In one way or another, most of Nicholas Ray's films are about characters that desperately need or want...something. Recognition, love, escape, acceptance...Ray's protagonists are always people on the edge of society looking in with their faces pressed against the glass. Some get what they want, for a brief time anyways. Then they usually lose it. But for Wes Merritt, he discovers that what he wants is merely a mask for what he needs. Merritt works as a cowhand on an old ranch with his wife, Louise. For years they have been saving and scraping to afford a little house of their own. Merritt is fed up with his life and the seemingly Sisyphean struggle of saving enough money. But then one day Jeff McCloud, a famous rodeo competitor, comes to town and offers him another choice: he will help train him for the rodeo in exchange for half of his earnings. And so begins Merritt's transformation into a rodeo celebrity. Despite the dangers and Louise's objections, Merritt becomes obsessed with the fast, adrenaline-fueled life of the rodeo. Soon he forgets all about that little old house that he wanted to buy. It seems like the rodeo may destroy Merritt's life instead of save it. The Lusty Men is a great little film that Ray directed in-between two of his more famous offerings: On Dangerous Ground (1952) and Johnny Guitar (1954). And yet, it seems to be over-looked by all but the more devoted Ray fans and scholars. And that's a shame. The Lusty Men might not be Ray's most glamorous film, but it has one of his strongest emotional centers.
7/10
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