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:

Twentieth Century Fox composer Alfred Newman had admired Jerry Goldsmith's work on the TV series "Thriller" (1960) and recommended that the young composer be hired. It proved the first major credit in what would become a long and productive career as a film composer.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the scene when the Sheriff is facing the hovering helicopter and talking to the pilot by radio, on Matthau's closeups, the shadow of the helicopter has been positioned behind him. Only the sun is behind the Sheriff and the helicopter's shadow would be way in front of the jeep, not behind.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Tatort: Märchenwald (#1.576)" (2004)

"Kirt Douglas fans...."Lonely Are The Brave" ...is Kirt Douglas's Personal Favorite of his career"

After all Kirt Douglas has done, this little masterpiece is his personal favorite.

"The Bad and the Beautiful" I think is another of his films you would adore.

Shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1960's, in black and white...Kirt Douglas and Gena Rolands created a sweet piece of art.

As the West, of real men and women, is being paved over, for housing developments, Malls,...these characters find themselves caught in between, their love and dreams dangerously disrupted.

Integrity and personal ethics at war with inhuman cruelty.

Kirt Douglas's beautiful horse, deserved an Oscar, as did the horse in "Cat Ballu". "The Misfits" was being shot at the near the same time, and has the same "quiet desperation", of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable's last work. An Existential crisis that cuts to the bone.

In an interview...Kirt said, "of all my grand history of making film, this little known film, was his personal favorite." Deserves to be saved on DVD. Bravo to the cast and crew. This masterpiece will be an underground classic, that film classes will show for a 100 yrs.