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With: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy, Arthur Hunnicutt, Frank Faylen, Walter Coy, Carol Nugent, Maria Hart, Lorna Thayer, Burt Mustin, Karen King, Jimmy Dodd, Eleanor Todd, Riley Hill
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Written by: Horace McCoy, David Dortort, based on a story by Claude Stanush
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Directed by: Nicholas Ray
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 113
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Date: 10/24/1952
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Bronc Cheer
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Nicholas Ray's beautifully layered, black-and-white rodeo picture The Lusty Men actually centers on a powerful woman, Louise Merritt (Susan Hayward), the wife of Wes (Arthur Kennedy). Both slave away on a ranch for a tiny salary, hoping to save up for their own small place. When an aging rodeo star, Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum), passes through, broke and officially retired, Wes's eyes light up. Idolizing the older man, Wes agrees to be trained to rodeo, in exchange for half his winnings. Wes takes to the arena like a pro, almost naturally gifted. Jeff tries to teach him about the dangers of rodeoing, not to mention the allure of gambling away all of one's winnings, or being seduced by drinks and women. The hot-headed Wes, of course, easily falls under their spell, and begins to wonder why, in fact, he's giving half his money away? The rift between the two men brings Jeff closer to Louise, though this is no feel-good romance. Ray includes a great character, Booker (Arthur Hunnicutt), an old-timer like Jeff, who hobbles around on a leg that has so many wounds from bulls and horses and steers that it's barely human anymore; he's a physical manifestation of what can go wrong. The film achieves tension through a constant push-pull: the stardom, the success, and the money on one side, and the danger, and the fact that it's a life that leads nowhere, to being dead or alone, on the other.
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