It's about Mitchum's broken dreams then it's about him seeing himself in a younger guy then it's about them kind of falling in love then it's about the wife being jealous then it's about driving down the highway at night then it's about the wife being jealous again but maybe in love with Mitchum then it's about the bromance again but maybe it's really all about the bull smashing its face into the camera, ya know?

those men, they're just so... *clenches fist* lusty

A complete control over the mythic masculine drive and a quietly subversive femininity -- Ray takes out the egomaniacal subtext throughout the western genre with one swift blow here. Possibly my favorite Mitchum, possibly my favorite Hayward, possibly my favorite Ray.

What an unusual film. Creeps up in unexpected ways. The dialogue really snaps against a backdrop of very physical work and images. Was surprised that it was the final act where Mitchum's romantic intentions come to the forefront that the film really clicked with me. Hayward is one of the actresses who can really match Mitchum's soft-faced, broad-shouldered brutalism with the same intensity. The backdrop of bucking beasts is such a twisted backbone of restrained passion. Love party images with the camera on the ground, bringing us intimately into the chaos of celebrating another escape from death. There is also magic to the way that Ray is able to make open spaces feel claustrophobic and closed rooms feel expansive. Dreams might be able to transform physical realities, but they can't protect you from a bull.

Few do melancholy better than Nick Ray. His characters are loners, misunderstood by those around them and likely to have a least one emotional breakdown before the end of the picture. Here, "It is kinda lonely" becomes a sort of rallying cry - this is easily Ray at his most alone, at least as far as I've seen so far. Staging is always crucial to his art, and here he places all of his efforts on deep focus, which transforms space such that even when standing in a small kitchen, characters feel miles apart. They're alone, literally in space and figuratively in mind; they all have different wants and, more importantly, they don't understand the wants of the others. It's only a matter of time before they all explode in an expressive flurry.

There also something to be said of the politics of this film with respect to wage labor, but I'll save that for another time.

What an unusual film. Creeps up in unexpected ways. The dialogue really snaps against a backdrop of very physical work and images. Was surprised that it was the final act where Mitchum's romantic intentions come to the forefront that the film really clicked with me. Hayward is one of the actresses who can really match Mitchum's soft-faced, broad-shouldered brutalism with the same intensity. The backdrop of bucking beasts is such a twisted backbone of restrained passion. Love party images with the camera on the ground, bringing us intimately into the chaos of celebrating another escape from death. There is also magic to the way that Ray is able to make open spaces feel claustrophobic and closed rooms feel expansive. Dreams might be able to transform physical realities, but they can't protect you from a bull.

The end is in the beginning

Great score

man’s self-destruction, aptly encapsulated by a rodeo contestant riding a bull named “time bomb” for an enthusiastic crowd.

The last film I’ll see on Filmstruck.

"I think I ought to kiss you once for all of the times that I won't". How was this line not reappropriated by an emo band?

Also, Robert Mitchum is the absolute coolest.

idk if a more beautiful film could ever possibly be

Mitchum is so damn good.