Absolutely the worst movie.

A different way of telling a story

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Robert Mitchum plays an amiable cowpoke named Jim Lacy in Edward Killy's "Nevada" based on the Zane Grey novel of the same name. Lacy and his compadres Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) and Dusty (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) hear about the sudden gold strike nearby in the Comstock Lode. Lacy wants to take a crack at it, while Dusty is hesitate. Chito is up for it, especially for the women. Speaking of women, a carriage with a runaway horse attracts Lacy's attention, and he stops the runaway. The lady in charge, Julie Dexter (Anne Jeffreys), thanks Lacy for his gallant gesture. Later, our trio get into a game of dice and Lacy wins over seven thousand dollars. The man who runs the gambling table tries to pulls a fast one on Lacy and slip him a pair of loaded dice. Fortunately, Lacy sees through the trick and wins more money before his compadres and he have to flee. Meantime, Julie learns from an assayer that it isn't gold that is showing up in the Comstock but silver. An old man racing to register his claim is bushwhacked by two riflemen. Lacy hears the shooting and rides to investigate. About the same time that he shows up so does a posse. They arrest Lacy because they found him at the scene of the crime and they dug seven thousand dollars out of his jeans. Lacy has to be resourceful to change the low opinion that most people around town have toward him. "Nevada" is strictly a B-western with a better than average scenario and a strong cast. It is interesting to watch Mitchum in his youth.

A man called Nevada is on the run from both the law and some outlaws. He was involved in a shoot-out with the latter over a crooked card game and is wrongly accused of murder by the former. The real killer is a crooked mining boss who assassinates the father of a prospecting family who live on silver-rich land that he wants for himself.It would be fair to say that Nevada is only really notable for one thing and that is as the film where Robert Mitchum was given his first starring role. He isn't much remembered nowadays as a western star though. The genre wasn't suited that well to allow him to play to his own specific strengths. Nevertheless, he is certainly good enough here and it's a pretty decent performance. The movie itself is a fairly formulaic B-western – a film designed at the time to fit into a cinematic programme as the second highest billed feature – although it's still an enjoyable enough effort. It's paced well, with decent enough characters and story. While Nevada hardly breaks the mould, it's still good fun.

The studios were grinding out these B Westerns like SuperSonicBurgers all during the 30s and 40s. El Cheapo Studios produced nothing BUT low budget Westerns, often with the same cast and crew. In the period preceding television, if one can imagine that distance back into history, audiences had nothing else to watch except movies. There was an A feature, a B feature, a cartoon, a newsreel, and often a short documentary."Nevada" was clearly meant to fit into the B category. They were done quickly, recklessly, and minutes of shooting counted. Under the watchful eyes of hack directors like Lesley Selander or, here, Edward Killy, if an actor flubbed a line or his gun didn't fire when it should have, the cameras rolled philosophically on.Mitchum's career was just past its beginning. He was graduating from supporting roles, sometimes as a bearded henchman, to leads, and he was emerging from cheap Westerns. But he was ordered back to Lone Pine by the studio with which he'd sign a contract. He didn't care for the location, although it's rather pleasant. The landscape is filled with varied textures; the sun always shines; Mount Whitney in the background has veins of snow all year round. So many other features have been filmed there that the huge stucco rocks still show the cement and steel of previous sets. It's just off route 395. Visit it at once.Oh, the movie? Forget it. Mitchum is interchangeable with any other Western star of the period, except bigger than most. I must have missed the "smoldering sexuality" that some others noticed. The movie is plot driven. The values of the characters are made obvious at the beginning and they don't change. Any complexity or ambiguity is accidental. It's supposed to be from a Zane Grey novel but evidently the only element the writers borrowed was the author's name.

Once again a well-made RKO Radio Picture from yesteryear provides a fine entertainment in a summer when TV is a total washout and there are no movies at the multiplex for grown-ups over 13.This noteworthy formula western introduces Robert Mitchum in a story that moves along fast while focusing on the early days of the Comstock Lode in Gold Hill, CA. The story is good, the acting fine, the cinematography just great. They got the history straight and everything is on-the-level except that the real Gold Hill is on a steep grade, not flat; and that's the only flaw in the movie. Filming at Lone Pine, CA certainly fooled me, as the terrain is exactly the same as around Carson City, NV and Gold Hill.They knew how to make westerns in 1944; they don't in 2007. Unlike 3:10 to Yuma, this one doesn't turn stupid in the final 16 minutes.Look for NEVADA in recent DVD release. Then look around the house for an old $20 Gold Double Eagle minted from Comstock gold in 1870 at the mint in Carson City. It'll be worth $200,000 in poor condition; lots more if it still looks pretty.