"Nevada Smith is a 1966 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy and Suzanne Pleshette. The film was made by Embassy Pictures and Solar Productions, in association with and released by Paramount Pictures. The movie was a prequel to the 1961 Harold Robbins novel The Carpetbaggers, which had been made into a highly successful film two years earlier, with Alan Ladd playing McQueen's part as an older man. Nevada Smith depicts Smith's first meeting with another Carpetbaggers character, Jonas Cord, but the two films' stories are otherwise unrelated." - Wikipedia.
The score was written by Alfred Newman, who turned in a solid, energetic score very much in the vein of, but not repetitive of, his magnificent score for How the West Was Won. This was his first score after The Greatest Story Ever Told, a score he wrote when he was in ill health. He would follow Nevada Smith with his brilliant adaptation score for 1967's Camelot for which he and Ken Darby would win the Academy Award.
"Nevada Smith is a 1966 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy and Suzanne Pleshette. The film was made by Embassy Pictures and Solar Productions, in association with and released by Paramount Pictures. The movie was a prequel to the 1961 Harold Robbins novel The Carpetbaggers, which had been made into a highly successful film two years earlier, with Alan Ladd playing McQueen's part as an older man. Nevada Smith depicts Smith's first meeting with another Carpetbaggers character, Jonas Cord, but the two films' stories are otherwise unrelated." - Wikipedia.
The score was written by Alfred Newman, who turned in a solid, energetic score very much in the vein of, but not repetitive of, his magnificent score for How the West Was Won. This was his first score after The Greatest Story Ever Told, a score he wrote when he was in ill health. He would follow Nevada Smith with his brilliant adaptation score for 1967's Camelot for which he and Ken Darby would win the Academy Award.
Solar Productions was Steve McQueen (Nevada Smith)’s production company.
The main title really rocks. Love it. When one listens to Newman's 1939 score for Wuthering Heights and then this score decades later, you must realize how Newman's music not only changed with genres but with the times.
The main title really rocks. Love it. When one listens to Newman's 1939 score for Wuthering Heights and then this score decades later, you must realize how Newman's music not only changed with genres but with the times.
Absolutely. And when you listen to his final score just a few years later, you hear a master composer who remained at the height of his creativity until he died.
Absolutely. And when you listen to his final score just a few years later, you hear a master composer who remained at the height of his creativity until he died. Yes, this is true. I think his last score was AIRPORT which really sounded very modern.
Yes Joan that was his last score, and I agree with you. We still need an official (and good-sounding) release of the complete film recording of Airport; the existing commercial album is a re-recording.
I for one would also really love to get a release of his penultimate score, for the underrated western Firecreek. I had hoped for many years that FSM might release it in their Silver Age Classics line since they were working with Warner Bros. a lot and they also released a ton of Alfred Newman. Alas, that never happened and now that Warner Bros. is more expensive/difficult to work with, I fear that it never will. But I'll live in hope anyway...
