First released in 1953, The Naked Spur is one of the most cynical and downbeat movies that I’ve ever seen.

It’s also one of the most visually beautiful.  Filmed in the Rockies and presented in glorious Technicolor, The Naked Spur is a western that is full of amazing scenery, from green forests to snow-capped mountains to a river that, under different circumstances, would probably be a wonderful place to just sit down and think for a spell.  Director Anthony Mann crafts an image of the American frontier that makes it easy to understand why anyone would want to explore it and build a new life there.  Mann contrasts the beauty of nature with the ugliness of the people who trample across it.

Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell) is a grizzled and somewhat sickly prospector who runs into a stranger named Howard Kemp (James Stewart).  Kemp is, at first, antagonistic and paranoid but soon, he offers to pay Tate $20 if Tate will help him track down an outlaw named Ben Vandergroat.  Vandergroat, wanted for the murder of a U.S. marshal, is believed to be hiding in the mountains.  In need of the money, Jesse agrees.  Soon, he and Kemp are joined by another wanderer, a recently discharged soldier named Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker).  From the minute that Roy shows up, it’s obvious that he’s not being totally honest about why he’s wandering around the Rockies.

As for Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan), he is indeed hiding in the mountains.  He’s accompanied by Lina Patrch (Janet Leigh), a naive young woman whose late father was one of Ben’s partners-in-crime.  Lina looks up to Ben as a father figure and refuses to believe that he could possibly be guilty of any of the things that he’s been accused of doing.  Ben, meanwhile, manipulates Lina into doing his bidding.

After being captured by Kemp, Jesse, and Roy, Ben proves himself to be far more clever than he initially seems.  After revealing that Kemp isn’t who Jesse assumed him to be, Ben works to try to turn the three men against each other.  There’s a reward on Ben’s head and, after Kemp reluctantly agrees to share the money with Jesse and Roy, Ben mentions that there will be a lot more money if its split two ways instead of three.  Soon, Ben has the three men distrusting each other even more than they already did.  However, Lina finds herself falling in love with Kemp.

The Naked Spur is a great film.  Featuring only five-speaking parts, it plays out like a particularly intense play and every single member of the cast does a great job of bringing the film’s characters to life.  Robert Ryan is coolly manipulative as the cocky Ben while Ralph Meeker is crudely menacing as the untrustworthy Roy Anderson.  Millard Mitchell is, at times, heart-breaking as the sickly prospector.  Janet Leigh reveals the strength underneath Lina’s naive persona.  Of course, the film is stolen by James Stewart, who is convincingly bitter and ultimately rather poignant as Howard Kemp.  Kemp feels like a continuation of the character that Stewart played in Broken Arrow.  He’s seen the worst that humanity has to offer.  Even in the beautiful Rockies, Stewart’s character cannot escape the ugliness that he’s witnessed firsthand.  Stewart’s performance as that haunted and angry Howard Kemp is one of his best.

The Naked Spur is an intelligent and well-acted western and one of eight movies that Stewart made with director Anthony Mann.  It’s psychological complexity, beautiful scenery, compelling script, and brilliant cast make it a true classic.