Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

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:

The one-armed man tells Jack Burns in the bar that he lost his arm at Okinawa during World War II. Bill Raisch, the actor who played the one-armed man, actually did lose his right arm in a fire on board a ship during the war. Raisch was Burt Lancaster's stand-in and later landed a recurring role in the TV series "The Fugitive" (1963).

Goofs:

Continuity: 9 minutes into the movie when Jerry Bondi is putting ham into the frying pan, the bread bin next to her is shut. A couple of seconds later, it is open.

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)

Species in extinction

I agree with Douglas in considering this his best film, in my opinion together with Man Without a Star. He is a lonely cowboy, living a meaningless life, beginning to realize his mistake about the way he lived. When he goes for his last stand, there is something desperate about it. At a certain moment we see Douglas running away from the police in the mountains, together with his horse Whiskey, when they see a wild cat (jaguar?, puma?). It is a memorable scene, because the three of them look sad, surpassed by the times, represented by the highway that is near. This film probably was made in Albuquerque, NM, I think I can recognize the Sandia Mountains on the background.