The Naked Spur (1953)

One Movie too Many

In all fairness to "The Naked Spur" I watched this movie because it was listed in the book "501 Must-See Movies". OK, that must make it a really good film. Well, I kept waiting for it to get to that level and it never did. I can see some reasons why the movie has its' admirers; it delves into greed with a fair amount of depth, Jimmie Stewart gives a pretty good preformance, the setting/cinematography is outstanding, there is a continuing level of suspense, etc. However, I thought the movie moved along in a rather erratic pace. There were aspects that I had trouble accepting (a rather peculiar fault of mine that I realize most people don't suffer from). One particular aspect was how one of the characters was wounded to near the point of death. As the movie progressed, it was necessary to overlook his injuries although he would occassionally remember to affect a minor limp. The morality tale ended with a proper impact; one that I had trouble accepting but no trouble respecting. Heck, if I wasn't expecting so much, I might have given it "4 Stars" but my primary reaction to this film was disappointment.

I won't come down too hard on "501 Must-See Movies". After all, it prompted me to watch the original "3:10 to Yuma" with which I was very impressed. However, if the authors of that book ever want any advice on how to come up with a nice round number for their title, I have a suggestion for them. October 5, 2008

The Naked Spur-DVD

Wow...Jimmy Stewart, what more do I need to say! This is a romantic western, and I certainly am enthralled by the unassuming beauty of Janet Leigh. That it is not filmed in a western town environment, makes no difference. The scenic views and natural background of the flowing rivers and streams makes this surreal. It is a very good romantic western movie featuring one of my all time males western stars. However, I can see where Jamie Lee got her great looks, as her mom is a real beauty in her own rights. September 29, 2008

DRAMATIC WESTERN OF A BYGONE ERA

A group of people thrown together by circumstance of a $5000.00 reward poster for a back-shooting murder that earlier had taken place in Abilene, Kansas.

Jimmy Stewart heads an all star cast in this 3rd meeting and picture of Stewart and Anthony Mann. Seldom on the screen has there been paired such good as personified by Janet Leigh juxtaposed with such evil as Robert Ryan. Ralph Meeker, disgraced-discharged soldier, and Millard Mitchell, burnt out miner-prospector, throw in with Stewart to shepherd the killer to his future hanging.

But the trio must first not only overcome the wild, mountainous country, but Indian attack, and the rain and mud to come. The eventual raging rivers combined with all this lends abundant psychological stress and interplay to these diverse, mostly greedy, personalities. They begin to mistrust everyone else and everything to a point of each becomming murderous.

The salient feature here is the continous manner in which Robert Ryan is able to promote dissension among Stewart, Meeker, and Mitchell. This 1953 movie allows Robert Ryan an opportunity to provide one of the best performances of his long and varied career. Just excellant, almost beyond description.

Though this classic movie only times out at 93 minutes, the psychological and physical action never lets up for a moment. Each time I view this movie I'm drawn in anew as if I'd never seen it before. The evil present in Ryan's character continues to unfold until not only Janet Leigh becomes aware of it, but we as viewers see it as never before, too.

As the film winds down the raging river and rapids only serve as cinematic background to reinforce the dialogue and plot. But above all we see the insane evil present in Robert Ryan, an evil which would not only destroy him but anyone foolish enough to trust him. But as is self evident, such degree of evil generally serves as the mechanism leading to its own destruction.

Overlooking the improbable ending of this film, the fact remains that THE NAKED SPUR is a great cinematic effort from half-century back. Don't miss it.

Semper Fi. September 18, 2008

Savage, Elemental Western

The Naked Spur was the third of five Westerns director Anthony Mann would make with Jimmy Stewart in the first half of the '50's. These works stand alongside Stewart's 50's films with Hitchcock as going along way to revise his "aw shucks," light comic persona. For Hitchcock, Stewart played obsessive, neurotic characters; for Mann he was that too, with an added capacity for violence that is as convincingly portrayed as is is unexpected. Looking at both ends of Stewart's emotional spectrum by watching The Naked Spur and Vertigo alongside Mr Smith Goes To Washington bears out fully Andrew Sarris' accolade -- Stewart was the most complete actor in classical Hollywood.

In Spur, Stewart plays Howie Kemp, once a normal farmer who probably had a moral compass; but a series of set-backs leading to the the loss of his ranch has left him at the end of his tether -- to get himself out of a financial hole, he has turned bounty hunter, stalking a former friend, a career criminal, who shot a sheriff and now has a substantial reward hanging over his head -- dead or alive.

At the film's start, Stewart is alone in the wilderness, and close to catching his quarry. But by the time he apprehends him, and has to make the long journey back to civilization, he had acquired unwillingly a couple of partners who facilitate the capture and now mean to share in the spoils: Ralph Meeker, as a sociopathic cavalry officer, dishonorably discharged for raping an Indian (and the tribe is on his trail, and hence on Stewart's as well); and a kindly but greedy old prospector (Millard Mitchell).

And the quarry? Robert Ryan, at his menacing best. Bound and immobile for most of the film, his barbed humor and disarming good nature disguise a truly dangerous man -- dangerous because he knows all of his captors weaknesses, and plays them off against each other, using his words as weapons only until he gets the chance to get his hands on an actual gun. When he is caught, he is accompanied by a semi-feral young woman, played by Janet Leigh, the daughter of one of his slain associates with whom Ryan has some sort of ambiguous relationship, somewhere between lover and surrogate father; when Ryan sees Stewart is attracted to her, he will use that too as a weapon.

Mann stages this journey employing the rocky barren landscape as another protagonists; he relishes having his actors climbing sheer rock faces, fording rapids, digging themselves into the earth to shield themselves from bullets. The extremity of the characters struggle with the landscape mirrors the emotional extremes they are subjected to.

Stewart plays here a paranoid, bitter, vindictive man, for whom the pursuit of blood money has become an obsession. The fact that this goal is at odds with the moral person he once was leads him to the edge of hysteria; he screams like a woman, rages, menaces, bullies. And he pulls it off beautifully. Mann once said at the end of any of his films, his heroes are more exhausted then exalted. As in The Wages of Fear, these movies, particularly Spur, are ordeals, and we and the characters are spared nothing. This movie,like the others in the cycle, is among the toughest, and darkest westerns to come out of Hollywood. September 14, 2008

Stewart & Mann pair for noir Western

This psychological dark Western, the third out west pairing for Stewart & Anthony Mann ranks a close second to I think, their best and last outing, "The Man from Laramie" which was their only film in Cinemascope. Filmed brilliantly in the Colorado Rockies, "Spur" tells the story of a dispossessed Civil War veteran (Stewart) out to collect the bounty on a vicious outlaw (Robert Ryan) but he encounters some obtstacles along the way--a dishonored Army officier (Ralph Meeker) and the outlaw's squeeze (Janet Leigh). Paired off with a grizzly prospector (Millard Mitchell), Stewart will also have to face his demons in the face of increasing danger. The actor is at his most neurotic here, quite the opposite of his carefree character in "Harvey" or the calm but calculating avenger in "Laramie". Also Ryan is charismatic and chilling as the outlaw. If you like your westerns with a shade of noir--check this out!! September 10, 2008

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