Lusty Men, The

"Never was a bronc that couldn't be rode. Never was a cowboy that couldn't be throwed." Spinning tales of big money made as a bronco buster, an ex-rodeo star (Robert Mitchum) wanders into the life of ranch hand Wes Merritt (Arthur Kennedy). Wes is won over, despite the protests of his wife (Susan Hayward), who, against her judgment, feels drawn to the stranger, too. Directed by Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause), The Lusty Men finds poetry in the heart-stopping action of the rodeo ring, in the simmering sexuality of Mitchum's laconic masculinity and Hayward's fiery beauty, and in the everyday grit of the postwar West: cramped trailers, pot roast in a cast-iron skillet, men breaking their bones for a paltry payday. "Mitchum is at his best as the seen-it-a1l, done-it-twice ex-champ" (Michael Barson, The Illustrated Who 's Who of Hollywood Directors).

• drama
• western