The story isn't much (the security of family life versus the rootlessness and danger of working as a rodeo rider), but the situation is rich in emotional resonances which Ray conjures into life convincingly.
Comment
06/24/06
The Lusty Men (1952)
100
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:10
Fresh:10
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.3/10
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Two rodeo stars begin a mentor/protegee relationship, but the men become rivals both on the rodeo circuit and for a woman's love.
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Susan Hayward, Arthur Kennedy, Arthur Hunnicutt
Director: Nicholas Ray
Reviews for The Lusty Men
1 - 10 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic[Ray] was happiest with personal stories where a confrontation between characters leads to a conclusion, however sombre. The confrontation here is complex.
05/24/03
Top CriticRay's last b/w film captures the life of rodeo players with vivid details, lyrical images, and melnacholy mood, centering on a romantic triangle, well played by Arthur Kennedy, Susan Hayward, and especially Robert Mitchum as the aging champ.
07/01/09
Ray's direction is superb, and all three leads give bravura performances.
10/23/07
Top CriticA somewhat slow starter, once underway it is kept playing with growing interest under Nicholas Ray's firm direction.
10/23/07
Top CriticFunctions as mini-ethnography, laying bare the alluring and dangerous world of bronc- and braman-riding, while spinning an artful melodrama about aging, fame, and failure
08/07/06
The punch of the film is in its details of rodeo life as it is, and for this R. K. O. and Producer Jerry Wald have a dynamic film.
03/25/06
Top CriticRay takes a thin story and enriches it with depth, complexity, and interesting characters.
10/29/05
The first few brief sequences in Nicholas Ray's rip-roaring rodeo flick tell us visually almost everything that we need to know about the director's interest in this story.
03/24/03
A masterpiece by Nicholas Ray -- perhaps the most melancholy and reflective of his films.
01/01/00
1 - 10 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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