The Naked Spur

As I mentioned in my article on Men in War, Anthony Mann was known for five Westerns he made in the 1950s which were more psychologically complex than most films of that genre had been. The only one I had seen before today was Winchester '73, which began a long association between Mann and James Stewart, who starred in all five films. Robert Ryan was also a regular in Mann films, and appears as the villain in The Naked Spur. Or is he?

Stewart plays a bounty hunter on the trail of Ryan, who is wanted dead or alive, with a $5,000 reward on his head. Stewart loses his trail before coming across a grizzled old prospector (is there any other kind?) played by Millard Marshall. Stewart pays Marshall to guide him into the mountains. They find Ryan on top of a rock cropping, throwing boulders down the side. A dishonorably discharged soldier (Ralph Meeker) comes along, and the three manage to capture Ryan and his girlfriend, Janet Leigh.

The rest of the film is a morality play that bears some resemblance to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with Ryan as the treasure (Meeker says of him, "He's not a man' he's a sack of money"). Stewart wanted the reward all to himself, so he can buy a ranch. But Marshall and Meeker demand to be included, so they all three lead Ryan back to Kansas for trial. But Ryan, who maintains a good sense of humor for a man headed to the gallows, mischievously works to get the three men at odds with each other, picking on their particular weaknesses.

The film has some drawbacks befitting the time period (1953). An encounter with Indians isn't exactly enlightened, and the ending, which I won't spoil here, is a bit too romantic. But otherwise this is top-shelf stuff. Stewart had set aside his cuddly image in Winchester '73, and keeps it up, playing a man who is at odds with his own decency. Meeker, most famous for playing Mike Hammer, is also good as a flashy and "morally unstable" soldier who has eyes on Leigh. Marshall, who is known by most movie fans as his role as the studio man in Singin' in the Rain, makes a great prospector, whose only ambition in life is to strike gold.

Since this was seen due to my Robert Ryan film series, I should add that he is reliably excellent, playing against what I've seen so far, in that he always has a laughing tone of voice.

The screenplay, by Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, earned an Academy Award nomination, and unusually for a Western, features only five speaking parts. The film was shot on location in Colorado, and offers some stunning vistas.