No Western could be more out of time-scale than "Lonely are the Brave," and yet, paradoxically, no central character was ever more truly Western than Jack Burns, the strange wanderer, played by Kirk Douglas
Douglas in this film version of Edward Abbey's moving novel 'Brave Cowboy' is, among a number of other things, a man who hates barbed wire He showed, a similar dislike for it in King Vidor's "Man Without a Star" (1955), which was a traditional cattle range movie, and in those circumstances that seemed reasonable enough But "Lonely are the Brave" is a film set in the New Mexico of 1953 and such behavior now seems totally irrational
But then he's an irrational, quite extraordinary man He rides a horse called Whisky when the world flashes past him in Cadillacs He carries a guitar and sings folksy ballads of the old West... Arriving in the concrete of Duke City he is quite confident that in order to free a pal he has only got to break into jail, fool a sheriff and make his getaway After all, it's Western territory and this was always the way of it
Who and what is he? The question bears examination for he is one of the most intriguing characters in the whole Western portrait gallery... He is never really explained in the book, nor indeed in the film He is drawn and stated and the rest is left to the reader or audience You watch the way he moves, you listen to what he says and the way he says it You observe his strange actions and reactions But most1y you are left to make your own conclusions
Is it a case of a fantasist totally hooked on the Western legend? Has he seen too many Western movies (probably 'B' features)? Has he read too much Western pulp fiction? Is he so deep in thought by it all that he is incapable of realizing that the world has moved on, is running out of grass, or tolerance for oddballs with a preference for grass?
Is he making a protest about what the West has become, and is seeking, in his inarticulate way, after different values? Is he just pure throwback, a man belonging to another time? This figures, as he might say He would belong so splendidly, with his simple values
Whatever he is, he's a profoundly tragic conception....
The old friend he is there to aid (Michael Kane) has been jailed for giving shelter to over-the-border illegal immigrants Douglas calls on his buddy's wife, sensitively played by Gena Rowlands, who seems as touched and dazed by him as anyone in the audience In order to get Kane out of prison he decides that he first needs to get into it himself and so after a saloon bar fight, followed by more fisticuffs at the jail, he gets the cell he wants
In jail, however, he finds himself once more knocking up against the twentieth centuryits mores and inhibitions The pal doesn't want to conform to the old Western pattern by making a break for it Far better to serve out his two years and then return to his wife and child knowing that his 'debt to society' has been paid and they will have nothing else to worry about This is not just pure self-interest He honestly thinks it the right thing to do
So having fought his way in, Douglas now has to fight his way out This he does with the aid of files he brought with him to effect his friend's escape And out with him go a couple of characters not inhibited by fears and scruples
So he becomes a man on the run, but, since he still has his horse, an old-style outlaw on the run, heading for the mountains withnaturallya posse after him
But no ordinary posse This is the 20th century version, supplied with all sorts of technological devices If this very recent cowboy in his strange, ancient times way, is challenging the rule of technology, it is only logical that the long cold arm of science should reach out for him It does so with walkie-talkie radios, jeeps and even a specially borrowed helicopter
What chance has he? The sheriff seems puzzled by the situationthat a man on a horse should dare everything against such a formidable array of gadgetry Since the enigmatic wanderer is determinedly playing out a Western drama he must inevitably come up against a compassionate sheriff
The sheriff is a man doing a job, without any keen enjoyment for the job or, in fact, for anything particularly He's bored, skeptical, laconic, and you feel that he would like nothing better than for Burns to get out of his territory
But while the sheriff goes about his manhunting duties in a routine way he lets slip another implicationthat deep, down in the lethargy and disillusion there's a soft spot for the man on a horse Is the sheriff at heartif you could ever find his hearta bit of a rebel, too?
Kirk Douglas will be remembered most of all for his performance as the man out of step, out of his proper time His Jack Burns in "Lonely are the Brave" is one of the warmest, most deeply felt characterizations in all Western movies David Miller directed the film with simplicity and a similar warmth No more was needed
Douglas in this film version of Edward Abbey's moving novel 'Brave Cowboy' is, among a number of other things, a man who hates barbed wire He showed, a similar dislike for it in King Vidor's "Man Without a Star" (1955), which was a traditional cattle range movie, and in those circumstances that seemed reasonable enough But "Lonely are the Brave" is a film set in the New Mexico of 1953 and such behavior now seems totally irrational
But then he's an irrational, quite extraordinary man He rides a horse called Whisky when the world flashes past him in Cadillacs He carries a guitar and sings folksy ballads of the old West... Arriving in the concrete of Duke City he is quite confident that in order to free a pal he has only got to break into jail, fool a sheriff and make his getaway After all, it's Western territory and this was always the way of it
Who and what is he? The question bears examination for he is one of the most intriguing characters in the whole Western portrait gallery... He is never really explained in the book, nor indeed in the film He is drawn and stated and the rest is left to the reader or audience You watch the way he moves, you listen to what he says and the way he says it You observe his strange actions and reactions But most1y you are left to make your own conclusions
Is it a case of a fantasist totally hooked on the Western legend? Has he seen too many Western movies (probably 'B' features)? Has he read too much Western pulp fiction? Is he so deep in thought by it all that he is incapable of realizing that the world has moved on, is running out of grass, or tolerance for oddballs with a preference for grass?
Is he making a protest about what the West has become, and is seeking, in his inarticulate way, after different values? Is he just pure throwback, a man belonging to another time? This figures, as he might say He would belong so splendidly, with his simple values
Whatever he is, he's a profoundly tragic conception....
The old friend he is there to aid (Michael Kane) has been jailed for giving shelter to over-the-border illegal immigrants Douglas calls on his buddy's wife, sensitively played by Gena Rowlands, who seems as touched and dazed by him as anyone in the audience In order to get Kane out of prison he decides that he first needs to get into it himself and so after a saloon bar fight, followed by more fisticuffs at the jail, he gets the cell he wants
In jail, however, he finds himself once more knocking up against the twentieth centuryits mores and inhibitions The pal doesn't want to conform to the old Western pattern by making a break for it Far better to serve out his two years and then return to his wife and child knowing that his 'debt to society' has been paid and they will have nothing else to worry about This is not just pure self-interest He honestly thinks it the right thing to do
So having fought his way in, Douglas now has to fight his way out This he does with the aid of files he brought with him to effect his friend's escape And out with him go a couple of characters not inhibited by fears and scruples
So he becomes a man on the run, but, since he still has his horse, an old-style outlaw on the run, heading for the mountains withnaturallya posse after him
But no ordinary posse This is the 20th century version, supplied with all sorts of technological devices If this very recent cowboy in his strange, ancient times way, is challenging the rule of technology, it is only logical that the long cold arm of science should reach out for him It does so with walkie-talkie radios, jeeps and even a specially borrowed helicopter
What chance has he? The sheriff seems puzzled by the situationthat a man on a horse should dare everything against such a formidable array of gadgetry Since the enigmatic wanderer is determinedly playing out a Western drama he must inevitably come up against a compassionate sheriff
The sheriff is a man doing a job, without any keen enjoyment for the job or, in fact, for anything particularly He's bored, skeptical, laconic, and you feel that he would like nothing better than for Burns to get out of his territory
But while the sheriff goes about his manhunting duties in a routine way he lets slip another implicationthat deep, down in the lethargy and disillusion there's a soft spot for the man on a horse Is the sheriff at heartif you could ever find his hearta bit of a rebel, too?
Kirk Douglas will be remembered most of all for his performance as the man out of step, out of his proper time His Jack Burns in "Lonely are the Brave" is one of the warmest, most deeply felt characterizations in all Western movies David Miller directed the film with simplicity and a similar warmth No more was needed