The first of several Westerns on this list, the 1966 film “Nevada Smith” put Hollywood star Steve McQueen into the title role, a renegade whose real name is Max Sand. When his American pioneer father and a Kiowa mother are killed by a trio of outlaws, Sand sets out looking for revenge, with little else but the clothes on his back. As fortune has it, he comes across an old gun in the desert. He then encounters a retired gunsmith Jonas Cord (Brian Kieth), who takes pity on Sand, and fixes the gun up and teaches him how to use his newly acquired six-shooter.
With a deadly weapon and the skills to use it, Sand tracks the first two men and scratches them off his hit list. Now a known vengeance-seeking outlaw, he changes his name to Nevada Smith and infiltrates the gang of his final target, a notorious criminal, and the gang’s feared leader, Tom Fitch. Though the film received mixed reviews, most agreed it had a strong story and some good performances, as well as some old fashioned Wild West action that helped it succeed. Though no classic, and the lesser of McQueen’s Westerns, it’s still a fun revenge picture that holds up well against its contemporaries. If you like McQueen, and have run through his other Western adventures, this one should be next up on your watch list.