The Naked Spur is another cracking western teaming up director Anthony Mann with his frequent leading man Jimmy Stewart and serves yet another example of the storytelling economy of the classic Hollywood studio system. The film wastes nothing and everything on screen and in the dialogue in service of moving the plot forward and informing the characters, who we come to know and understand through their actions. The film immediately introduces Stewart as a bounty hunter on the hunt for a murderer. He cautiously rides up on an elderly prospector (Millard Mitchell, Singin' in the Rain ), thinking it may be his prey. Realizing he is not the target, Stewart is forced to explain his aggressive actions, and reluctantly agrees to pay the man to help him find his bounty. Now there are two. A few minutes later, a discharged Union soldier (Ralph Meeker, The Dirty Dozen ) crosses their path and wants to know what they're doing. After an uncomfortable confrontation, Meeker follows the men,...
