Good start, but then it gets ruined

Good concept, poorly executed.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Perhaps Hollywood realized their egregious error in not casting Susan Hayward and Robert Mitchum in A Streetcar Named Desire the previous year, or perhaps the film just fit into both stars' contracts, but the two strong, sexy stars finally lit up the screen together in 1952's The Lusty Men. Bob plays a rodeo star who returns to his old hometown after being injured in the ring. He meets Suzy, but unfortunately for the audience, the sparks don't immediately fly. She's married to Arthur Kennedy and fears Bob to be a bad influence on her steady hubby. Sure enough, Bob starts training Arthur on the art of the rodeo and they start planning their path to the big time.If you're looking for a steamy romance with two of Hollywood's hottest stars, this isn't it. First and foremost, it's a rodeo movie. Using real footage and incredible stuntmen, it's pretty entertaining for those who are interested in that sport. I'm not, so even though Suzy's one of my favorite actresses and Bob is as hunky as a man can be, this isn't my favorite movie. Arthur Kennedy is cute in his own way, but up against Robert Mitchum there's no contest. So why put him in a role where he's clearly not the love interest, when everyone in the audience wants to see him make Susan Hayward swoon? I don't know. Rumor has it the pair hated each other off screen, and he would eat garlic before their intense close ups; that bit of trivia doesn't help the lack of romance in the movie.

I would really only recommend "The Lusty Men" to Nicholas Ray completists. It doesn't transcend by much your standard 1950s melodrama, let alone come close to being as good as some of Ray's best movies. But I will give it credit for having more complexity, both in character and theme, than the typical romantic drama of the time.What I think makes this feel more like a Ray film than anything else is that, though the female protagonist at the film's center (played by a miscast Susan Hayward), or rather the males' feelings about her, are the catalyst for the plot, the principal relationship in the film is between Robert Mitchum, as a retired rodeo celebrity, and Arthur Kennedy, as the man who idolizes him. At certain times, the love triangle at the film's center shifts perspective, and Hayward is replaced at the apex by one or another of the men. It doesn't feel homoerotic to me; rather, the film does a pretty good job of realizing a complex male relationship, equal parts admiration and jealousy. This male relationship also feels distinctly like a product of and response to the post-WWII generation, full of men who had bonded with other men in life and death situations and then were asked to settle down into the boring tedium of family life. Hayward isn't remotely convincing as a simple country girl who wants nothing more than a ranch and a man, but both Kennedy and especially Mitchum give very good performances. There's also a lot of footage of rodeos for those who are interested, and the metaphorical role rodeos play in the film was not lost on me -- men taming and conquering the wild instincts of beasts.Grade: B

Along with "With a Song in My Heart", "The Lusty Men" really pushed Susan Hayward toward international stardom. Her role as Louise mirrored her own real life attitude to love and marriage. She tried to stick to her marriage both in the movie and in real life and it could have been Susan saying about her own circumstances "Men!! - I'd like to fry them all in deep fat"!!! Even though the movie garnered excellent reviews and rated a movie review page in the prestigious "Look" magazine it wasn't as big a hit as her other releases.Rodeos are Jeff McLeod's (Robert Mitchum) reason for living and when he is gored by a Brahma bull he is emotionally and physically spent. He desperately wants to rebuild his life and returns to his childhood home. Remembering some "buried treasure" he had hidden under the floorboards as a kid, he retrieves it only to find an old rodeo program and a couple of coins. Wes and Louise Merritt (Arthur Kennedy and Susan Hayward) are keen to buy Jeff's home and Wes, who recognises him as a former Rodeo star, gets him a job as a ranch hand. Wes has won a few events himself and feels that with Jeff as his manager they would be a great team. Louise is unimpressed with Jeff's cool and lacksadasical attitude, she wants Wes in one piece and to save his money for a house deposit.Wes, with childhood memories of a father who was never his own boss, quits his job for a life on the rodeo circuit and what he thinks is easy money. What with busted legs and faces scarred from Brahma bull hooves, Wes is getting a taste of grim reality - and it's only their first day!!! The film creates an exciting atmosphere with wild horses, bucking broncos and leisure time spent carousing in the bars where a day's prize money could be lost in drinking and gambling. Louise sees Wes being sucked into the itinerant way of life and Jeff, after being taunted by Wes for sponging on his earnings, signs up the next day for all events, even though he is far from being in good shape. He hits trouble when his foot gets caught in a stirrup and his death sets up a pretty contrived ending where Wes, realising Jeff had only his best interests at heart, gives up the circuit for a little home in Texas.Susan gives an unusually restrained performance as Louise (except for one hilarious cat fight) in this movie that shows not only the downside but the excitement that drives cowboys to give their all in the ring. It goes without saying that both Kennedy and Mitchum give superlative performances but a couple of the women step up as well - Maria Hart and Lorna Thayer, actresses I have never heard of. Actual shots of rodeos were filmed in Tuscon, Arizona and Pendleton, Oregon with some of America's most famed rodeo stars including the appearance of Cy Taillon - "The World's Greatest Rodeo Announcer". In fact I can heartily recommend Cyra McFadden's wonderful memoir about life on the rodeo circuit as well as what it was like to be the unofficial mascot as well as Cy Taillon's daughter - "Rain or Shine".

This film begins with an ex-rodeo champion (Robert Mitchum) wandering around the property where he grew up--and hasn't seen in two decades. He meets up with the current owner (Burt Mustin--everybody's favorite old man) and they chat a bit--until a cowhand and his wife (Arthur Kennedy and Susan Hayward) come to Mustin's home. It seems they'd love to buy it but have little, if any, money.When Kennedy recognizes Mitchum as a rodeo star, he gets a bright idea--he can get Mitchum to train him so he can take up rodeo. That way, he reasons, he and his wife can buy the property much sooner. The problem is, Kennedy's wife hates the idea of Kennedy breaking his neck this way! Yet, despite her misgivings, he pushes ahead. Surprisingly, he is a success--and every step of the way, she is miserable as she knows it's only a matter of time until he's hurt. Throughout the film, he promises to quit...but the longer it takes, the less likely it is that he'll ever stop...until it's too late.As for the stars, they are all very good. Hayward is emotional but good (and plays a great dame), Mitchum is his easy-going self and Kennedy surprisingly macho--something you don't see very often. The script is dandy and entertaining as well--especially as you see Kennedy becoming more and more of a butt-head. I also appreciated how the rodeo footage wasn't the usual grainy footage--and they did a pretty good job of making you think it was the actors actually doing these crazy stunts. I also liked the ending--it was downbeat but worked very well.By the way, there are two bit parts to look for in the movie (aside from Mustin's). The foreman of the ranch near the beginning is Glenn Strange. While you probably won't recognize his craggy face, he's the last guy to play Universal's Frankenstein monster---having last appeared in this capacity in 1948's "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein". Also, a few times throughout the film, it's Jimmy Dodd (of "The Mickey Mouse Club") playing one of the rodeo contestants. At a party later in the film he's playing a guitar. If you'd just given him some mouse ears, he would have looked more familiar.