The Naked Spur (1953)

Howard Kemp (James Stewart) is chasing a wanted criminal, Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan). In exchange for 20 bucks, he gets a little help from a luckless prospector (Millard Mitchell) who met someone further back in the mountains, and a discharged soldier (Ralph Meeker), who scales a cliff to ambush Ben. At which time two things become apparent.

One, Ben has himself a lady accomplice (Vivian Leigh). Two, contrary to the prospector's understanding, Kemp is no dedicated lawman, tracking an outlaw from Kansas into the Rockies. He's a bounty hunter, because the reward on Ben is $5,000. Suddenly, 20 bucks doesn't seem good enough for the prospector, and the soldier, well, he did the actual capturing (and was dishonorably discharged, among other problems), so he might as well tag along.

Those five are basically the cast, so the movie is the tension and shifting loyalties. Stewart, Meeker and Mitchell are only united by the possibility of the reward, but Stewart has a specific purpose in mind for the reward that doesn't involve sharing. Mitchell can't quite abandon the notion of a gold strike. Meeker is unstable, and has eyes for Leigh.

Ryan, as the prize, is the focal point, but plays it so he's off to the side, a devil pulling strings from the shadows. He doesn't brim with rage the way he does in so many other roles; instead Ben is someone who shifts from charming to vicious in the blink of an eye, a knack for watching for weak points in people to manipulate. He keeps dropping hints around Mitchell about a friend who found a rich gold vein, usually right after they've encountered some sort of roadblock or hazard. You know, when the notion of a long trip to a sheriff's office to collect part of the reward doesn't sound so appealing versus going back to panning gold. When he senses Leigh is getting close to Stewart, he tells her to act as a distraction to cover his escape. When she balks, he offers an alternative, that he could always just wait until Stewart falls asleep on watch and cave his head in with a rock. She agrees to play distraction.

Stewart brings an intensity that borders on crazed at times, like he wants to catch Ben so badly it makes him shake. The reason given for why Kemp wants the money doesn't really match that intensity, but it works alright in the scenes between Stewart and Leigh, where she's looking to her future, whatever it might be, while he's fixated on the past.