The Naked Spur ***** (1953, James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker, Millard Mitchell) – Classic Movie Review 2049

The Naked Spur (1953) is the third and perhaps finest of James Stewart’s series of richly satisfying Westerns with director Anthony Mann. It is lifted to the highest rank of Westerns by the Oscar-nominated script (a rare honour for a Western), the on-form star, devoted cast, the Colorado location filming, William C Mellor’s cinematography in Technicolor, and Mann’s firm and expert controlling hand.

Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom’s strong, Oscar-nominated Best Original Screenplay about a greedy, embittered bounty hunter, American Civil War veteran Howard Kemp, provides a great role for Stewart, who is on top form, cast against type as the anti-hero who leads his little band of men in pursuit of the fleeing killer Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) he needs to bring to justice.

Janet Leigh plays Lina Patch, another of life’s waifs and strays who teams with Ryan’s Vandergroat to flee to California. Stewart’s side is joined in his manhunt by old prospector Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell) and dishonourably discharged Union soldier, Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker), strangers who are less than trustworthy in their helping hand.

The Naked Spur is a particularly rugged, intense and satisfying 50s Western. Leigh called it ‘the first noir Western’. The score is composed by Bronislau Kaper. It was filmed on location in Durango and the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, and Lone Pine, California.

Mann’s five films with James Stewart are Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1955) and The Man from Laramie (1955).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2049

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