The Naked Spur (1953)

My first western viewing in half a year seems to have one of the most generic titles, but I assure you that the spur does serve an unusually important purpose eventually. I'll spare you that spoiler, even if it's hardly the biggest surprise.

For me, the biggest surprise (but not really a spoiler) came about 15 minutes in, as the Netflix description didn't do the plot much justice. We're told that Howard (James Stewart), on a long manhunt for Ben (Robert Ryan), meets and receives help from old prospector Jesse (Millard Mitchell) and Yankee ex-soldier Roy (Ralph Meeker). What Netflix omits is how quickly they round up Ben, accompanied by his not-girlfriend Lina (Janet Leigh). The rest of the movie is about their journey from Colorado toward Kansas to collect a reward. Ben has his hands tied, but he's not gagged and knows well how to sow discord among the party while hatching a plan with Lina. No wonder he frequently wears a charismatic little smile.

Those five and their mounts are the only on-screen characters for almost the whole story. The exception is one scene with a Blackfeet war party. I'm happy to say that whatever its level of accuracy, it neither caricatures nor vilifies the tribe. They have an armed conflict with the main group, sure, but the "heroes" aren't very heroic.

When I saw that Ben wore a black hat while Howard wore a white one, I thought, "Don't tell me they're playing the cliche straight." Well, like in most great westerns, they're not. As Ben reveals, Howard is dishonest and greedy -- not much if any better than he is. Roy actually admits his biggest faults without prompting: that he was dishonorably discharged as an indiscreet ladies' man. Even the relatively gentle Jesse proves disloyal under the right conditions.

The five main actors are rather fun in their roles herein. Perhaps the most complicated character is Lina, who has trouble explaining why she keeps doing nice things for mean men. She comes to bring out hidden depths in Howard as well. Boy, when's the last time I saw a man cry in a western?

If I have one complaint, it's that the ending does too neat a job of resolving issues, sometimes taking interesting moral tests out of the equation. But I don't blame the writers for taking that route. It keeps the film down to a pleasant 91 minutes. Maybe I'll check out more from director Anthony Mann after all.