Naked Spur (1952)

"Wonderfully intense psychological Western...  Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Editor's Note James Stewart stars as a bounty hunter tracking down a vicious outlaw and his beautiful companion. During the pursuit, Stewart picks up two traveling mercenaries who join him in his quest. Academy Award Nominations: Best Story and Screenplay.

	James Stewart
	Janet Leigh
	Ralph Meeker
	Robert Ryan
	Anthony Mann - Director
	Bronislau Kaper - Original Music By
	George White - Editor
	Sam Rolfe, et. al. - Writer
	William C. Mellor - Cinematographer
	William H. Wright - Producer

After being duped by his faithless wife, Howard Kemp, a Civil War veteran and former rancher, accepts work as a bounty hunter. | His assignment: bring back a ferret-eyed outlaw from the Colorado Rockies and collect $5,000. Just enough money, Kemp figures, to invest in another ranch. Two rather shifty men, a disgraced cavalryman and a piggish guide, are ordered to assist Kemp.| The hunters find their prey, Ben Vandergroat, with ease. They tie him up and head back. But the outlaw has criminal savvy to spare. Through a series of mind games that play on each man's greed, Vandergroat pits the bounty hunters against one another.| Now, for Kemp, staying alive takes precedence over starting a new life! Film Comment
"[A] vividly physical experience, in which the California and Colorado mountain locations are just as forcefully present and alive as the thick-skinned yet surprisingly vulnerable characters." 08/01/2006 p.76

filmsgraded.com 8 of 10
...if The Naked Spur lacks some of the power of Winchester '57 and Bend of the River, it still packs a punch. Who can forget the sight of a wounded Stewart struggling to get onto his horse, or digging through a cave's rubble to reclaim wily Ryan? And Ryan makes a fine villain, his seemingly truthful assertions skilfully designed to sow discord among his captors. - Brian Koller

Movie Guide 9 of 10
One of the best Westerns ever made: a tough, hard little film about self-styled bounty hunter Stewart trying to capture Ryan, who stirs tension among Stewart's newly acquired "partners." Strikingly directed and photographed. - Leonard Maltin