LouHomey From my favorite movies..

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

classicsoncall Sometimes I think screen writers take an idea and run with it even if it wouldn't hold up in a real life situation. To add some meaning to the title of this picture, Jimmy Stewart's character Howard Kemp uses a spur from one of his boots to claw his way up a rock wall. But how exactly would that work? The tines of a spur could never take that kind of abuse, much less find harbor in a rock face. Then, when Howard struck Ben (Robert Ryan) in the face with it, the logistics of it seemed to stretch credibility to the max. Suspending disbelief though, it was kind of cool and almost made sense.I haven't seen Stewart in this kind of characterization before. I've seen him mean but here he was downright nasty at times. During his first encounter with prospector Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell), it took a while to figure out if he was an outlaw or a good guy. And even when it's established he's a good guy, we find that he's part of what some would consider a dishonorable profession, a bounty hunter trading lives for money.I'm kind of puzzling over the scene in which Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker) shows Howard his dishonorable discharge. I had an impression that maybe Howard couldn't read because he didn't react to it and simply handed the document back to Roy. A similar scene occurred later on in the story as well to leave that ambiguity intact.The interesting dynamic in the story for me was the transformation of Janet Leigh's character. I didn't quite get the impression that she was Ben's 'girl' so to speak. After all, Ben explained that Lina's father was his best friend, so there was quite an age disparity there, not to mention one of temperament. But you still had that age differential with Howard, so how the two 'found' each other over the course of the picture made for a compelling story.Say, did you catch that crazy horse spill during the Indian attack? At one point Howard shoots one of the warriors riding away from him and the horse topples over sideways, rolls over the rider and stands up straddling him. There's no way that could have been planned and it's one of the wilder stunts I've seen that couldn't have been pulled off any better. I wonder what the stunt-man thought of it when it was all over.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Tough, sweating with tension, and towering as tall as the breathtaking Colorado Rockies, The Naked Spur is simply one of the best Westerns (of the 1950s) ever made.Set in and around the old west town of Abilene, including its surrounding mountainous region - James Stewart plays Howie Kemp, a no-nonsense, self-styled bounty hunter who, along with his newly acquired partners, Roy and Jess, set out to track down and capture psychotic killer, Ben Vandergroat.Once Vandergroat has been successfully apprehended, he quickly stirs up tensions between his 3 captors, cleverly playing on their fears, and vanity, and their obvious greed for a bigger cut of the $5000 reward that's on his head. It's plain arithmetic - The money splits 2 ways, better than 3.Released in 1953 - The Naked Spur is a very satisfying Cowboy Flick, featuring a superb supporting cast. It was directed by the ever-impressive, Anthony Mann, a dude who certainly knew how to deliver a first-rate "Western".

secondtake The Naked Spur (1953)This is a classic straight forward and somewhat clichéd but professional western, with very solid acting and very solid direction, photography, and scenery. That's great, and that's the flaw of it all, this lack or originality. The core of it is action adventure, and an unlikely merging of unsavory characters. At first it's an outlaw that is being sought (Robert Ryan, a youthful bearded Ryan), then it's the Indians who are a danger (and the white gang of good guys and bad guys unite agains this new foe). Heading the posse, if you can call it that, is James Stewart, who is always pretty amazing. And there is the surprise woman in the group, an almost unrecognizable Janet Leigh. Eventually the group has to cross an inhospitable (and beautiful) landscape in all kinds of weather. It's powerful in the themes, if a little familiar in its themes.Ryan is the highlight here. Stewart is billed first, but he's an uncomplicated hero, and Ryan plays a more convoluted type. The woman is at first Ryan's, it seems, but then it gets complicated. And the other two figures in this roving band take on opposing roles, as well. Leigh, in short hair (a 1950s style, and a good one), is really different, and she does fine. This cast of five is the entire credited cast (the Indians don't count, I guess, with no speaking parts). And because it's a small group, it gets increasingly personal. And good. Director Anthony Mann is clearly in good form, making a routine script take on both psychological and kinetic edge. Everyone is trapped a bit by a routine script, but Mann makes it really tight and smart. The color photography is also trapped by the routines of beauty in the great Western landscape. The best scenes, at night in a cave, for example, are constricted and tense, really visually wonderful. Sometimes a simple tracking shot will follow someone across bumpy landscape with perfect grace, an invisible cue that the crew is really working hard, laying dolly track, making a difficult scene look easy.The one really interesting theme that grows slowly until exploding at the end is the morality of hunting someone down just to turn them in for money. The bounty. And the bounty hunter. Well, with Janet Leigh there to help persuade you to higher goals, I supposed Jimmy Stewart can be forgiven. Or praised. You watch and see.

writers_reign By the 1950s the Western was evolving from the simplistic John Ford/John Wayne fables to a more in-depth approach that would culminate in the 'psychological' westerns of the sixties. Henry King kick-started both the genre and the decade with The Gunfighter which removed the Roy Rogers glamorous wardrobe and guitar and showed a much more realistic West. Ironically Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur was released the same year as George Steven's all-time Great Shane which managed to combine the best of both worlds via Alan Ladd's light-coloured 'glamorous' shirt with the harshness of life on the open range. Naked Spur is definitely in the vanguard of 'psychological' Westerns and cunningly contrives a chamber piece - only five characters - set in wide open spaces to appear claustrophobic via the close-knit tensions between the five. Initially each one is out for himself with only the weakest link, Janet Leigh, ostensibly united with Robert Ryan but inevitably the balance shifts so that what began as Stewart, Mitchell, Meeker, three single units united uneasily against Ryan and Leigh, evolves into sole survivors Stewart and Leigh forming a new alliance. Ryan, of course, excelled in this kind of role which he could do standing on his head, Mitchell and Meeker lend sterling support and if Leigh is the weakest link it is Stewart who actually gets to extend his range, leaving behind the gauche, Gary Cooper-lite bashful nice guy and exploring a much darker side of his personality. On TV recently it held up well after 57 years.