The Lusty Men, from 1952, is a mild western drama directed by Nicholas Ray, and starring Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, and Arthur Kennedy. By my own admission, I have little tolerance for Westerns...in fact, I recently turned off The Wild Bunch, which stars two of my top three guys---William Holden and Robert Ryan---after watching for only an hour. I just don't really enjoy Westerns; however, I keep forcing myself to try them since several of my "loves" have alot of that genre in their filmography. Hopefully, one day I will acquire a taste for Westerns. At any rate, I would classify The Lusty Men as extremely mild in the Western department; really, it's more of a rodeo cowboy drama.
After an injury sidetracks his career, rodeo cowboy Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) ventures back to his Texas hometown, where he meets Louise and Wes Merritt (Susan Hayward and Arthur Kennedy), who live and work on one of the local ranches. Wanting a spread of their own, Wes and Louise have been saving their pennies for two years, but they are still a long way from buying the ranch they have their heart set on. So, hoping to come into some quick and easy money, Wes convinces Jeff to teach him to ride rodeo.
Louise, totally against Wes's desire to take up rodeo, is furious with Jeff for agreeing to help him, and she becomes even more furious when, not long afterwards, Wes quits his ranch job and goes on tour with the rodeo. Although she tries to get Jeff to see that riding rodeo is not a stable profession, all Wes can see is the big money he could possibly make. Telling Louise that he will only rodeo until he has made enough money for the ranch they want, and promising Jeff half of his earnings as pay for the instruction he gave, Wes jumps into the wild world of the rodeo circuit.
As Wes becomes more successful, he is blinded by the money he is making. He no longer wants to buy a ranch, and he no longer wants to keep giving "handouts" to broken down old cowboy Jeff. As Wes and Louise's marriage begins to crumble, Jeff, in love with Louise and wanting to prove his own worth, signs on for a rodeo ride he is not at all trained to make.
I actually enjoyed this film. No, it wasn't spectacular, but it was interesting and entertaining. Plus, it stars the fabulous Susan Hayward---she is the reason I wanted to watch this film in the first place. She's my #2 gal, and I have never seen her give a bad performance. I think Hayward, Mitchum, Kennedy, or rodeo fans will enjoy this movie. I don't think it's out on DVD, but I know TCM airs it quite often.
Happy viewing!!
