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 plankDisplay MoreApparently 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.