The Lusty Men 1952 Full Movie

The Lusty Men: A Story of Rodeo Dreams

When longtime professional rodeo competitor Jeff McCloud is injured by a Brahma bull that he was riding, he quits the circuit and begins to drift. Hitchhiking to tiny Bandera, Texas, he finds the idyllic home of his youth in the Texas Hill Country decrepit and owned by a poor but covetous old man. Penniless, Jeff couldn’t buy it if he wanted to.

A Chance Encounter

A shattered memory to Jeff, the tiny framehouse is nonetheless the dream home for hardscrabble Wes Merritt and his wife Louise, who are painstakingly saving Wes’s meager cowhand wages at a nearby ranch to buy the small spread. Wes immediately recognizes Jeff as a former champion rodeo rider and introduces himself, then helps Jeff gets a job alongside him. Wes, who has competed in some local rodeos, wants Jeff to help him improve his skills so he can chase big prize money in the professional circuit.

A Road to Success

Wes enters a local event without telling Louise. When he does well, he joins the bigtime, with Jeff as his trainer and 50-50% partner. Louise, who grew up with nothing, is against the idea, because it puts Wes in harm’s way and means abandoning both their securely rented home and plans for a permanent one. She ultimately consents after extracting a promise from Wes he’ll quit when they have saved enough for the ranch house.

A Turning Point

Wes is a big success from the start. It rapidly becomes clear he loves the riding and the fame more even than the money he’s raking in. As Louise becomes acquainted with rodeo life, she becomes increasingly disenchanted. Jeff’s friend Booker Davis, once a champion competitor himself, is now a crippled old man with little to show for his efforts. Matters come to a head when wealthy man-hungry circuit hanger-on Babs makes a second play for Wes. Jeff, who had come to be attracted to Louise and earlier that evening had pitched her some sincere woo, asks her if she could love another man. Even though she too had warmed up towards him, she proclaims her loyalty to Wes.

The Final Act

Rebuffed, Jeff impetuously returns to the rodeo despite not being in shape. He gains back Wes’s respect by immediately doing well in the first couple of events his very first time out. He then shows his old stuff in bronc riding, but meets a tragic end. Louise rushes to his side in the first aid shack and seeks to comfort him. Reciting his mantra a final time, he dies in her arms. Arriving moments later, Wes learns of Jeff’s grisly end, quits the rodeo, and leaves arm-in-arm with Louise for Bandera.

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