|
The Naked Spur (1953)
In Anthony Mann's beautifully-filmed, stylistic, and
moralistic 'adult' western - the third of James Stewart's five
western collaborations with director Mann (also Winchester ’73
(1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Far Country (1954) and The
Man From Laramie (1955)) - the Technicolored, vengeful bounty-hunter
tale had only five acting-speaking roles:
- in 1868, the vengeful, tormented and embittered
bounty hunter Howard Kemp (James Stewart) was in pursuit of Ben
Vandergroat (Robert Ryan), a cunning, wanted
murderer in the Colorado Rockies, for the $5,000 reward money; Kemp's
intent was to bring him back to Abilene, Kansas on his own for
the advertised bounty; Vandergroat
had murdered a marshal in Abilene, Kansas
- in Kemp's past, before leaving to serve in the Civil
War, he had signed over his cattle ranch to his faithless fiancee-sweetheart
(referred to as "Mary"), but then when he returned, he learned
she had sold his land and run off with another man; Kemp's intention
was to use the bounty reward to repurchase
the land and settle down there
- during the film, there was intriguing interplay
between the principals (including Kemp), all vying for the same bounty
money, including Kemp's two untrustworthy sidekicks (Jesse
and Roy); when they learned that Kemp was a bounty hunter, they
demanded to split the reward three ways with him:
- Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell), a grizzled old
prospector from Kansas, actually a horse-trading thief
- Lt. Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker) - a dishonorably
discharged, amoral, playboyish and disreputable Union Army officer
[Note: it was revealed later that Anderson was being pursued by a Blackfoot
Indian war party for defiling one of the chief's daughters.]
Bounty Hunter Howard Kemp (James Stewart)
|
(l to r): Jesse Tate, Vandergroat, Lina, and Lt. Roy Anderson
|
Jesse Tate (Millard Mitchell)
|
Lt. Roy Anderson (Ralph Meeker)
|
- Kemp captured Vandergroat' who
had a 'traveling companion' with him - blonde,
short-haired, tomboyish Lina Patch (Janet
Leigh)
[Note: Vandergroat was serving as Lina's guardian - she
was the daughter of one of Ben's deceased friends, Frank Patch,
who was killed while robbing the bank in Abilene.]
- a love triangle developed between
Kemp, Vandergroat, and Lina
- scoundrel Vandergroat used persuasive tactics of
psychological warfare (greed, discord, suspicion, mistrust, and jealousy)
to create conflict among his three captors, including two failed
escape attempts: (1) Lina distracted Kemp so that Vandergroat could
escape one night from the back of a cave, and (2) Vandergroat also
unbuckled Kemp's saddle-strap so that he might topple the bounty-hunter
off a steep ridge
- a violent Blackfoot native Indian
attack from twelve riders ended up in a massacre (only Kemp
was wounded in the leg)
- one tactic that Vandergroat used successfully was
to convince Jesse to desert the group at
night to visit a nearby goldmine
- the exciting climax came at a roaring and raging
riverside after Vandergroat had ruthlessly killed Jesse; Vandergroat
positioned himself high up on a rock face, poised as a sniper with
a rifle to also ambush Kemp and Anderson; as he fired at Kemp, Lina
pushed Vandergroat's rifle up, preventing him from firing accurately,
but she was knocked out
- Kemp climbed the face of the rocky cliff behind Vandergroat
and flung his "naked spur" (used to scale the cliff-face
as a axe/piton) into his lower cheek or neck - after which he reeled
around and Anderson shot him from a distance and finished him off;
Vandergroat's corpse fell into the roaring river below; Anderson
was able to string a line across the rough water so he could retrieve
the body and claim the reward; however, while swimming
in the rapidly-flowing river, Roy Anderson was lethally struck by
a gigantic log stump, drowned and was carried downstream
- Kemp hauled Vandergroat's body back to
the shore with a lasso rope, and became insanely single-minded and
heartless - determined to claim the reward all for himself as he
strapped the corpse on his horse: "I'm takin' him back. This
is what I came after and now I've got him. No partners, like I started.
He's gonna pay for my land...They're dead!
Finished!...The money - That's all I care about. That's all I've
ever cared about"; Lina insistently pleaded for him
to leave the ordeal behind - she cautioned against buying his farm
back with blood money
- as they argued, Lina made a startling request - to
ride with him and marry him: "All
right, if that's the way you want it, I'll ride with you. I'll ride
with you all the way....I'll marry you. I'll go with you. I'll even
live on that land with you. What else do you want from me?"
|
|
Gripping Lina's Arms
|
Kemp: "Why? Tell me why?"
|
- Kemp didn't know how to respond to her forward proposition,
and continued to insist on collecting the bounty: "Why? Tell
me why. I'm takin' him back, I swear it. I'm gonna sell him for money";
he gripped Lina's arms - and after turning around, he paused and
then decided - in an abrupt turn-about during a complete breakdown
- to give up his potential blood-money bounty; her love had absolved
him of his deep and obsessive hatred; he removed Vandergroat's body
from his saddle and began to dig a burial plot in the ground as he
asked: "You still want to try California?"; she answered: "If you
want" - and he consented: "That's it, then"
- after she brewed up some coffee, they would soon be
riding off together to start a new life in California
[Note: Earlier in the film, Lina had told Kemp about
her wishes to move to California - and the reasons why: "Someplace
new. Nobody caring who you are or where you come from. A place you
could belong to. A house. Maybe even neighbors"
|
The Capture of Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) with 'Traveling Companion'
Lina Patch (Janet Leigh)
Vandergroat - Wanted Criminal For Murder - With a $5,000 Bounty Reward
Kemp Hauling In Vandergroat's Body: "I'm takin' him back!"
Lina's Protesting Response: "Ben's not dead if you take him back! He'll never
be dead for you!"
Kemp Throwing Vandergroat's Corpse Onto His Horse's Saddle
Kemp's Abrupt Turn-About Decision: To
Bury Vandergroat's Body and Move to California with Lina
|