Nude spur

Prospector Jesse Tate ( Millard Mitchell ) is not happy about an unexpected meeting in the mountains

Ben Vanderroth ( Robert Ryan ), whose head is valued at $ 5,000, and his companion Lina Pach ( Janet Lee )

Former Lieutenant Federal Roy Anderson ( Ralph Meeker ) habitually holding a Winchester

1868 year. Former Civil War farmer and veteran Howard Kemp ( James Stewart ) from Kansas , who has become a bounty hunter by chance, sets off in search of Ben Vandergroth ( Robert Ryan ), wanted for the murder of a marshal in Abilene (Kansas) and for whom a reward of 5,000 is promised dollars . With this money, Kemp wants to buy back his ranch , which he lost through the fault of his ex-bride, who fled with her new lover while Kemp was in the army.

In the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, he meets old gold digger Jesse Tate ( Millard Mitchell ), who saw the tracks, and offers him twenty dollars if he helps him find the fugitive. On the shots of Vandergoth, who set up an ambush, a stranger suddenly appears in the form of a lieutenant of the federal troops. Having taken them for hunters for the Indians , he introduces himself as Lieutenant Roy Anderson ( Ralph Meeker ) and shows his documents, which indicate that he was dismissed from the army for dishonest misconduct. Anderoson offers his help, and they all together soon manage to go out to Ben Vandergroth, grab him and his companion Lina Pach ( Janet Lee ). She turns out to be the daughter of his friend, Frank Patch, who was shot dead while trying to rob a bank in Abilene .

The affiliated Tate and Anderson, who had previously mistaken Kemp for the sheriff and were unaware of his true role, learn from Vanderroth about $ 5,000 in rewards for his head and insist on their share of the reward. Despite the fact that the reward for the caught killer now has to be divided, Kemp has no choice but to agree.

On the long way back to Abilene, Vanderroth, not abandoning the thought of escaping, tries to play on the contradictions between the bounty hunters, using their self-interest and trying to push them together. After the Anderson-provoked Indian attack , Kemp is injured in the leg and forced to stop the detachment for a halt. Lina takes care of the wounded Howard, and gradually a feeling arises between them.

The journey continues one night, prospector Tate, seduced by the story of Ben Vandergroth about the whereabouts of the gold mine known only to him, decides to free his hands and go with him and his companion on the road. After Ben calmly deals with the unnecessary old Jesse, Lina finally turns away from Ben.

Vandergroth again ambushes on a high cliff to crack down on Kemp and Anderson. Climbing a steep cliff, Kemp clings to protrusions and cracks like a hook using his massive cowboy spur with an asterisk. When he reached the top, he unexpectedly stabs Ben in the face with a spur before he manages to pull the trigger . Shot by Anderson, Vanderroth falls into a stormy mountain river and gets entangled in the roots of trees. When trying to get the dead Ben out of the river, Roy himself dies. With all his strength, Kemp pulls the rope with Ben's body and swears in fury that he will bring him back to return his land. Having clipped Ben's body to the saddle , he is about to hit the road. Lina begs Kemp to refuse this bloody money, telling him that she is ready to go with him, marry him and live with him on the ranch . Howard disgustedly understands how far he has gone and that Lina has become more valuable to him than the expected reward. After burying Ben, Howard and Lina decide to go to California , saying goodbye to their past forever.

• James Stewart - Howard Kemp
• Janet Lee - Lina Pach
• Robert Ryan - Ben Vanderroth
• Millard Mitchell - Jesse Tate
• Ralph Meeker - Roy Anderson

• The film premiered on February 6, 1953 in Denver (Colorado) , USA .
• The film was shot north of Durango ( Colorado ).
• The script for Naked Spur was later adapted by Alan Ullman as a novel (New York, Random House, 1953). According to the New York Times , Ullman considered the reward of $ 5,000 per head of Ben Vandergroth prohibitive. His own research showed that the maximum amount that was paid for the killer’s head in 1868 was about $ 800.

In the 1950s, the beginning of the “new western” era and the heyday of this genre in American cinema, Anthony Mann established himself, primarily thanks to his films starring James Stewart , as a significant representative of the directors of this direction, who emphasized a thorough characterization their heroes and showing various psychological aspects of the era of the so-called Wild West . The main pathos of the Westerns of this time is the hope for a change for the better, for the onset of new times. From 1950 to 1955 James Stewart starred in eight films by Anthony Mann , but the most memorable and best was the series of five innovative classic westerns of the director , united by the main character, whom his past never releases and holds firmly and whose presence in the frame speaks more than the words he uttered .

Filmed at the very beginning in 1950, the painting “ Winchester '73 ” and in 1952 “The Bend of the River ”, followed by “The Naked Spur” (1953) ( Oscar nomination for the original script), “ Distant Land ” (1954) and “The Man from Laramie ” (1955) gave the genre a new impetus and influenced the appearance of famous Westerns from the 1960s and 1970s in American cinema. ^[one]

In his films, Anthony Mann managed to expand the Western genre in a new direction towards the study of psychology , the dark sides of the heroes' personality, and sometimes the tough opposition of their characters, using for this purpose both dramatic nature and open landscapes , while bringing sensuality to the western another director. ^[2] Earth and sky, water and the expanses of forests and mountains, determine the lives of heroes, and in these conditions only one survives who is able to interpret their signs. ^[3]

In addition, in the films “ Winchester '73 ” (1950) and “Naked Spur” (1953), Anthony Mann , being essentially a tragic director of the genre, brings his protagonist , embodied by James Stewart , a Civil War veteran who is constantly encouraged to choose between violence and morality , even to the point of real hysteria . After the recently ended World War II, this was in full measure a reflection of all its horrors. ^[3]

James Stewart has made more films with Anthony Mann than with any other director and, although these films are rarely mentioned along with creative couples such as Stanley Donen and Audrey Hepburn , John Ford and John Wayne , their collaboration is one of the most successful. in the history of cinema. ^[four]

• Oscar Award for Best Original Screenplay (1954): - nomination
• In 1997, the Library of Congress added the movie “ Naked Spur ” (1953) to the US National Film Register as “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” (Ref. 34).

• Jonathan Rosenbaum (USA): “James Stewart, together with Robert Ryan, plays an uncharacteristic role for himself obsessed with the idea of ​​rewarding the disgusting bounty hunter in one of the truly best Westerns Anthony Mann ...” ^[five]
• The New York Times : “Due to the fact that Western is the main type of cinema art that too often acts as a commonplace for interpreting standard situations and dialogues, it’s nice to note that“ Naked Spur “... <> ... this is impossible more unexpectedly tough and emotionally tense picture. " ^[6]
• Weekly Variety (USA): “This intense tense, with non-pavilion shootings melodrama is addressed to all Western fans who love a plot full of drama and harsh truth without any embellishment.” ^[7]
• According to the famous American film critic and film historian Leonard Maltin , Naked Spur is "... one of the best Westerns ever made." ^[eight]
• The French movie portal Cinemagora , which analyzes the opinions of French and international critics, ranked western as one of the best films of 1953. ^[9]
• The German “Lexicon of International Films” , an appendix to the authoritative film magazine “ Film-Dienst ” , published since 1947 in Cologne: “If you take into account the level of our relations then, this is a tough western that can be classified as medium-sized films, despite the consistent, psychologically reliable development of the plot and the brilliant cast ”. ^[ten]
• Famous German critic and film expert Thomas Jeeer about the film: “... as for the characterization of his heroes, this is definitely one of the most significant Westerns of the post-war period.” ^[11]

• Naked Spur on the Internet Movie Database  
• Naked spur on allmovie  
• Naked Spur at TCM Turner Classic Movies