Nevada (1944)

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
ust as Nevada wins $7000 in yellowback bills, Ben Ide takes his $7000 in yellowbacks and heads out to buy mining equipment. Burridge has his man Powell kill Ide and retrieve the money and Nevada finds Ide just as the posse arrives. Found with the money Nevada is arrested and Burridge now gets Powell to incite the local citizens to lynch Nevada.
Written by Maurice VanAuken

Cast
Robert Mitchum ... Jim Lacy aka Nevada (as Bob Mitchum)
Anne Jeffreys ... Julie Dexter
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams ... Dusty
Nancy Gates ... Hattie Ide
Richard Martin ... Chito Rafferty
Craig Reynolds ... Cash Burridge
Harry Woods ... Joe Powell
Edmund Glover ... Ed Nelson, Assayer
Alan Ward ... Sheriff William H. Brewer
Harry McKim ... Marvie Ide
Larry Wheat ... Ben Ide
Jack Overman ... Croupier Red Berry
Emmett Lynn ... Pancake Comstock
Ben Johnson ... Saloon Patron (uncredited)
and many more...

Directed
Edward Killy

Writing Credits
Norman Houston ... (screenplay)
Zane Grey ... (novel)

Produced
Sid Rogell ... executive producer
Herman Schlom ... producer

Music
Paul Sawtell
Roy Webb ... (uncredited)

Cinematography
Harry J. Wild

Trivia
The Comstock Lode was a major discovery of silver and gold ore, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, in the Virginia Range. The location is now located under Virginia City, Nevada. The discovery was made public in 1859.

'Yellowbacks' were gold certificates issued by banks in place of gold coinage, and were so-called due to the yellow-orange colour of their backs. These were replaced by paper money later on - 'greenbacks'.

Nevada was the first time, Richard Martin played Chito in a Western. Richard Martin had played the role of Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamonte Rafferty before in the 1943 WW2 drama Bombardier. He would go on to play the role a total of 33 times. Twenty-nine of those times would be with Tim Holt. John Laurenz would also play Chito in two films.

Robert Mitchum's first starring role.

Goofs
Anachronisms
Julie Dexter is wearing a dress with a zipper up the back in her final scenes.

The Comstock Lode was initially mined in the 1850s. The characters are wearing clothes and using weapons from much later in the nineteenth century.

'Yellowbacks' were issued from 1882 to 1922. This film is set around the time of the discovery of the Comstock Lode in the 1850s.

Filming Locations
Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Watch the Movie

[extendedmedia]

Nevada is a 1944 western movie based on a Zane Grey novel and starring a 27-year-old Robert Mitchum,
with Anne Jeffreys, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, and Richard Martin in supporting roles.

The film was written by Norman Houston from Grey's popular novel and directed by Edward Killy.
Mitchum is billed with "Introducing Bob Mitchum as Jim Lacy" at the film's beginning.
although this was not Mitchum's first movie, it was his first lead role.

Richard Martin also played sidekick "Chito Rafferty" in thirty other western movies
(source: Internet Movie Database), most of which starred screen cowboy Tim Holt,
who had joined the service during World War II when Nevada was produced.
Martin played this same character set in different times, both contemporary and the Old West.

This version is a remake of a 1927 movie starring Gary Cooper, Thelma Todd, and William Powell.
This is the only time when Cooper and Mitchum played the same role in different versions of a story.

User Review

Other than the first starring role of 'Bob Mitchum', it's a standard B-Western
10 September 2009 | by planktonrules (Bradenton, Florida)

Quote from plank

Apparently Bob Mitchum (that's how he's billed in this film) did quite a few supporting roles before he got his first starring role in NEVADA. And, like many up and coming stars of the day, they gave him this chance in a B-movie role--a minor film that was a second feature for a double-feature. In other words, a lesser film made with a smaller budget. Oddly, however, they put Mitchum into this Western--I guess since they had no preconceptions about what types of roles he'd be good at they thought they could make him a cowboy hero--not realizing he'd make much more of a mark in Film Noir and dramas. As for Mitchum's acting, it was very good and I could see him starring in more of the like, though he only did a few more Westerns here and there.

Aside from the novelty of seeing Mitchum in a Gene Autry type role, there really isn't that much to distinguish this film. It's not bad but also suffers from the problem many B-movies had--they were rushed into production so quickly and shoved into such a short running time (rarely much more than 60 minutes) that the films cut corners plot-wise. Here, the plot resolutions happen way too quickly and conveniently for the film to be anything more than average for the genre.

The film's pluses were Mitchum's acting, the acting of some of the supporting actors (screen veteran Guinn Williams was a nice addition) and nice location shooting. Minuses were the obvious and poor use of stunt doubles and the very preachy ending that left the viewer with a bad final impression--the lady's soliloquy just sounded silly and fake. Overall, this is worth watching--particularly if you are a film historian or Robert Mitchum fan. Otherwise, it's a time passer and nothing more.

Display More