The Naked Spur
"Plain arithmetic. Money splits better two ways instead of three," smooth-talking outlaw Ben Vandergroat reasons to his captors, three bounty hunters thrown together by chance. They're taking him to justice in Abilene, but Ben has other ideas. If he can set the men against each other - play on their greed, their fears, their vanities - he may be able to make his break to freedom.
In the third of his five landmark Anthony Mann-directed westerns, James Stewart stars as the relentless leader of bounty hunters caught in the snare of the hunted (Robert Ryan). Tough, sweating with tension, and towering as tall as its breathtaking Colorado Rockies setting, The Naked Spur is simply "one of the best Westerns ever made" (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide).
Member Reviews
Meh - rnhaas
For a while, it seems like this movie could be really surprising. It's somewhat hard to tell whether Ryan or Stewart is the bad guy (aside from the fact that they were type cast as such) for quite some time. However, that ambiguity goes out the window after a while (except for a brief return in the climax/denouement) and everyone assumes their predetermined roles. It's disappointing. It could have been great had they pursued the right angle.If you don’t know what a naked spur is, don’t worry you will soon find out. - C-Misch
I have to be honest and say that as much as I admire James Stewart as an actor, he has never really convinced me belonged in the old west and while his performance in The Naked Spur is a solid gritty performance, it was not the greatness I have come to expect from him. In their supporting roles, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, and Ralph Meeker all give good, but not great performances. The film was framed in the traditional western style, opening and closing with our cowboy figure shot from beautiful wide angles to fully capture the picturesque landscape of the Colorado Rookies surrounding him. In regards to story structure, Mann plays a little with the traditional western elements, but they are all there by the time the film comes to its conclusion. Speaking of conclusions, all the great westerns have strong and engaging climaxes, which place the cowboy figure in a dramatic showdown against his nemesis and The Naked Spur is no different. The final duel between Kemp and Vandergroat is laced with tension and paced with excellence; and upon your first of the film if you don’t know what a naked spur is, don’t worry you will soon find out.Solid but typical western. - cryptosicko
"The Naked Spur" is an artifact of James Stewart's post-war film career, characterized by a newfound darkness that crept into the once sunny leading man's persona upon his return from service (if "It's a Wonderful Life" is the quintessential pre-war Stewart, think "Vertigo" as the quintessential post-), the possibly-traumatic details of which remain shrouded in mystery. His character in The Naked Spur is driven by romantic despair (echoes of "Vertigo"), greed and eventually guilt in the process of hunting down a wanted man for a reward. As a western hero, his character is brooding but never particularly heroic, barely even managing to work up much heat with love interest Janet Leigh. The much-maligned ending of the film finds him particularly weakened and remorseful, an early echo of later revisionist westerns like "McCabe and Mrs Miller" and "Unforgiven" that nevertheless does feel a bit unsatisfying in what is otherwise a straightfoward genre picture. The movie is perhaps most interesting if viewed in light of Stewart's larger post-war body of work; as a typical studio western it is entertaining enough but nothing particularly special--a little light on the action (an unnecessary Indian slaughter is far more dramatically staged than the final showdown, which acutally finds a major character being killed by driftwood) and with Robert Ryan's smirking villain actually leaving far more of impression, in the end, than Stewart's hero. For western fans, and those interested in tracing the hidden complexities of one of the most beloved actors in the history of film, "The Naked Spur" is certainly worth a look, but it is bound to leave most other viewers a tad underwhelmed.
Member Reviews
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Meh - rnhaas
For a while, it seems like this movie could be really surprising. It's somewhat hard to tell whether Ryan or Stewart is the bad guy (aside from the fact that they were type cast as such) for quite some time. However, that ambiguity goes out the window after ...If you don’t know what a naked spur is, don’t worry you will soon find out. - C-Misch
I have to be honest and say that as much as I admire James Stewart as an actor, he has never really convinced me belonged in the old west and while his performance in The Naked Spur is a solid gritty performance, it was not the greatness I have come to expect ...Solid but typical western. - cryptosicko
"The Naked Spur" is an artifact of James Stewart's post-war film career, characterized by a newfound darkness that crept into the once sunny leading man's persona upon his return from service (if "It's a Wonderful Life" is the quintessential pre-war Stewart, ...