Synopsis
The Lusty Men (1952) is Nicholas Ray's rodeo drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM — a Western where the toughest fights happen off the dirt, inside a marriage.
Battered ex-champion Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) limps away from the arena with no money and nowhere to land. A stray job throws him in with Wes Merritt (Arthur Kennedy), a ranch hand itching for the easy prize money the circuit promises. Jeff agrees to train him. Wes's wife Louise (Susan Hayward) watches in dread — she's saving for a patch of their own land while her husband keeps betting his neck on applause. Something between the three of them is bound to snap.
Ray isn't really filming a sport; he's filming the male hunger for risk and the bill the people nearby end up paying. Mitchum is tired and exact here, no swagger, and the camera prowls the dust, trailers and backstage of the rodeo almost like newsreel footage. One of the finest American Westerns of the 1950s about what happens when the thrill matters more than home. Stream The Lusty Men (1952) online on iFILM.
Starring
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