#745) The Naked Spur (1953)

The Plot: In 1868, Howard Kemp (James Stewart) is traveling the Rocky Mountains in pursuit of wanted criminal Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan). With the help of local prospector Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell) and disgraced cavalryman Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker), Howard succeeds at capturing Ben, along with his female companion Lina Patch (Janet Leigh). Upon his capture, Ben reveals to Jesse and Roy that Howard isn’t a marshal as they originally assumed, but rather a bounty hunter determined to bring Ben in and collect a $5,000 reward. As the group treks across the mountains to turn Ben in, Ben fans the flames of everyone’s distrust for each other in the hopes of escape. The western genre heads to the Rockies in this expertly made tale of morality and greed.

Why It Matters: The film’s NFR write-up is brief, but it packs in salutes to the “tense psychological complexity” of Anthony Mann’s direction, the “strong, clear story-telling” of the screenplay, and the “vivid Technicolor” cinematography by William C. Mellor.

But Does It Really?: Longtime readers know that I don’t care for westerns, but I gotta say I enjoyed “The Naked Spur”. In 90 minutes, I got an intimate character study where five well-defined personalities have their moralities tested, matched by solid performances and great visual storytelling through the direction and cinematography. While the film’s legacy isn’t as strong as other westerns on the list, “Naked Spur” still holds up well 70 years later and is respected enough among western buffs that its NFR standing is justified. If you read my post on “Winchester ‘73” – the other James Stewart/Anthony Mann western on the list – you may remember my hesitation to deem the NFR worthiness of “Winchester” until I had seen “Naked Spur”. Having now watched both, “Naked Spur” is the better movie, but just barely. Both are well-crafted westerns that are worth a viewing, with “Naked Spur” having a slight edge over “Winchester” in terms of overall quality and cultural impact. I’ll rank “Naked Spur” a “minor classic” and “Winchester” a “minor classic/stepping stone”. Both films earn their spot on the Registry, with “Winchester” setting the stage for “Naked Spur”.

Everybody Gets One: Not a lot of information out there about writers Sam Rolfe or Harold Jack Bloom, but I do want to give them a shout-out because “The Naked Spur” was their first produced screenplay! Talk about hitting a home run your first time at bat. As for their careers after “Naked Spur”, see “Legacy” below.

Wow, That’s Dated: Even one of the greatest westerns ever made has its share of misogyny towards its one female character and racism towards the Indigenous tribe encountered by the group. I’d give this movie a Redface warning, but I don’t know who any of those actors are because they’re uncredited. Womp womp.

Seriously, Oscars?: In a very competitive year at the Oscars, “The Naked Spur” managed to earn one nomination for Best Original Screenplay, losing to “Titanic” (not that one).

• It was not until near the end of this film that I realized Millard Mitchell also played the studio boss in “Singin’ in the Rain”. It’s amazing what a grizzled beard can do. Sadly, “Naked Spur” was one of Millard Mitchell’s final film performances; he died of lung cancer within a year of the film’s release.
• Ralph Meeker is one of those actors who I can never quite place, despite appearing in two other NFR movies, including “Kiss Me Deadly” where he plays the lead! As Roy, Meeker is fine, but I don’t remember him being this smug in his other NFR entries.
• Robert Ryan is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the blog. Here he’s playing a character along the lines of Hannibal Lecter or Glenn Ford in “3:10 to Yuma”; the captured criminal who gets the psychological upper hand on everyone around him. Not quite the heavy he is in “Bad Day”, but still an interesting character and an engaging performance. I look forward to seeing his third and as of this writing last NFR entry: “The Wild Bunch”.
• As the obligatory “girl” in the movie, Janet Leigh doesn’t get as much to do as her co-stars, but at least she has more to do here than she did in “Manchurian Candidate”. And despite spending the entire movie roughing it in the mountains, Lina always has perfect hair and makeup with pearly white teeth and a tight bodice. Priorities, I guess.
• The Blackfoot tribe primarily resides in the northwestern US, and while that would make their appearance in Colorado seem inaccurate, I’ll give it a pass because they are specifically hunting down Roy. Speaking of, Roy is recently discharged from the 6^th Cavalry Regiment, which was stationed in Texas at the time, so the Blackfeet aren’t the only ones in this movie who are a long way from home.

• About halfway through the film, Howard starts opening up about his past and the woman he lost along the way, with the parlor song “Beautiful Dreamer” weaving its way through the underscore. It’s hard not to hear Jimmy Stewart crying out for a woman named Mary without thinking of his past life in Bedford Falls.

• This character development for Howard leads to a romantic connection with Lina, which begs the question: Why was every Jimmy Stewart movie in this era about him making out with significantly younger women? Stewart was 44 when he filmed “Naked Spur”, Janet Leigh was 25. I may have to rename my trademark Michael Douglas Scale after the original culprit.
• The film’s third act involves our group’s difficulty crossing a river. Where are the Bakhtiari when you need them?

• As we headed into the film’s climax, I started to wonder “Why is this movie called ‘The Naked Spur’?” Outside of a dramatic close-up during the opening credits, the spurs on Howard’s boots don’t get spotlighted or mentioned. No spoilers, but a spur does figure prominently into the finale, which is all well and good, but it still doesn’t answer my question about the title. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rolfe and Bloom just threw the title together because it sounded good and called it a day.

• Both Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom continued their writing careers for the next 30 years, eventually producing their own material as well. Sam Rolfe would go on to create two popular TV shows: the western “Have Gun, Will Travel” and the ‘60s spy drama “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”. Harold Jack Bloom also had a prolific television career, penning episodes for, among many other things, “Have Gun, Will Travel” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”.

• One more question about the title “The Naked Spur”: Is this where “The Naked Gun” gets its name from? I can’t find anything to support my theory, but that must be it, right? Whatever, here’s a clip.