Nevada (1944)

Nevada (1944)


Plot Summary

Just as Nevada (Robert Mitchum) wins $7000 in yellowback bills, Ben Ide (Larry Wheat) and his daughter Hattie (Nancy Gates) takes his $7000 in yellowbacks and heads out to buy mining equipment. Burridge (Craig Reynolds) has his man Powell (Harry Woods) 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.

First, I must make a correction from my previous post as this is Mitchum's FIRST starring role at least according to IMDB so i'll go with that as being gospel. Either way, this is Mitchum's first or second starring role. The above plot summary leaves out a lot of detail but the gist of it is pretty accurate. Basically the story revolves around the Comstock Lode which was supposed to be a gold bonanza for the tiny mining town of Gold Hill however Burridge finds out that the blue stuff that the miners and such keep encountering is not junk as they thought but rather silver so he's trying to buy up all the claims/properties so he can have the money for himself and his woman Julie Dexter (Anne Jeffreys) who happens to be a bit of a bigwig as an entertainer and seemingly the only "bank" in town.

Mitchum plays Jim Lacy who is a cowhand with a couple of other guys, a Mexican-Irish American named Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) and Dusty. (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams)  Mitchum ends up saving Julie from an accident and finds out about the gold lode. She takes a shine to him and gives him the moniker Nevada and more or less invites him to get involved in the gold strike. I think that pretty much fills in the holes as Burridge and Powell kill Ide and try to make it look like robbery so that Burridge can manipulate Hattie into selling the spread to him. Nevada gets mixed up in it as circumstantial evidence makes him look like the killer and thus he tries to clear his name while at the same time finding out why Burridge had someone killed.

This is very plot driven B Western and other than being Robert Mitchum's debut in a starring role there's nothing that really makes this stand out. I will say it's fascinating to watch a 27 year old Robert Mitchum going about his business. he's almost fully formed as an actor here with his booming voice and command of the screen. He hadn't quite filled out physically and he hadn't developed that slightly malevolent look about him just yet but you could tell he was headed towards bigger and better things.

While this flick didn't have the most well known supporting actors I will say that the cast did an admirable job. I particularly liked Jeffreys as Julie. You could tell she saw the good in Nevada but even towards the end of the film when it was clear that Burridge was not the clean cut guy he portrayed himself to be she tried to protect him only to regret it in the end. I also liked the interplay between Nevada's two partners. Chito's the cheerful Mexican who always tries to sing a song and Dusty is a bit of a sour puss who hates Chito's singing but is smarter than his looks would have you think especially when he formulates a plan that manipulates the town's lust for hanging Nevada and turns it into an escape.

This isn't a bad little flick and while there are stretches where Mitchum isn't on screen it's still worth watching.

** stars