Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Director:

David Miller

Writers:

Edward Abbey (novel)
Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 May 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

Life can never cage a man like this!

Plot:

A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.

Plot Keywords:

Helicopter | Jeep | Sheriff | Man Hunt | Maverick

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	John W. "Jack" Burns
Gena Rowlands	...	Jerry Bondi
Walter Matthau	...	Sheriff Morey Johnson
Michael Kane	...	Paul Bondi
Carroll O'Connor	...	Hinton (truck driver)
William Schallert	...	Harry (soft-spoken radio operator)
George Kennedy	...	Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez
Karl Swenson	...	Rev. Hoskins (prison inmate)
William Mims	...	First deputy arraigning Burns (as Bill Mims)
Martin Garralaga	...	Old man (observer in Latin bar)
Lalo Rios	...	Prisoner

Also Known As:

The Last Hero (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:TV-PG | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #20037) | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:12 | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Joel Productions

Trivia:

After Kirk Douglas read the novel "Brave Cowboy" by Edward Abbey, he purchased the rights to it and gave the project to his friend Dalton Trumbo. Douglas said Trumbo's screenplay was perfect, the best he had ever read, and he didn't change one word of it.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt double when Burns is leading his horse up the mountain.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[to his horse, as he watches jets leave contrails across the sky]
Jack Burns: Time we took off, too.

Movie Connections:

Featured in ... A Father... A Son... Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2005) (TV)

Natural Man Sacrificed to Progress

Can you imagine a time when a man could mount his horse and ride across the country, camping wherever he pleased? It's the kind of life Kirk Douglas was still living as the cowboy in "Lonely Are The Brave," long after the horse had given way to the horseless carriage and most people were living in towns and cities working for someone else. His only accommodation to the modern world are a pair of snips he keeps in a saddle bag for getting through barbed wire fences. A man like that is just bound to run up against the System, and that is precisely what happens when the cowboy arrives at the house of an old friend, whose wife they both loved. She tells him that her husband has been jailed for smuggling illegals across the border and the cowboy resolves to get arrested and help him break out. However, married life has changed his friend's perspective and he is content to do his time. After taking a beating from the sadistic jailer, played by George Kennedy, the cowboy escapes alone. The rest of the movie is about his attempt to elude the authorities, led by Walter Matthau as the efficient sheriff in charge of lesser lights who admires Douglas enough to hope he makes good his escape and who pursues him skillfully but without enthusiasm. Much of the story is about the relationship between the cowboy and his inexperienced young horse, who symbolizes the wild and free life being lost bit by bit. As they surmount a rugged mountain range, the extent of their trust, affection, and ties to the land become clear, while so-called civilization, aptly represented by a truckload of new toilets, threatens to do what the police can't.

This is a very good movie, well-shot, well-acted, well-written, and with a very poignant theme. In it, Kirk Douglas delivers one of his best performances.