an important milestone for motion picture production thirty years ago, and who also had a hand in the recent “How The West Was Won,” gave “Nevada Smith” top production in every department so that the film may be classed in what Hollywood calls “Top Ae Nevada Smith’ Star Sees No Easy Road to Top in Films Arthur Kennedy, currently starring in Joseph E. Levine’s “Nevada Smith,” a Paramount Pictures release opening... .. . at Chee 522s .... Theatre, had a perfect opportunity while making the film to prove one of his favorite theories about acting with fellow stars Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith and Suzanne Pleshette. Kennedy, five times an AcademyAward nominee and one of the most versatile and brilliant actors on the stage and screen, has long maintained that the stage is the best training ground for actors. His theory was overwhelmingly proved correct by the gifted cast of the Panavision-color production, which was produced and directed by Henry Hathaway. For not only had every star in the film originally come from the theatre, but all of the co-stars, including Raf Vallone, Janet Margolin, Pat Hingle, How Still NS-ART 7 Mat 1E Arthur Kennedy shares top casting honors with Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith and Suzanne Pleshette in Joseph E. Levine’s ““Nevada Smith,” a Solar Production opening... .. .at the Theatre under Paramount Pictures release, eee eee ere we Page Two ard Da Silva and Martin Landau, had the same starting point in their careers. The actor, who plays a coldblooded killer in the old West in the picture, based on the memorable character created by Harold Robbins in the best seller and hit film, “The Carpethbaggers,” is a firm believer in the school-andstock system of training for acting. Kennedy came into his own as an actor when he starred on Broadway after World War II in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” This was followed by two movie roles and then, on Broadway again, his memorable and widely acclaimed performance as Biff in Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Since that time, he has made innumerable motion pictures, including the ones for which he was nominated for an Oscar, “Champion,” “Trial,” “Bright Victory,” “Peyton Place” and “Some Came Running.” For his role of the cynical newspaperman in “Elmer Gantry” he was voted best supporting actor by the Film Daily Poll. He also has a chance to project his theories at home, since Kennedy’s daughter Laurie is now studying drama at Sarah Lawrence College. They are able to talk about acting together, and he feels he can be helpful in guiding her in an acting career. “Nevada Smith,” a Solar Production for which Mr. Levine was executive producer, is from a screenplay based on the Robbins character by John Michael Hayes and a musical score composed and conducted by Alfred Newman. Joseph E. Levine's Nevada Smith’ Big in Story, Cast and Production The fact that the movie western has “grown up” and that powerful and gripping human stories of merit can be told against its shoot-’em-up background, is evidenced in Joseph E. Levine’s “Nevada Smith,” starring Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy and (Production Story) Suzanne Pleshette which opens.... at the Theatre in color and Panavision under Paramount Pictures release. The central figure, a cow country loner named “Nevada Smith,” based on the character of that name in the recent success “The Carpet Still NS-ART 1 Mat 2B A confidence dropped by a fellow-prisoner played by Arthur Kennedy (left) sends Steve McQueen (right) on the manhunt which is said to lift Joseph E. Levine’s ‘“‘“Nevada Smith” into the “High Noon” class. Character is based on Harold Robbins’ “Carpetbaggers” figure. The Solar Production released by Paramount Pictures, opens re ee ery at the .... Theatre. ‘Nevada Smith’ Taut Western In ‘High Noon’ Class Joseph E. Levine’s “Nevada Smith,” a Solar Production for Paramount Pictures release opening.... atebhe> aa Theatre, is described as a taut, action-packed western drama directed by the masterful Henry Hathaway and starring a glittering all-star cast, and of “High Noon” stature. The outstanding actors recruited for their roles in the Panavisioncolor production include Steve McQueen, in the title role, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy and Suzanne Pleshette. Co-starring are Raf Vallone, Janet Margolin, Pat Hingle, Howard Da Silva and Martin Landau. Based on the memorable character created by Harold Robbins in “The Carpetbaggers,” a_best-selling novel and smash-hit film, also a Levine Paramount offering, “Nevada Smith” is a prologue to the earlier motion picture. It deals with the early years of the fascinating character, played by the late Alan Ladd in the previous film. The story goes back in time, to the 1890’s during California’s colorful gold rush days, when young Nevada is a rugged, innocent boy. When he finds his mother and father have been tortured and killed by three vicious killers in the picture’s opening scenes, he sets out to track them down. Motorcyclist Gets a Horse Although he is famed in real life as a daring motorcyclist and sports car driver, handsome Steve McQueen assays more conservative means for locomotion—a horse—in Joseph E. Levine’s “Nevada Smith,” a Paramount Pictures release opening at the Theatre in color and Panavision. Still NS-ART 4 baggers” created by Harold Robbins, is an unregenerate gunslinger played by McQueen. It is his regeneration, it is claimed by the film’s producers, which lifts the picture into the company of such all-time great westerns as “High Noon,” “Stagecoach” and “Gunfight at OK Corral.” The film was produced and directed under the executive producership of Mr. Levine by Henry Hathaway, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors of telling action since his now famous “Lives of a Bengal Lancer” literally turned action motion picture direction into its present course some thirty years ago. Hathaway also directed some of the more exciting sequences in the recent monumental “How the West Was Won.” Raf Vallone, Janet Margolin, Howard Da Silva, Pat Hingle and Martin Landau are costarred in “Nevada Smith” and the story and screenplay, based on the Robbins character, is by John Michael Hayes. Not that “Nevada Smith” is without its six-guns, hard riding and excitement. Always a stickler for locale, Hathaway took the “Nevada Smith” company into the still pristine Lone Pine, Bishop and Mammoth country of California where he recreated a frontier cow town and gold strike community and in and around it action to suit the taste of the most sanguine western fan has been filmed in abundance. However, it was explained, this action was never permitted to get in the way of the story which, Hathaway insisted, was of prime interest. “Nevada Smith” is one of those film rarities, a prologue which comes after the main event. It was explained that the character “Nevada Smith” both in Robbins’ novel “The Carpetbaggers” and in the motion picture of it presented by Mr. Levine, proved to be one of the most fascinating roles in the picture. The film is a Solar Production and a Paramount Pictures release providing almost two-and-a-half hours of gripping motion picture entertainment whose story is claimed to be powerful enough to warrant top critical attention of a sort which lifts it away out of its classification as a western. Mat 2A Showdown scene between Kar] Malden and Steve McQueen (right) in Joseph E, Levine’s epic western “Nevada Smith,” based on a character created by Harold Robbins from his best-selling novel “The Carpetbaggers.”’ The Solar Production and Paramount Pic tures release opens .... ate: ae SORE UNG ioc sa chee teas Scr Theatre, Copyright © 1965 by Paramount Pictures Corporation, Embassy Pictures Corp. and Solar Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.