The Naked Spur
Encyclopedia
The Naked Spur is a 1953
American
western movie
directed by Anthony Mann
and starring James Stewart
in their third collaboration. The screenplay was written by Sam Rolfe
and Harold Jack Bloom
, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay - a rare honor for a Western. The original music score was composed by Bronislau Kaper and the cinematography was by William C. Mellor
.
The film was shot just north of Durango, Colorado
. Engineer Mountain can be seen in several shots.
) 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 twenty dollars to help. Tate assumes that Kemp is a sheriff and Kemp does nothing to disillusion him.
After trapping someone on top of a rocky hill, Kemp is convinced it must be the wanted man. Rockslides force a retreat. Looking for a way around the hill, Kemp and Tate meet up with 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."
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 the fact that Kemp is not a lawman and reveals that the amount of the reward on his head is $5000.00, dead or alive. Tate and Anderson want their share and 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, hides, and ambushes the leader of the Blackfeet when Kemp and the band of Indians are about to 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 since 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 face. 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 spur
s 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 floating 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.
in 1868. Fort Ellis
was actually under the command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
and Harold Jack Bloom
were nominated for the 1953 Best Screenplay Academy Award
. In the years since its release, the film has achieved continued success, gaining more critical acclaim now than upon first release. In 1997, The Naked Spur was added to the United States National Film Registry
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Although the film generally receives credit for teaming James Stewart with Anthony Mann for several films, Robert Ryan also teamed with Mann in The Naked Spur, Men In War, and God's Little Acre. Leonard Maltin
has lauded The Naked Spur as "one of the best westerns ever made."
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
western movie
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
directed by Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
and starring James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
in their third collaboration. The screenplay was written by Sam Rolfe
Sam Rolfe
Samuel Harris Rolfe was an American screenwriter best known for his work on 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Eleventh Hour, both on NBC.-Background:Rolfe was born in New York...
and Harold Jack Bloom
Harold Jack Bloom
Harold Jack Bloom was a television producer and screenwriter who scored a notable hit with his first major screenplay to the classic Anthony Mann Western The Naked Spur in 1953, earning an Oscar nomination in the process....
, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay - a rare honor for a Western. The original music score was composed by Bronislau Kaper and the cinematography was by William C. Mellor
William C. Mellor
William C. Mellor, A.S.C. was a cinematographer who worked at Paramount, MGM and 20th Century Fox during a career that spanned three decades....
.
The film was shot just north of Durango, Colorado
Durango, Colorado
The City of Durango is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau said that the city population was 16,887 in 2010 census.-History:...
. Engineer Mountain can be seen in several shots.
Plot
In March 1868, Howard Kemp (James StewartJames Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
) is tracking Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
), who is wanted for the murder of the marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
in Abilene, Kansas
Abilene, Kansas
Abilene is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,844.-History:...
.
On the western slope of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
in Southwestern Colorado
Southwestern Colorado
Southwestern Colorado is a region in the southwest portion of Colorado. It is bordered by Western Colorado, Southern Colorado, the south portion of Central Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.-Counties:*Alamosa County*Archuleta County*Conejos County*Dolores County...
, Kemp meets a grizzled old prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
, Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell
Millard Mitchell
Millard Mitchell was an American character actor whose credits include roughly thirty feature films and two television appearances....
), and offers him twenty dollars to help. Tate assumes that Kemp is a sheriff and Kemp does nothing to disillusion him.
After trapping someone on top of a rocky hill, Kemp is convinced it must be the wanted man. Rockslides force a retreat. Looking for a way around the hill, Kemp and Tate meet up with a Union soldier, Lieutenant Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...
). He has been discharged from the 6th Cavalry at Fort Ellis
Fort Ellis
Fort Ellis was an early United States Army outpost established August 27, 1867 to the eastern side of present-day Bozeman, Montana. The fort was established to protect and support settlers moving into the Gallatin Valley. The post was named for Civil War Colonel Augustus van Horne Ellis who was...
in Bozeman
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
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."
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
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
), the daughter of Vandergroat's friend, Frank Patch, who was shot dead trying to rob a bank in Abilene.
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
Blackfeet
The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...
, 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, hides, and ambushes the leader of the Blackfeet when Kemp and the band of Indians are about to talk.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, 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
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 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 since 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.
Kemp and Anderson discover Tate's body where Vandergroat has positioned it for an ambush from the high cliff face. 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 spur
Spur
A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids and to back up the natural aids . The spur is used in every equestrian discipline...
s 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
Piton
In climbing, a piton is a metal spike that is driven into a crack or seam in the rock with a hammer, and which acts as an anchor to protect the climber against the consequences of a fall, or to assist progress in aid climbing...
.
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 floating 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.
Historical inaccuracies
The 6th Cavalry Regiment was stationed in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1868. Fort Ellis
Fort Ellis
Fort Ellis was an early United States Army outpost established August 27, 1867 to the eastern side of present-day Bozeman, Montana. The fort was established to protect and support settlers moving into the Gallatin Valley. The post was named for Civil War Colonel Augustus van Horne Ellis who was...
was actually under the command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
Cast
- James StewartJames Stewart (actor)James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
as Howard Kemp - Janet LeighJanet LeighJanet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
as Lina Patch - Robert RyanRobert RyanRobert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
as Ben Vandergroat - Ralph MeekerRalph MeekerRalph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...
as Roy Anderson - Millard MitchellMillard MitchellMillard Mitchell was an American character actor whose credits include roughly thirty feature films and two television appearances....
as Jesse Tate
Reception
The film was a box office hit when first released, ensuring three more Stewart-Mann collaborations, including two more westerns. Screenwriters Sam RolfeSam Rolfe
Samuel Harris Rolfe was an American screenwriter best known for his work on 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Eleventh Hour, both on NBC.-Background:Rolfe was born in New York...
and Harold Jack Bloom
Harold Jack Bloom
Harold Jack Bloom was a television producer and screenwriter who scored a notable hit with his first major screenplay to the classic Anthony Mann Western The Naked Spur in 1953, earning an Oscar nomination in the process....
were nominated for the 1953 Best Screenplay Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. In the years since its release, the film has achieved continued success, gaining more critical acclaim now than upon first release. In 1997, The Naked Spur was added to the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Although the film generally receives credit for teaming James Stewart with Anthony Mann for several films, Robert Ryan also teamed with Mann in The Naked Spur, Men In War, and God's Little Acre. Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
has lauded The Naked Spur as "one of the best westerns ever made."
James Stewart and Anthony Mann
James Stewart starred in five classic western movies directed by Anthony Mann. In all five, he plays a man who is haunted by the past. The films are famous for their groundbreaking use of the landscape to portray the characters' feelings.- Winchester '73 (1950)
- Bend of the RiverBend of the RiverBend of the River is a 1952 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their second collaboration. The film is based on the novel Bend of the Snake by Bill Gulick.-Plot:...
(1952) - The Naked Spur (1953)
- The Far CountryThe Far CountryThe Far Country is a 1954 American western movie directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their fourth western collaboration...
(1954) - The Man from LaramieThe Man from LaramieThe Man from Laramie is an American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in the fifth and final of their Western collaborations, and their seventh collaboration overall. It was adapted from a story of the same title by Thomas T...
(1955)