The Naked Spur (1953) NTSC, All Region

The Naked Spur is an old western made in the 50s ,staring James Stewart,Robert Ryan and Janet Leigh.The story is of a man looking and finding a killer to take him back for reward with various ups and downs along the way.One of many westerns James Stewart made with Director Anthony Man.If you like westerns I highly recommend this one.It has an excellent Blu ray picture.

This is a great western, one of my favourites, but in the UK we get SD streaming (barely adequate) and no decent physical version. I give it four stars, and you should watch even the streaming version, but we expect better than this for such an important film.

There are more than one copy of The Naked Spur. This is a review of the Korean version, incorrectly printed TheNadke Spur.Never mind. The film has been refurbished and the colour is very good. The sound is crisp whilst the subtitles (if needed) are beautifully printed.This film was highly praised on release, its screenplay being nominated for an Oscar. It is the third of five successful westerns director Anthony Mann made with James Stuart and still ranks high in the pantheon of westerns. Mann’s love of gorgeous scenery is displayed here in the Colorado rockies, so the eye is rarely bored.I have problems first with James Stewart’s character. Although we are told fairly early on that he needs the reward money for capturing a killer (Robert Ryan, who spends most of the film with a cynical smile on his face) we are not told the reason for his pent-up fury. He spends the second half of the film with a bullet in his thigh and, despite a convenient night of fever when he blathers out his early love life, he manages to climb up a treacherous slope when tipped from his horse and, in the climax, scales a bare cliff face. At the very end his character is unconvincing but it’s the 1950s and Jimmy Stewart is popular.All the other characters at some time or other act oddly, not least Janet Leigh whose delightful short blonde hairdo remains always in place. Her deviations are too rapid to convince totally. An amusing, irrelevant point is that at the time it was the only western to have only five speaking parts.Despite all this, it just about keeps the attention, if only to spot moments that would be unlikely in real life.There is the usual political incorrectness concerning Native Americans and at one point the horses come out of things rather badly. I do hope the donkey was well fed and watered.

Warner Archives “The Naked Spur” Blu ray After enduring that soft-focus DVD for all these years, this is like watching the film in 70MM. Fab print! Fab transfer! A real top-draw offering from Warner Archives with stunning picture quality!I met Jimmy Stewart when he came to London for the Premier of “Dynamite man from glory Jail” AKA “Fool’s Parade”. A class act and true gentleman, ‘Naked Spur” is one of his best!

Good cast, great settings, James Stewart in his element!!

Poor quality sound sound not synchronised

Great cowboy film

The video quality is extremely poor--fuzzy, with faded colours. I stopped watching after 3 minutes. If I could figure out how to get a return on a rental, I would do it.