The Brave (1997)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Johnny Depp

Writers:

Gregory McDonald (novel)
Paul McCudden (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 July 1997 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film...

Plot Keywords:

Poverty | Native American | Snuff Film | Alcoholism | Self Sacrifice

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Johnny Depp	...	Raphael
Marlon Brando	...	McCarthy
Marshall Bell	...	Larry
Elpidia Carrillo	...	Rita
Frederic Forrest	...	Lou Sr.
Clarence Williams III	...	Father Stratton
Max Perlich	...	Lou Jr.
Luis Guzmán	...	Luis
Cody Lightning	...	Frankie
Nicole Mancera	...	Marta
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman	...	Papa
Pepe Serna	...	Alessandro
Lupe Ontiveros	...	Maria
Alexis Cruz	...	Heyman
Chuck E. Weiss	...	Whizzy

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Germany:16 | South Korea:18 | France:U (with warning) | UK:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Jeremy Thomas Productions

Trivia:

Johnny Depp was deeply upset at the negative reviews received from the American critics attending an otherwise successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival. As a result he has refused to show the film in the United States.

Quotes:

Larry: Hey, listen to this. The other day I was driving down the highway, had the air-conditioner on, smoking my stogies, listening to some tunes, and this big fat crow lands on a billboard. Biggest, fattest crow I ever saw in my life. And I fix on him, and he dropped dead - boom, in the sand. Damndest thing I ever saw. Kind of made me sick. In fact, it made me poop. It made me poop my pants. It was about a four-inch, bell-shaped fece, very hard, very firm. Things haven't been going too good for me.

Movie Connections:

References "The Lone Ranger" (1949)

Soundtrack:

La Montuna Torpe

slow, sad film about poverty and braveness; respectable first-time directing work by Depp

I had read an article in a waiting room Entertainment Weekly while getting a punctured tire repaired, an article about unreleased (or little-released) films and albums by big-name directors and artists. An internet search indicates this was "Buried Treasure" by Tim Carvell in issue # 795, December 3, 2004. One of them was this film, unreleased in the US, but available on DVD in the UK. Happily I own a region-free player that does PAL-NTSC conversion (I wish they would abolish regional encoding!), and the DVD on the UK Amazon site was relatively cheap, so I ordered it.

I'm surprised to see that the author of the novel this film was adapted from was the author of the Fletch series! This is entirely different.

Johnny Depp plays a native American living with his wife, son, and daughter in a small trailer in a shantytown next to a garbage dump in the desert. Days seem to be spent mostly sleeping. He goes to town to apply for a job a man in a bar told him about. He goes to a pretty shady place, and we learn what the job is (reading the DVD box would tell you the same thing): to be tortured and killed (presumably on film) for $50,000. He's given some money up front (at least a couple thousand, not sure how much), and a week before he has to come back to do the job. Evidently in the book he's only offered $30,000 and given $200 up front!

He goes back home, and doesn't do much initially, but then tries bonding more with his family, who he'd grown apart from while drinking. He spends the money on things that delight his kids, but seem pretty frivolous. His wife is worried he's robbed a store or done something else that will get him put in jail again. He hopes the money will help his family move up in life, and it comes at an opportune time, since the shantytown is due to be demolished.

It's a bit longer than I think it need be, about two hours. However, it is well directed. I think Johnny Depp did a good job with it.

Marlon Brando's role is pretty small. He'd worked with Depp before in Don Juan DeMarco (1995), quite a different movie than this one! Iggy Pop, who worked on the soundtrack has a short cameo as a man at a fiesta eating a giant drumstick.