The Naked Spur is a startling film, an adult western that pushes Jimmy Stewart's anti-hero to the brink of his own humanity. A morality play in some respects, the film sometimes feels like what "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" would be if the gold was a living, scheming, malevolent human being - Robert Ryan fulfills this role and drives the film with his devilish prodding of the "partners."
The film cranks up the desperation of its characters. They're all losers of some kind - Meeker's discharged soldier, the old prospector who's never struck gold, and most pitifully, Jimmy Stewart's emasculated Howie, who lost everything by trusting in love. Stewart constantly attempts to shed his decency and humanity, but in the end he can't - nor will Janet Leigh let him. At the film's shocking climax, it is she who pulls him back, just as he drags the body from the raging torrent. Stunning.
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