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I never realized what a scene-stealer ROBERT RYAN could be until I saw THE NAKED SPUR. Although JAMES STEWART is the nominal big name star, it's Ryan's charming, snake-like villain who dominates this rugged western despite strong performances from the entire cast. He obviously relishes his role and is a joy to watch.

This is more a character study of a group of desperate losers than your average shoot 'em up western and Anthony Mann has directed it with the focus on the strong clashes between each one of them. RALPH MEEKER does an outstanding job as a war deserter who is both a help and a hindrance to the group as they seek to return outlaw Ryan to Kansas so justice can prevail. Stewart's character is given strong motivation for his deeds but Janet Leigh, as the outlaw's girlfriend, has a role that is not plausibly explained.

Photographed in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, it's a rugged kind of technicolor western that gives all of the performers physically demanding roles--and all of them are more than up to it.

Stewart, Leigh, Mitchell and Meeker are all superb--but it's Robert Ryan's devious villain that will linger longest in the memory.

What I imagine makes THE NAKED SPUR stand out among other Westerns is its close, intimate focus on a small band of characters--for once, the motivations of the cynical bounty-hunter, the luckless gold prospector, the brash ne'er-do-well, the slick outlaw are actually all explored and explained as best as psychology can allow. The focus isn't on the action, though there's plenty of that too; one really gets the idea that the action is peripheral to the character development, to the glimpses of history given by snatches of dialogue. James Stewart turns in a riveting performance as Howard Kemp, the embittered rancher turned bounty-hunter, who is seeking outlaw Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) for the $5000 price on the latter's head. What Howard doesn't gamble on is the people added on to his journey along the way--the prospector Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell), who's been running after gold all his life but has never managed to catch up to it; the reckless ex-soldier Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker), discharged from the army for being 'morally unstable'; and the young feisty Lina Patch (Janet Leigh), Ben's companion.

Throw this bunch of opposites in a trek back to Abilene, Kansas is a recipe for great drama: for example, the mini Indian massacre Roy brings about that gets Howard shot in the leg; the rock avalanche Ben starts to try to escape after sending Lina to distract Howard... even the even-tempered, apparently rational and loyal Jesse being so blinded by his life's pursuit that he frees Ben in return for gold and certainly winds up regretting it. Throughout the trek, one sees Ben's true duplicitous side, as he charmingly manipulates each and every other member of the group into distrusting one another. He knows Howard as well, from back in Abilene, and he is the one who lets us in on some of Howard's painful past. (Brilliantly illustrated by the fevered dreams Howard suffers from while still in shock from the bullet in his leg.)

The entire small cast is excellent. Ryan is slimily charming, Mitchell plays Jesse straight and honestly, Leigh brings off a rather thankless, almost characterless role well (her character is probably the least well developed in the film). It is James Stewart, however, who really deserves special mention for his portrayal of Howard Kemp... particularly since he'd first thought that he was supposed to be playing the role of Ben Vandergroat, and had to be talked into taking the risk and playing Howard Kemp. One can certainly see why: Stewart's stock-in-trade is as the undeniably good hero, with whatever--if any!--psychological darkness (see George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life) always lurking just beneath the surface but never enough to damage the character's positive standing in the audience's eyes. So of course, it's not easy to accept Stewart as the cynical, rude Howard at first--this probably is the least sympathetic character he has ever played, since the cracks in his tough, mean veneer come very seldom during the course of the film (and kudos to the writers for not having Stewart's innate goodness shine through more often and therefore use the audience's sympathies for the actor to bring some for the character).

Howard is driven and relentless, as evidenced with the near psychosis he brings to his task of capturing Ben. From his sullenness when Ben reveals how much the capture really is worth, through to the final exciting sequence when Kemp pulls himself up the rock to face his nemesis (thereafter making it clear why the film is given the title of 'The Naked Spur'), Howard Kemp is evidently a man who no longer trusts even *himself* to do the good thing. Quite a twist on the James Stewart persona, and certainly one he pulls off with great aplomb. His final scene with Janet Leigh, as Howard has to decide whether he can stand to lose his future to his past, definitely stands proud as some of Stewart's greatest work.

I watched this film largely because of a great review I'd read of it for Stewart's performance, and there is no denying that that is surely a good enough reason to watch this film. Stewart outdoes himself. Still, I got a lot more than I'd bargained for, because this really is an excellent, psychologically-charged Western as well--the kind that makes you feel and think, and it's only the better films that make one do that.

Angry James Stewart is out to get killer Robert Ryan and claim his reward. On his way he meets up with 2 strangers - Millard Mitchell, an old prospector looking for his first strike and Ralph Meeker, an ex army lieutenant. Both agree to help him for a share of the bounty, but can they be trusted.

A terrific, character lead study of 5 people, including Janet Leigh, who all have individual greed and obsessional issues. This is probably the best of the Mann / Stewart westerns with Stewart giving an often frightening dramatic performance and with exceptional support from the other 4. It is a first rate character piece where the action, good though it is, comes second to the characters such that all of them are given enough time and script to really develop.

I saw this for the first time recently.

The plot in short n without any spoilers - A man with a tragic past becomes a bounty hunter to catch a cunning murderer so that he can buy back his land via the bounty reward. Unwillingly he partners with two fellas, one an ex soldier who is discharged dishonorably n the other an old fella looking for gold mine. The trio manages to catch the murderer but on the trail the cunning wanted murderer wages a continous psychological game to turn his captors against each other by various means.

This is no doubt a very different western which started off very engrossing, specially the psychological duel n the journey but somehow towards the end it felt a bit odd.

The girl suddenly changes her mind, the soldiers' fate in the end was uncalled for n what was the need for digging a grave for a murderer n where will the couple live if the man is broke n without a house.

Still i am generous with a 7 cos of the performances n cinematography.

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.