MovieChat Forums > Nevada Smith (1966) Discussion > Who I think would've made a better Nevad...

Who I think would've made a better Nevada Smith

posted 11 years ago by mercury4
8 replies | jump to latest

Elvis Presley, in my opinion, would've been better. He was a very good actor. He made 3 Westerns and he was good in all of them. He played a half-breed in Flaming Star and he was great. In that movie, which was a serious movie, he also had an Indian mother and white father and Elvis looked the part a lot more than a blonde and very white Steve McQueen. They call him a half-breed in Nevada Smith, which I really don't get since he doesn't look it at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKxlRpw1_SA

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jchcin1 9 years ago

No. Just no.

[–] kapnkirk 9 years ago

Oh yes Elvis would have been grand and he would have actually looked like a half-Indian unlike Steve. I never really thought McQueen was some great actor, just a movie star. As for the prior poster who said Elvis was overrated as an actor, maybe if he had gotten a half-decent script over his career he may have proven himself. For the most part, mainstream Hollywood just ignored him and wrote him off. It's almost like he was blackballed because you never hear of a well respected director or writer wanting to work with him. I'll stop now because I could go on forever.

"No! Thats not true at all. Elvis takes fifty percent of everything I earn." Col. Parker

[–] jchcin1 9 years ago

I thoroughly disagree that Elvis would have done better, and you basing your argument on "if he had gotten a half-decent script over his career he may have proven himself" is humorous to me. Hollywood has forever made movies where someone didn't "look" the part. If you can't get past looks, I don't know what to tell you.

If anybody fits the description of "movie star, but not great actor" it is Elvis.

[–] notorious918 9 years ago

I once named a German Shepherd I had "Dr. STRANGELOVE. Does that count.

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[–] laxlon 9 years ago

I think Elvis might have been a good choice for this. I like McQueen in this film very much and though he does look like a younger Alan Ladd from the Carpetbaggers, neither one has the coloring a half-blooded Indian would have. Elvis does.

I understand that Elvis was considered for many more important roles in Hollywood, most notably, "A Star is Born" opposite Barbra Striesand. The Colonel, in charge of everything Elvis did, would not permit it. Too bad he was never given a chance to grow as an actor, it might have changed his life.

[–] mikainen 8 years ago

Elvis had the look of half-breed, after all he had Cherokee blood in him, but he was just an average actor. And he was only 5 years younger than McQueen. Bit too old to play a teen too.

[–] KlutzyGirl 8 years ago

Sorry, but IMO Elvis, as an actor, was a good singer. :-) Having a hard time remembering who was young and good back then, but A Martinez comes to mind and he was the right age. Brandon De Wilde would have been terrific, except for his coloring.