The Naked Spur
Tags: good versus evil, violence, murder

Plot synopsis:
In March 1868, Howard Kemp (James Stewart) is tracking Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan), who is wanted for the murder of the marshal in Abilene, Kansas.
On the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Southwestern Colorado, Kemp meets a grizzled old prospector, Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell), and offers him $20 to help. Tate assumes that Kemp is a sheriff, and Kemp does nothing to disillusion him.
They trap someone on top of a rocky hill who Kemp is convinced must be his wanted man. Rockslides force a retreat. Looking for a way around the hill, Kemp and Tate encounter a Union soldier, Lieutenant Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker). He has been discharged from the 6th Cavalry at Fort Ellis in Bozeman and is heading east. Tate questions why Anderson isn't on the Bozeman Trail. Anderson's story is that there are some "bad tempered Indians" whose chief's daughter fell in with a handsome young army lieutenant. Kemp has a chance to see Anderson's discharge order in which he is described as "morally unstable" and given a dishonorable discharge.
Tate tells Anderson that Kemp is a sheriff. With the aid of Anderson, who scales a sheer cliff face, Vandergroat is caught, along with his companion, Lina Patch (Janet Leigh), the daughter of Vandergroat's friend, Frank Patch, who was shot dead trying to rob a bank in Abilene.
Vandergroat sets Tate and Anderson straight on two facts: that Kemp is no lawman, and that a reward is offered to bring him in — $5,000 — dead or alive. Tate and Anderson want their shares to aid Kemp in getting Vandergroat back to Kansas. Lina is convinced that her father's friend is innocent.
On the trail to Abilene, Vandergroat attempts to turn his captors against each other, using greed as his weapon. He also encourages Lina to use her beauty to divide Kemp and Anderson. When scouting a way through a mountain pass, Kemp and Tate spot a dozen Blackfeet, a normally friendly tribe, far from their normal hunting grounds. They tell the others, and Anderson confesses that the Indians are after him. Kemp tells Anderson to hightail it out of there to avoid being captured by the Blackfeet. Anderson thinks Kemp just wants a bigger share of the reward money. He rides ahead, and from his position hidden behind a fallen tree trunk, with his rifle he elects to pick off a chief of the Blackfeet, at the moment Kemp's group have confronted the Indians and are about to engage them in talk.
During the ensuing battle, Kemp saves Lina from the Blackfeet and she, in turn, helps him when he is shot in the leg. Later, Kemp passes out on the trail and awakes from a delirious nightmare. He thinks Lina is Mary, his ex-fiancée. Vandergroat tells the others that Mary sold Kemp's ranch, which he left in her safekeeping, while he was serving in the army during the Civil War, and then went off with another man. Vandergroat further reveals that Kemp is determined to buy his ranch back, and that it can't happen if he splits the reward money with Anderson and Tate.
Lina's feelings of loyalty to her father's friend, combined with an attraction to Kemp, confuses her. She has never seen Vandergroat hurt anyone unless it was in a fair fight but after he loosens Kemp's saddle cinch and tries to push him off a high mountain pass, Lina's sympathies for Kemp grow.
Taking refuge from a storm in a cave, Vandergroat manipulates Lina into distracting Kemp. She tells the rancher of her dream to go to California, where no one knows her and she can make a fresh start. He tells her of his wish to repurchase his ranch. They kiss, and this gives Ben a chance to escape. Kemp catches Vandergroat, and Anderson suggests that, because the reward is for a "dead or alive" criminal, they should just kill the troublemaker. Tate stops Anderson but, caught up in the anger of the moment and hurt by what he sees as Lina's treachery, Kemp challenges Vandergroat to a shoot out. The wanted man declines to take part.
Next day, the group comes to a high-running river. They argue about whether to cross or go down stream. Anderson grabs a rope and throws it around Vandergroat's neck and says he'll drag him across the river. A fight ensues between Kemp and Anderson, as Vandergroat watches with malicious enjoyment. Kemp finally manages to kick Anderson unconscious. While Kemp and Anderson recover from the fight and Lina searches for firewood, Vandergroat convinces Tate to sneak off with him to find a gold mine, the whereabouts of which Vandergroat has been tempting the old man with. When they depart during the night, he convinces Tate to take Lina along.
Vandergroat and Lina ride double; Tate follows, holding a rifle on them. Ben suddenly yells, "Snake!" and in the confusion grabs Tate's rifle from him and kills him. He fires two more shots in order to lure Kemp and Anderson to a spot where he intends to kill them. Lina finally sees Vandergroat for what he is.
Kemp and Anderson discover Tate's body where Vandergroat has positioned it for an ambush from the high cliff. Preparing to shoot Kemp, Vandergroat is caught off guard when Lina grabs the rifle barrel, saving Kemp's life. While Anderson exchanges gunfire with Vandergroat, Kemp removes one of his spurs to aid in climbing up the back of the cliff to outflank Vandergroat. He uses the spur as a combination climbing ax and makeshift piton.
Vandergroat, hearing Kemp, gets the drop on the rancher. However, before he can pull the trigger, Kemp throws his spur into the killer's left cheek. As Ben reels from the pain of the spur, he is shot by Anderson and his body falls into the nearby river, becoming entangled in the roots of a tree. Anderson lassos a branch on the other side of the river and crosses using the rope. He then wraps it around Ben's body but is crushed by a large tree stump barrelling down the river.
Kemp grabs the rope and drags Vandergroat's body across the river and, in a rage, vows that he will take him back to reclaim his land. Lina pleads with him not to take blood money for bringing Vandergroat in. She says she will go with him, no matter what, marry him, and live with him on the ranch. Kemp realizes what he is doing and his love for Lina makes him stop. He begins digging a grave to bury Vandergroat and they decide to make for California, leaving their pasts behind.

Review: What I imagine makes THE NAKED SPUR stand out among other Westerns is its close, intimate focus on a small band of characters--for once, the motivations of the cynical bounty-hunter, the luckless gold prospector, the brash ne'er-do-well, the slick outlaw are actually all explored and explained as best as psychology can allow.
James Stewart turns in a riveting performance as Howard Kemp, the embittered rancher turned bounty-hunter, who is seeking outlaw Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) for the $5000 price on the latter's head.
What Howard doesn't gamble on is the people added on to his journey along the way--the prospector Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell), who's been running after gold all his life but has never managed to catch up to it; the reckless ex-soldier Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker), discharged from the army for being 'morally unstable'; and the young feisty Lina Patch (Janet Leigh), Ben's companion.Throw this bunch of opposites in a trek back to Abilene, Kansas is a recipe for great drama: for example, the mini Indian massacre Roy brings about that gets Howard shot in the leg; the rock avalanche Ben starts to try to escape after sending Lina to distract Howard...
Ryan is slimily charming, Mitchell plays Jesse straight and honestly, Leigh brings off a rather thankless, almost characterless role well (her character is probably the least well developed in the film).
Howard is driven and relentless, as evidenced with the near psychosis he brings to his task of capturing Ben. From his sullenness when Ben reveals how much the capture really is worth, through to the final exciting sequence when Kemp pulls himself up the rock to face his nemesis (thereafter making it clear why the film is given the title of 'The Naked Spur'), Howard Kemp is evidently a man who no longer trusts even *himself* to do the good thing.
Perhaps, they felt one nomination was enough for a movie about greed...James Stewart (as Howard Kemp), Janet Leigh (as Lina Patch), Robert Ryan (as Ben Vandergroat), Ralph Meeker (as Roy Anderson), and Millard Mitchell (as Jesse Tate) are an outstanding Colorado quintet.
We shouldn't be to be too greedy about great movies, after all.********* The Naked Spur (2/6/53) Anthony Mann ~ James Stewart, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Ralph Meeker.
That the action takes place against the backdrop of the West cleverly conceals that the movie is a drama as much as anything else; almost Bergmanesque in its spareness, it deals more with the psychology of greed and revenge than with more traditional western themes, such as honor, which scarcely figures in the story.Stewart plays a bounty hunter who is chasing after outlaw Robert Ryan for personal as much as monetary reasons.
One never knows where Stewart stands with any of them till the end, as the power struggles that ensue are continuous and unrelenting, driving Stewart to near nervous breakdown.This is neither a happy nor optimistic movie, and its high quality is typical of so many westerns of the fifties, managing to deal with serious psychological, moral, even economic issues in ways that were nearly impossible in films set in contemporary times.
James Stewart and Anthony Mann worked together on several films during the 1950's, and this film, "The Naked Spur", represents a very satisfying effort, pooling the collective talents of a great star with a renowned director and letting a story tell itself on film.There is very little action in the sense of a normal western, no shootouts in the streets, no bar-room brawls, no breakouts from the jail, or even a bank robbery.
There is no town, period; the film was made outdoors in Colorado, and the scenery simply enhances and enriches the plot of the film.Basically, James Stewart plays a bounty hunter, Howard Kemp, who has a chance to catch a major outlaw, Ben Vandergroat portrayed by Robert Ryan.
Ryan, in a starkly brilliant performance, also attempts to create chances to escape.In watching the film develop, one has to wonder if Kemp will ultimately, due to his hardened nature, surrender Ben to the authorities, or will he simply let the outlaw go, and try to make a fresh start elsewhere.
Although JAMES STEWART is the nominal big name star, it's Ryan's charming, snake-like villain who dominates this rugged western despite strong performances from the entire cast.
Stewart's character is given strong motivation for his deeds but Janet Leigh, as the outlaw's girlfriend, has a role that is not plausibly explained.Photographed in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, it's a rugged kind of technicolor western that gives all of the performers physically demanding roles--and all of them are more than up to it.Stewart, Leigh, Mitchell and Meeker are all superb--but it's Robert Ryan's devious villain that will linger longest in the memory..
There is a villain, and Robert Ryan plays a great one, but James Stewart's character, Howard Kemp, is no hero.
The Naked Spur is another fine western put together by the team of Director Anthony Mann and player James Stewart.
Spectacular location photography in the Rocky Mountains lend a ring of authenticity to the story.That story being Stewart as a bounty hunter on the trail of outlaw/killer Robert Ryan who has a girl a long with him in the attractive form of Janet Leigh.
In fact the title of the picture gives a hint of how James Stewart uses a spur in a unique manner against Ryan.For fans of westerns and I think non-western fans will find the drama and interaction among the characters entertaining..
A bounty hunter(James Stewart) is on the trail of a murderer(Robert Ryan)who is headed toward California with a lovely younger woman(Janet Leigh).
In the lead, bull-headed James Stewart does his usual shouting thing; supporting cast, however, is exceptional, particularly Millard Mitchell, Ralph Meeker as a dishonorably discharged officer (being chased by Blackfoot Indians!), and Robert Ryan as their target.
A bounty hunter called Howard Kemp (James Stewart) trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers (Millard Mitchell , Ralph Meeker) .
James Stewart has made a career of portraying loners in western features, especially with Anthony Mann as the director, and this film ranks as one of their best.
Super western, with beautiful scenery and an excellent cast.The plot centers on a cowboy bounty hunter bringing back, dead or alive, an outlaw and to achieve this purpose the cowboy must navigate the rugged countryside of the 1860's, and in the process has to fend off the elements, including the weather and terrain, Indians, and others who want a share of the bounty, plus there is "love" interest in the guise of the bad man's moll.The outlaw is not only a real man, but is a real "baddie" too, and steals the show with his portrayal and the mind games he plays on the others in the story.There is a rawness and ruggedness about this picture, and in my view deserves to be regarded as a classic with the super cinematography of the apparent realistic scenes showing the "wild west".Current film makers should take note that despite this movie being well over 50 years old, what with its' rugged realism and dynamism it surpasses most modern day flicks.8/10..
In fact, the whole story (except for a cave sequence) takes place outdoors.Howard Kemp (Stewart) is on the trail of outlaw Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan).
There are 5 excellent performances by Stewart, Robert Ryan (both real-life war heroes as compared to today's liberal wimps), Ralph Meeker, Millard Mitchell,and Janet Leigh.
Whether it was James Stewart, Janet Leigh or Ralph Meeker playing a character, there wasn't a "good guy" in the bunch.There are hundreds of westerns better than this one..
Trailing outlaw Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) up in the Rocky Mountains, Kemp falls in with elderly prospector, Jesse (Millard Mitchell), and renegade army officer, Anderson (Ralph Meeker).
Capturing Vandergroat, who also has his girlfriend, Lina Patch (Janet Leigh), in tow, this small posse must undertake the arduous journey thru the wilderness-with Vandergroat trying to turn the other travellers against Kemp.The third film of five remarkable Westerns that director Anthony Mann made with James Stewart as his leading protagonist.
Of the classic westerns James Stewart made with Anthony Mann I would rate "The Man from Laramie" first, "Winchester '73" second, and this one "The Naked Spur" third.
Stewart's performance is one his very best in an almost anti-hero role; Millard Mitchell is outstanding; Robert Ryan is a superb (and snaky) villain; Meeker is an oily jerk, and Janet Leigh shines in an early role for her.
That same gentle, sensitive family man in It's A Wonderful Life and even his many Westerns as an endearing and humbling hero, in The Naked Spur he is a desperate bounty hunter; stubbled, snarling, raving from Civil War psychological battle scars.Whether that was intended for the benefit of his career, he does it convincingly, with the giant film-set backdrop of the Rockies and alongside Robert Ryan as his bounty and Janet Leigh (who looks quite out of place but as go-between, impromptu nurse and object of desire) this a psychological battle.
Janet Leigh, Ralph Meeker and Millard Mitchell provide solid support.Of all the Westerns James Stewart and Anthony Mann made together, this one probably holds together best.
In The Naked Spur, Stewart's character, Howard Kemp, is a bounty hunter who is tracking down a wanted murderer, deep in the Colorado Rockies and wilderness.
Howard has captured a man who is wanted for murder and has a reward set at $5,000.00 and he also has with him a very young gal named Lina Patch, (Janet Leigh) who won't leave him, Ben Vandergroat, (Robert Ryan).
As this group make their way through woods and mountains, they meet up with other men, like Roy Anderson, (Ralph Meeker) who was a soldier in the Civil War and has a dishonorable discharge from the Army and he wants to get in on this reward money for Ben Vandergroat.
A slight but thoughtful character study that focuses on bounty hunter Howard Kemp (Jimmy Stewart) as he attempts to bring in the wily Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan), with differing amounts of aid and setbacks from his two partners (a former Army officer (Ralph Meeker) and ineffective miner (Millard Mitchell)) and Vandergroat's "girl", Lina Patch (Janet Leigh).
Out of the five Stewart-Mann westerns, Winchester '73 is definitely the best, with Bend of the River, The Naked Spur, The Far Country, and of course, Man From Laramie coming up close behind.
As in The Pardoner's Tale, Mann's characters have problems sharing the wealth they have chanced upon, but in The Naked Spur, there is a psychological development that is considerably more complex than Chaucer's simple morality lesson that "money is the root of all evil".Stewart's character Howard Kemp is a man who has been morally wounded through betrayal (by a woman), and the film is about his redemption through forgiveness, a transformation brought about by the love of another woman.
James Stewart plays a bounty hunter Howard Kemp who's after a murderer named Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan).The reward of $5000 is waiting for him.He runs into an old gold miner Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell) and a discharged soldier Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker).They have to share the reward, naturally.The villain, Ben has a young woman, Lina Patch (Janet Leigh) with him, who's more of a tomboy.But pretty she is.Together they travel on trying to stay alive in the wild nature.The Naked Spur (1953) is the third collaboration of Anthony Mann and James Stewart.It's a really fine western.The actors are great, all five of them.It's pretty awesome to watch the westerners trying to survive on those Rocky Mountains under the blue sky.And then there are those Indians.Movies don't look anything like this today..
A bounty hunter (James Stewart) trying to bring a murderer (Robert Ryan) to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.This film is an odd one.
Tough, sweating with tension, and towering as tall as the breathtaking Colorado Rockies, The Naked Spur is simply one of the best Westerns (of the 1950s) ever made.Set in and around the old west town of Abilene, including its surrounding mountainous region - James Stewart plays Howie Kemp, a no-nonsense, self-styled bounty hunter who, along with his newly acquired partners, Roy and Jess, set out to track down and capture psychotic killer, Ben Vandergroat.Once Vandergroat has been successfully apprehended, he quickly stirs up tensions between his 3 captors, cleverly playing on their fears, and vanity, and their obvious greed for a bigger cut of the $5000 reward that's on his head.
Released in 1953 and directed by Anthony Mann, "The Naked Spur" is a Western starring James Stewart as an embittered rancher-turned-bounty-hunter named Kemp.
And Jimmy Stewart is of course excellent in an against-type role as the would-be hero who has too many masculine insecurities plaguing him to be truly heroic.I don't much like how the film ended and wish the filmmakers had found something better to do with Janet Leigh, but this was the early 1950s, so one can't be too surprised by the role she's given.Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom were nominated for the Best Story and Screenplay Academy Award, which they lost to Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, and Richard Breen for "Titanic." Grade: A.
Hard to imagine James Stewart playing a character that was anything less than perfect.Good support from Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan and Millard Mitchell.
Hired bounty hunter Howard Kemp (James Stewart) has tracked Ben Vandergroat, wanted for a murder in Abilene, Kansas, to the mountains of Colorado.
James Stewart in a classical psychological western of greed and ambition.As a bounty hunter, Stewart meets up with a released Army vet (Ralph Meeker) and an aging saddle tramp, the last role of Millard Mitchell, who died in the year this film came out.Robert Ryan is the usual villain here.
With an atmospheric score by Polish composer Bronislau Kaper (one of his few scores for a western) and stunningly photographed in colour by William Mellor on locations in the Colorado Rockies it was all stylishly directed by Mann.Stewart plays Howie Kemp a bounty hunter on the trail of wanted killer Ben Vandergroft (Robert Ryan) in the rough terrain of the Rockies.
From director Anthony Mann (Winchester '73), this western sees Howard Kemp (James Stewart) meet Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell), and then sheriff Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker).
James Stewart and Anthony Mann teamed up again to make The Naked Spur in 1953 and it's one of their very best films.It's also much more than just a western.Instead what we are treated to here is a psychological thriller headed by an intense performance by James Stewart,as a man who's mounting hysteria is never far from the surface and could erupt at any moment.Former rancher Howard Kemp(James Stewart)rides into the Rockie Mountains in search of sadistic killer Ben Vandergroat(Robert Ryan).Ben gunned down a Marshall and there is a five thousand dollar reward for his capture.An embittered Kemp is desperate for the cash so he can buy back his ranch(which his girl stole from him when he was away fighting in war).He teams up with an elderly prospector Jesse Tate(Millard Mitchell)who's one hope is to strike Gold somewhere in the wilderness.Jesse agrees to help Howard catch Ben.Along the way they fall in with army officer Roy Anderson(Ralph Meeker)who's on the run from Indians,after sleeping with a Chief's daughter.Tracking down Ben they all get a big surprise when they discover a young girl tagging along with him.Feisty Lina Patch(Janet Leigh)is the daughter of his best friend and Ben is the only person in the world she has.Things really start to get interesting when Ben senses Howards growing tender feelings for Lina and uses them to his own advantage.What he doesn't bank on however,is that Lina may harbour similar feelings for Howard.What's so great about the Naked Spur is that you never know who's a bad guy and who's good,that even applies to Howard as at times his desire to shoot Ben nearly gets the better of him and at times comes very close to becoming deranged with anger.We know nothing about these characters only what they themselves tell us and that adds to the nail biting tension which envelopes the film.Filmed entirely on location the danger of the wilderness adds even greater strain on Kemps tattered nerves as he tries to get them all through safely to collect the reward.Highlights include an attack by Indians,Jesse demise by a raging river and Howard and Lina's poignant talk during a rain storm.Beautiful photography and location work add greatly to the power of the film..
In "The Naked Spur" which is the 3rd of 8 films between Stewart and Mann, and in this movie Stewart plays a bounty hunter named Howard Kemp who is after an outlaw named Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) who is responsible for the murder of a US Marshal.
Summarizing, This western has enough action packed scenes, good acting by very famous actors such as James Stewart and Janet Leigh, beautiful scenery and classic Anthony Mann cinematography.
James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker, and Millard Mitchell - what an outstanding cast!The following are my favorite sequences from "The Naked Spur".
End of movie.You have a fine if short cast here-Stewart, Mitchell, Ryan, Meeker, Leigh.
Here in this film it is his emotional psych that is being troubled as he appears to be criminal in his actions.When Howard Kemp (James Stewart) approaches a secluded plateau in pursuit of a criminal he employs the aid of prospector Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell) and dishonorable soldier Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker) to help him capture accused killer Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) and bring him in to justice.
As the film starts it looks as if James Stewart is a Sheriff, named Howard Kemp, on the trail of murderer Ben Vandergroat; at least that is what he tells elderly prospector Jesse Tate.
Janet Leigh was good as the feisty Lina and Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker and Millard Mitchell weren't bad as the other three men.