The Naked Spur

Bounty hunter Howard Kemp (James Stewart) is hunting the wanted murderer Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan). When he finally tracks down Vandergroat, he is forced to hire two partners, gold prospector Jesse Tate and dishonourably discharged Union soldier Roy Anderson. Vandergroat and his companion, the beautiful Lina Patch (Janet Leigh) are caught by the trio and the outlaw takes every opportunity to create doubt between the men and try for an escape. Along the way, it turns out there is a $5000 bounty on Vandergroat’s head and soon greed raises its ugly head.

THE NAKED SPUR was the third collaboration between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart, after WINCHESTER ’73 and BEND OF THE RIVER, and five more would follow. The westerns Mann and Stewart made together are known for their character development, which wasn’t often the case in that period in a genre full of tropes. According to western director Anthony Mann the shoot of THE NAKED SPUR gave him a lot of fulfilment, because he could finally show the true beauty – and the stunning nature – of the American west: “I never understood why almost all westerns are shot in desert landscapes! John Ford, for example, adores Monument Valley, but I know Monument Valley very well and it’s not the whole West. In fact, the desert represents only one part of the American West. I wanted to show the mountains, the waterfalls, the forested areas, the snowy summits – in short to rediscover the whole Daniel Boone atmosphere: the characters emerge more fully from such an environment.”