A Bit Let Down by the High Ratings

I'm a huge Jimmy Stewart fan and enjoyed this movie. His character had nuances that were well served by this talented actor. However, I don't feel the film really rose above many of the other westerns of this period and its especially not in the class of High Noon or Rio Bravo.

Jimmy Stewart is Howard, a bounty hunter looking to bring in the murderous Ben, played by Robert Ryan. Janet Leigh is Ben's girlfriend, Lina. Along the way, Howard meets up with Jesse, an old prospector, played by Millard Mitchell and Roy, an ex-army man played by Ralph Meeker. The three men join forces to bring Ben to justice and get the reward. Along the way, Ben starts using psychological games to turn the men against each other. In this respect, the movie is top notch, but they go away from it in order to have more action sequences like an Indian battle and a river crossing.

Howard has a tormented soul over losing his ranch during the war and Ben is his ticket to getting it back. However, the rest of the casts motivations just seem about money (ho hum). Eventually it leads them to turn on each other, but this was handled better in Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Lina's and Howard's transformations seemed contrived to me.

Howard finally gets his man and then decides to just bury him rather than take him back, so he can go to California with Lina. There was not enough plot development of their romance to even begin to believe Howard would do this. Likewise, Lina was all gung ho about helping Ben kill the others or at least helping him get away and then suddenly has a makeout session with Howard and decides to run away with him instead. Just didn't seem all that believable to me.

Naked Spur has some gorgeous scenery and the plot is linear enough not to meander and lose its way. At a taut 91 minutes, it moves along nicely. Worth a look but everyone has done better work elsewhere.

My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.