Film Stories From The Book:
Hollywood of the Rockies
By: Frederic B. Wildfang
The Naked Spur
1953 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — produced by William H. Wright — written by Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, directed by Anthony Mann, photography by William Mellor, music by Bronislau Kaper — starring James Stewart, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Ralph Meeker, and Millard Mitchell
Academy Award Nomination: Best Original Screenplay
“One of the best westerns ever made.” — Leonard Maltin, TV Movies and Video Guide
After having lost his ranch and his woman in Kansas, bounty hunter Howard Kemp (James Stewart) heads west to find a man wanted for murder (Robert Ryan) — so that he can collect the reward and buy the ranch back. Bringing in the wanted man, however, proves more difficult than finding him. Kemp’s efforts are successively frustrated by the wanted man’s beautiful girlfriend (Janet Leigh), a dishonorably discharged ex-soldier (Ralph Meeker), and a hapless old prospector (Millard Mitchell) — all motivated by their own selfish interests — making them all easy prey for the sinister manipulations of the wanted man. Ultimately, the capitulation of the girlfriend forces Kemp into a bout of agonizing self-examination — dramatically (and superbly) rendered by James Stewart.
Although Stewart and director Anthony Mann worked together in several 50’s film classics, The Naked Spur was considered to be one of their best — infusing all the traditional elements of the Western genre with a new psychological depth. Mann — who had just received a “Silver Spur” award for Winchester 73 (best outdoor film, as determined by fellow directors) — was known for making movies “concerned with the use of violence by thoughtful men” (Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s and Video Viewer’s Companion).
The Naked Spur was the fourteenth movie filmed in and around Durango in just five years — since the first movie Sand was filmed in Durango in 1948. As reported in the Durango Herald-Democrat in 1952, “Five of these have been technicolor pictures, each with a budget of over a million dollars.” “How did the movies get started coming here?” continues the Herald:
It was because of the enterprise... of one man — Bob Venuti, joint proprietor with Glenn Skewes of El Rancho Encantado, north of Durango on U.S. Highway 550, and associated with Skewes also as ‘Picture Location Contractors.’
When Bob was the owner of ‘Wilderness Trails’ dude ranch on the Vallecito six or seven years ago, they entertained as guests Darryl and Virginia Zanuck and their children. As a result of Bob’s eagerness about the surrounding country, the Zanuck’s saw a great deal of it and in the summer of 1948, Darryl sent a company here to the upper Animas valley to produce ‘Sand,’ the technicolor 20th-Century-Fox picture which started the stream of companies here for movie-making....
During the filming of The Naked Spur, a monument was dedicated in Durango — officially designating the San Juan basin as the “Hollywood of the Rockies.” In attendance during the ceremony were members of the MGM cast and crew, including director Anthony Mann, producer William H. Wright, and all the stars — Jimmy Stewart, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Ralph Meeker and Millard Mitchell — as well as Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh’s husband. Other visitors included the Governor of Colorado, Dan Thornton, who presided at the dedication ceremonies. Again, as reported in the Herald at the time of the event:
The distinguished visitors will be met at the City-County Airport...by six limousines, and the cavalcade will take them to the site of the movie location, where they will meet the stars and crew....
The event will have official ‘sanction’ since Star Jimmy Stewart will be welcoming the visitors as ‘Honorary Mayor of Durango.’
The party will have lunch on location, and after watching the production of ‘The Naked Spur’ on the mountain-site, they will be guests of the Bob Venutis at El Rancho Encantado, where they will enjoy cocktails and dinner with the cast, MGM officials and the crew.
Dedication of the monument at Fassbinder Park...will be the culmination of the day’s activities.
Governor Thornton, Janet Leigh and James Stewart actually unveiled the monument — intended to be the first of fourteen monuments, each representing one of the movies filmed in the Durango area during the preceding five years.
