ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Robert J. Maxwell 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.

SnorrSm1989 To the casual viewer, this loose, low-budget adaptation of a Zane Grey-story may not appear to be worthy of any particular attention, but NEVADA did have a significant impact on the career of a young "Bob Mitchum," as billed in the opening credits. Prior to this, Mitchum's later so iconic figure could only be glimpsed here and there in bit parts, but after four years of struggle, he had apparently impressed RKO enough to be considered a valid replacement for their B-western star Tim Holt, who'd just enlisted in the army. It's not hard to grasp just why the company sought Mitchum. Though some of my impression may be colored by his later output, he's definitely got a certain "something" about him also at this early point, charismatic even when the main focus is not on him in a scene. In private, Mitchum was by this time was a married man and a father, and must have been relieved that his career was finally going somewhere.Even so, it shouldn't be illegal to note that NEVADA proved a limited opportunity for Mitchum as far as showcasing the range of his talent was concerned. Granted, Mitchum may not have been quite confident as a leading actor himself at this point, so a ginger debut as this western was, perhaps, fitting in a sense. But one is almost tempted to encourage Mitchum, while watching the film, to go further with the role; as noted, some of the unfailing charisma is definitely present, but one finds little of the dry, ironic wit (or simply "coolness") which was to become a vital part of Mitchum's style and image. Then again, the script, which does not seem to regard Grey's original novel as much more than bare bone material for a story, hardly calls for nuanced characterization (the inevitable brevity of the film certainly contributes to this as well).However, it would be ridiculous to judge NEVADA out of context; if accepted as what it is, a low-budget western telling the tale of a not supremely law-abiding but honest cowboy, who is wrongly accused of murder, it works just fine. There's a smooth interaction between the suspense and the more humorous bits, typical for westerns of the era. Guinn Williams and Richard Martin appear as a sort of sweet comedy team (possibly in part to emphasize Mitchum's masculine appeal), and the scene involving young Harry McKim doing a terrible job at faking that he's in pains actually had me laugh out loud. Robert Mitchum would go to much greater heights than this, both in and outside the western genre, but NEVADA remains an entertaining enough way to spend an hour on a rainy day.

MartinHafer 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.

The-Lonely-Londoner Apart from westerns, Robert Mitchum always looks slick in these black and white films, particularly in the 40's. He has an arched lip which sometimes has an evil curve when he's angry. He's usually pushed to his limit, but it's always the tall, broad shoulders that surfaces in every film he's in.