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The Lusty Men

"A Fast Buck... A Fast Bronc... A Fast Thrill!"

Retired rodeo champion Jeff McCloud agrees to mentor novice rodeo contestant Wes Merritt against the wishes of Merritt's wife who fears the dangers of this rough sport.

Top Cast

  • Susan Hayward

    Susan Hayward

    Louise Merritt

  • Robert Mitchum

    Robert Mitchum

    Jeff McCloud

  • Arthur Kennedy

    Arthur Kennedy

    Wes Merritt

  • Arthur Hunnicutt

    Arthur Hunnicutt

    Booker Davis

  • Frank Faylen

    Frank Faylen

    Al Dawson

  • Walter Coy

    Walter Coy

    Buster Burgess

  • Carol Nugent

    Carol Nugent

    Rusty Davis

  • Maria Hart

    Maria Hart

    Rosemary Maddox

  • Lorna Thayer

    Lorna Thayer

    Grace Burgess

Overview

Retired rodeo champion Jeff McCloud agrees to mentor novice rodeo contestant Wes Merritt against the wishes of Merritt's wife who fears the dangers of this rough sport.

Rating

6.7 / 10
95 Reviews
1 Popular

1 Reviews

  • John Chard
    John Chard
    8 Jul 11, 2020

    There never was a bronc that couldn't be rode, there never a cowboy that couldn't be throwed. Guys like me last forever. The Lusty Men is directed by Nicholas Ray and co-written by Horace McCoy and David Dortort from a suggested story by Claude Stanush. It stars Robert Mitchum, Susan Hayward, Arthur Kennedy, Arthur Hunnicutt, Frank Faylen and Carol Nugent. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Lee Garmes. Retired rodeo champion Jeff McCloud (Mitchum) agrees to mentor novice rodeo contestant Wes Merritt (Kennedy) against the wishes of Merritt's wife, Louise (Hayward), who fears the dangers of this rough sport. All that and affairs of the heart start to become just as rough. Nicholas Ray picks up a love triangle core and sets it to the backdrop of the ferocious world of Rodeo. Pic is in turn touching and realistic, bringing strong human drama and splicing it with real life rodeo action - with the bull sequences quite something to behold. Ace cinematographer Garmes ("Shanghai Express/Nightmare Alley") photographs the rodeo sequences with a beauty that still manages to exude the harsh hum-drum life of the main protagonists out on the circuit. In reality we are following three characters on the road to destiny, actually lyrically so, this is no soap opera tale infused with action sequences. In fact location filming went out on the road to film real Rodeos (with genuine Rodeo stars strutting their stuff). This is three characters in search of an exit, a meaning in life, but naturally harsh lessons are to be learned before the day of reckoning can come. Super perfs, direction and photography, if it wasn't for the irritatingly repetitious use of the same music each time a "contestant" leapt out the stalls, then it would be a point higher. 8/10

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