The Naked Spur

Starring: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Millard Mitchell
Directed by: Anthony Mann
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Western
1953

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An angry cowboy (James Stewart) is hot on the trail of a wanted bandit to get the reward money to buy back his ranch. Along the way, he reluctantly teams with a growing group of people also after the reward, complicating matters exponentially.

Review:

Tim: I have seen many of James Stewart's westerns, to the point where I feel confident I had seen it all. As I usually am at least once a day, I was wrong. On the surface, this seems like your typical Stewart western- he is a bounty hunter on the trail of a man so he can use the reward money to buy back his farm. He teams up with unlikely partners and faces many challenges while trying to get his captive back. All the is great, but not necessarily new or different. The film sets itself apart through the psychological mind games Robert Ryan's character plays on his captors. The introduction of psychological thrills into the Western genre came about as a result of the Anthony Mann-James Stewart collaboration, and serves as a refreshing change in the genre.

James Stewart is tough and dark- he plays a far darker character then audiences were used to seeing. He is tremendous, causing the audience to like him, but from a distance. He is truly excellent in the role. The supporting cast is fairly good. Ryan is outstanding as the psychologically manipulative captive. We are entrances by his sly handling of everyone around him. In these moments, the film is great. Janet Leigh is good, but she could have been better.

The Naked Spur is a very good Western. The genre has some terrific entries, and this has to be counted as one of the very best. Director Anthony Mann and James Stewart are responsible for some terrific films, and this ranks near the top of them. This film is exciting, both in an action and in a psychological sense. The movie is beautifully shot, with some incredible landscapes. This is a very good movie, and one any Western fan needs to see.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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