The Lusty Men 1952 with Robert Mitchum, Susan Hayward and Arthur Kennedy.

In 1952, Susan Hayward had the chance to work with one of Hollywood's most iconic Directors: Nicholas Ray for the film The Lusty Men. Ray's films are among the most heartfelt and disarmingly authentic works of the Hollywood studio era, intimate portraits of incredible three-dimensional characters and who stoically know that loneliness and loss are present in their lives. Above all, Ray’s cinema glows with an ardent humanism, a passionate sympathy for the most vulnerable underdogs, those wounded loners and outcasts who stumble nobly across his films. The Lusty Men was one of Hayward’s finest films of the 1950s for it showed the gritty life of the redeo. Set in the rodeo circuit, The Lusty Men reveals this dangerous, but intoxicating world with almost documentary detail. It smoothly blends those moments of realism with gritty, often risqué drama and a battle-scarred sense of humor. This film is perhaps the most melancholy and reflective of all Ray's films Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) is injured in a rodeo by a bull. He returns to the farm where he grew up. Jeremiah Watrus owns it now. Wes Merritt (Arthur Kennedy) and Louise Merritt (Susan Hayward) give Jeff a ride and invite him to dinner. Jeff gets a job as a cowhand, and Wes asks Jeff to teach him some rodeo skills. The film is most effective at portraying the inevitable tensions which can emerge in a marriage when personal dreams clash with mutual goals. Co-written by Horace McCoy (author of ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’) and boldly and effectively photographed by Lee Garmes: Morocco, (1930, Paramount Pictures), Shanghai Express, (1932, Paramount Pictures) Nightmare Alley (1948, 20th Century-Fox), among many others),The Lusty Men also benefits largely from director Ray’s uncanny ability with actors – who clearly benefit from Ray’s emphasis on psychological motivation. (Note one scene in particular, in which Hayward goes to Mitchum in a barn to implore him to discourage Kennedy from taking up the rodeo life; she could very easily have taken a harsher approach here, but Ray has her pull way back – a potentially more effective way for her to get what she wants. Wes (Arthur Kennedy), and Louise Merritt (Susan Hayward). Wes is a ranch hand and Louise is his pretty wife whose background is equally humble. She married Wes for his stability and his proclaimed vision of a similarly simple future together; they hope to save enough to buy Burt Mustin’s ranch one day the same ranch that Mitchum grew up in. Along with Jeff's help and expertise Wes is riding at the championship level but becomes slowly enamored with the lifestyle of a star rodeo rider. As he does so he pays Louise less and less attention as carousing, drinking, and even womanizing take on a great share of his time. When a rodeo floozy attempts to brand him with a bite, it is Louise who has to kick her in the can and shove her away.

Finally matters boil over and events come to a head. After being called out by Wes and spurned by Louise (Jeff had proposed marriage to her but in her final decision, she stays with Wes. Jeff ignores his injury and rides the rodeo. He does well for the first few events but takes a bad fall in his final one, fatally injuring himself. With Jeff’s death full in his face, Wes is pulled back to reality and realizes what is important. While Wes learns something of humility over the course of the film, Jeff develops empathy. Having been a direct man all his life in pushing the world away, he is just as straightforward in embracing it. The close-up of Susan Hayward when Jeff declares his feelings to her is one of trembling astonishment. It is one of the glories of the cinema. Her lips part slightly, as if ready to throw off her ordered life. But she is a practical woman, and a poor one, and there are other things to consider.Susan Hayward doesn’t have many scenes to demonstrate her fire, except for one party sequence late in the action. Yet by the same token she embraces the domesticity of her role and embodies the glue that holds the little three person family together. Typical for the Hollywood of the 1950s, she’s constantly a bit overdressed for the rodeo man’s wife who lives in a travel trailer. Hayward effectively shows how she's torn between the two men, not as potential love interests, but rather as loved family members who are both on the way to their own destruction.He walks arm in arm with Louise away from the still ongoing rodeo, returning to the life he almost left behind forever.

I can't express how beautifully u pen down your views.. I was recalling each n every scene which u mentioned as if I am re watching it .. r u an author/writer or a newspaper editor by any chance?.. if not then plz DO

Susan Hayward and Robert Mitchum had great chemistry onscreen and they complimented each other very well. I think its his leisurely way of doing things compared to Hayward's intense demeanor. The play off each other very well. Don't you agree?

Yup