Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
2.5/4
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/10/2012
Another bracing western from the James Stewart/Anthony Mann stable sees Stewart as a rancher forging an uneasy alliance with an old prospector and an AWOL cavalry officer to bring outlaw Robert Ryan in dead or alive for the reward money. Stewart is one of the best when it comes to playing tough guys with a streak of vulnerability, and there's some great psychology at work; Stewart's crisis of conscience accentuated by Janet Leigh's divided loyalties and all the while, Ryan is constantly using mindgames to set the trio against each other. I could have lived without the schmaltzy soundtrack, but otherwise, quality stuff.
Rating of
1.5/4
dukeakasmudge - wrote on 08/12/2011
Worth watching just to see Jimmy Stewart play an almost bad guy but other then that it was just an Ok Western
Rating of
3.5/4
woody - wrote on 01/29/2011
The third of the five "psychological westerns" directed by Anthony Mann and starring Jimmy Stewart, The Naked Spur is an actor's fest. Jimmy Stewart does his usual great job of getting the viewer to sympathize and empathize with his struggles to prevail. Robert Ryan, the best movie villain of all time, gives even more points to Jimmy--because who the hell wouldn't root for anyone up against psycho badass Robert Ryan? Pretty young Janet Leigh is mixed up in all this rivalry, and she holds her own.
