''The Lusty Men '' is a 1952

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film released by Wald-Krasna Productions and

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

starring

Susan Hayward Susan Hayward (born Edythe Marrenner; June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975) was an American film actress, best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories. After working as a fashion model for the Walter Thornton Model A ...

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

Arthur Kennedy John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...

and

Arthur Hunnicutt Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, and old rural characters. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ...

. The picture was directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by Jerry Wald and

Norman Krasna Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year ca ...

from a

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

by Wald,

David Dortort David Dortort (born David Solomon Katz; October 23, 1916 – September 5, 2010) was a Hollywood screenwriter and producer, widely known for his role as producer in two successful NBC television series: ''Bonanza'' (1959–73) and ''The High Chap ...

Horace McCoy Horace Stanley McCoy (April 14, 1897 – December 15, 1955) was an American writer whose mostly hardboiled stories took place during the Great Depression. His best-known novel is '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' (1935), which was made into a ...

, and Alfred Hayes that was based on the novel by Claude Stanush. The music score was by

Roy Webb Royden Denslow Webb (October 3, 1888 – December 10, 1982) was an American film music composer. Webb has hundreds of film music credits to his name, mainly with RKO Pictures. He is best known for film noir and horror film scores, in particular f ...

and the

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

Lee Garmes Lee Garmes, A.S.C. (May 27, 1898 – August 31, 1978) was an American cinematographer. During his career, he worked with directors Howard Hawks, Max Ophüls, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Nicholas Ray and Henry Hathaway, whom ...

. The film's world premiere was at the

Majestic Theatre Majestic Theatre or Majestic Theater may refer to: Australia * Majestic Theatre, Adelaide, former name of a theatre in King William Street, Adelaide, built 1916, now demolished * Majestic Theatre, Launceston, a former cinema in Tasmania designed ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

.Thompson, Frank. ''Texas Hollywood: Filmmaking in San Antonio Since 1910''. San Antonio: Maverick Publishing Company, 2002.

Plot

When longtime professional

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

competitor Jeff McCloud is injured by an Brahman bull that he was trying to ride, he decides to quit. He hitchhikes to his childhood home, a decrepit place now owned by Jeremiah. Though it is run down, it is the dream home for cowhand Wes Merritt and his wife Louise, who are painstakingly saving Wes's meager wages to buy the house. Wes recognizes Jeff as a once-prominent rodeo rider and introduces himself, then helps Jeff gets a job at the same ranch. Wes, who has competed in some local rodeos and wants to continue, wants Jeff to help him improve his skills. Wes enters a local rodeo behind his wife's back. When he does well, he joins the rodeo circuit, with Jeff as his partner and trainer. Louise is against the idea, but goes along. She makes her husband promise to quit when they have saved enough for the house. As Louise becomes acquainted with rodeo life, she becomes increasingly disenchanted. Jeff's friend Booker Davis, once a champion competitor himself, is now a crippled old man with little to show for his efforts. When Buster Burgess is gored and killed by a bull, leaving a bitter widow, Louise can no longer bear to watch her husband compete. However, Wes is seduced by his great success and the money that he is winning. He refuses to quit when they have enough for the house. Matters come to a head when Babs invites Wes to a party that she is throwing and makes a play for him. Louise fights back by wearing her only good dress and going to the party with Jeff. She pours a drink on Babs's head before leaving. Jeff asks her if she could love another man, but she says that she is true to Wes, and Wes tells Jeff that he is tired of taking all the risks and giving Jeff half of the prize money. Jeff returns to the rodeo despite not being in shape. He gains back Wes's respect by doing well. Then, in the

bronc riding Bronc riding, either bareback bronc or saddle bronc competition, is a rodeo event that involves a rodeo participant riding a bucking horse (sometimes called a ''bronc'' or '' bronco'') that attempts to throw or buck off the rider. Originally ...

event, his foot gets stuck in the

stirrup A stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a ''stirrup leather''. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal ...

after a successful ride and he is fatally injured. Seeing this, Wes comes to his senses and quits.

Cast

as Louise Merritt *

as Jeff McCloud *

as Wes Merritt *

as Booker Davis * Frank Faylen as Al Dawson *

Walter Coy Walter Darwin Coy (January 31, 1909 – December 11, 1974) was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, arguably most well known as John Wayne's character's brother in ''The Searchers'' (1956). Early years Originally ...

as Buster Burgess *

Carol Nugent Carol Lou Nugent (born July 7, 1937) is an American actress who began her career as a child. Nugent appeared in over 20 feature films and 11 television programs during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 1959 marriage to actor Nick Adams ended with ...

as Rusty Davis, Booker's teenage daughter *

Maria Hart Maria Hart ( born Barbara Ann McGhee; May 28, 1923 in Los Angeles, California – August 9, 2012 in Canoga Park, California) was an actress under contract to MGM from 1941 to 1948. Biography She was born as Barbara Ann McGhee on May 28, 1923 ...

as Rosemary Maddox *

Lorna Thayer Lorna Thayer (born Lorna Patricia Casey; August 16, 1919 – June 4, 2005) was an American character actress. Biography Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Thayer was the daughter of silent screen actress Louise Gibney. She appeared often in theatre ...

as Grace Burgess *

Burt Mustin Burton Hill "Burt" Mustin (February 8, 1884 – January 28, 1977) was an American character actor.Obituary ''Variety'', February 2, 1977, page 94. Over the course of his career, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions. He a ...

as Jeremiah * Karen King as Ginny Logan, Red's wife * Jimmy Dodd as Red Logan, another rodeo competitor * Eleanor Todd as Babs * Riley Hill as Hoag

Background

The screenplay was "suggested by" an article written by Claude Stanush that was published in ''Life'' magazine in 1946. The screenwriters credited were

and

, but some sources claim that Alfred Hayes and

Andrew Solt Andrew Solt (born 13 December 1947) is a British-born American producer, director, and writer of documentary films. Solt has had a long career in television. A frequent focus of his documentaries is rock and roll music, its history and star pe ...

contributed to the script without being credited.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

praised the film's realism: "This vivid and pungent demonstration of the activities of professional 'saddle tramps'—the cowboys who scratch erratic livings on the circuit of the Western rodeos—gives such a harsh, discouraging insight into this form of commercialized sport that every backyard bronc-buster who sees it should go back to being a railroad engineer. ... Director Nicholas Ray has really captured the muscle and thump of rodeos." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film holds a 100% approval rating based on reviews from 15 critics, with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Dave Kehr of the ''Chicago Reader'' calls it " masterpiece by Nicholas Ray—perhaps the most melancholy and reflective of his films (1952)." Gary Tooze of DVDbeaver also highly praises the film: "This is one of the best westerns—period. Mitchum is at his very best. It carries a documentary-style presence at times but is steeped in emotion. Absolute masterpiece."

References

External links