Now this is a Western I was not familiar with but watched it on TCM at the weekend. It starred Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone and Forrest Tucker but also in the cast was Jack Mahoney – later to become The Range Rider to all us young kids at the time.

Apparently in this film former Stunt Man Jack Mahoney also doubled as Randolph Scott in some of the fight scenes – he was probably one of filmlands most accomplished Stunt Men and famous in this job as he later would be in film acting

The film was made I Cinecolor which I have to say I like – a more muted colour than the wonderful Technicolor but appealing in it’s own way. I did buy ‘The Prince of Thieves’ on DVD released in 1948 with Jon Hall, and that too used the Cinelocor process – here again very good.

The Man from Nevada ABOVE – Randolph Scott squares up to Jack Mahoney

The Man from Nevada

The Man from Nevada ABOVE – Randolph Scott and Forrest Tucker

The Man from Nevada

The Man from Nevada is 80 minutes in which you can simply enjoy the  storytelling, the characters, the beautiful locations, and the rugged action. – but it is much more than that

The story is set pretty quickly by the theft of  gold by Tom Tanner (Forrest Tucker) and his arrest and escape, followed by wary partnership with a mysterious man, Andrew Barclay (Randolph Scott), who he meets on the trail.  The story leads us to an abandoned mine where Tom has left the gold.  Other characters play come into the story and a number of other relationships are treated, all with increasing drama as these characters move toward  the eventful climax.

Edward Galt (George Macready), a rancher and saloon owner, wants to take the gold for himself, and his daughter Karen (Dorothy Malone), involved after she becomes attracted to Barclay, comes to see the unhealthiness of her father, both in his obsessive greed and obsessive attachment to her in the absence of her mother who left him long ago.

There are also two brothers who work for Galt, Jeff (Frank Faylen) and Bart (Jeff Corey) – they were excellent characters and their acting was impressive particularly in the final gunfight sequence played out against an imposing rocky landscape –  a landscape that I can’t remember seeing in any other film.

The Man from Nevada

There is a great action sequence in the film where Jack Mahoney pursues Dorothy Malone – both on horseback. She cleverly gives him the slip but he is persistent and this shot above and below sees him riding through a small lake as he bears down her.

He very shortly comes to a sticky end as he is knocked off his horse by an overhanging branch that he did not see. I would bet that Jack Mahoney peformed this stunt which was very well done

The Man from Nevada

The Man from Nevada – ABOVE a still showing Jack Mahoney coming off his horse – this is the stunt that I would bet Jack Mahoney did himself.

ABOVE – Jock Mahoney looks to be finished

The Man from Nevada – Dorothy Malone saves the day

If you haven’t seen this film, I would recommend you do – some of the comments you read online are not that good but I thought it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like going back in time to a night at the ‘pictures’

ABOVE – Forrest Tucker and Randolph Scott

The Man from Nevada – This film was shown under the title ‘The Nevadan’

The Man from Nevada