The Lusty Men (1952)

Arthur Kennedy: Wes Merritt

Photos 

Quotes 

• Wes Merritt : A fella's bankroll could get fat in a hurry, rodeoin'.

  Jeff McCloud : Bahh... Chicken today, feathers tomorrow.

  Wes Merritt : Not if he played it smart when he had the chicken.

• Rusty Davis : [Meeting Wes for the first time]  You're new, ain't ya'?

  Wes Merritt : Yeah.

  Rusty Davis : Got two bits?

  Wes Merritt : Sure.

  Rusty Davis : Gimme'.

  Rusty Davis : [Takes his money, then turns to Booker]  Okay, let him have a look.

  Booker Davis : [Pulls up his pant leg, revealing his scarred and mangled right leg]  You ever see anything like that before?

  Wes Merritt : [Slightly shocked]  Sure is the worst lookin' leg *I've* ever seen.

  Booker Davis : Twenty years rodeoin' done that. Leg busted nine times, kneecap five, and the ankle four.

  Jeff McCloud : Booker's got just about the most busted leg in the world.

  Booker Davis : Nobody'll ever beat it unless they jump off one of them New York skyscrapers.

  Rusty Davis : Last time Booker broke it, doctors wanted to cut it off.

  Booker Davis : It was up in Denver.

  Rusty Davis : He got right off the operating table, got some crutches, and headed for New Mexico in our pickup truck.

  Booker Davis : That night a big blizzard come up, and I had to pull into one of them there motels. Had no sooner got in bed than my leg started hurtin' - got to hurtin' pretty bad. Finally I got up and pushed my bed over to the window and opened it and stuck my leg out. Pretty soon the leg froze up, and the pain went away. Next mornin' I got up and thawed it out in front of a stove, drove on to Santa Fe. I won four firsts that day!

• Jeff McCloud : Old Book used to be one of the best bronc riders in the business.

  Wes Merritt : What happened?

  Jeff McCloud : Punchy. Bronc shook his brains loose. He's head wrangler for Dawson now.