The Brave (1997)

A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty stricken family.

Director:

Johnny Depp

Writers:

Gregory McDonald (novel), Paul McCudden (screenplay)

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Marshall Bell

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

An unemployed alcoholic Native American Indian lives on a trailer park with his wife and two children. Convinced that he has nothing to offer this world, he agrees to be tortured to death by a gang of rednecks in return for $50,000.

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Plot Keywords:

bare breasts | death | poverty | native american | snuff film | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 1997 (France)

Also Known As:

O Bravo

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jeremy Thomas Productions, Acappella Pictures, Brave Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (DeLuxe Color)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director and star Johnny Depp was deeply upset at negative reviews by American critics attending an otherwise successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival. As a result, he refused to release the film in the United States.

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Papa: By the way, I wouldn't leave my car out there too long; there are a lot of white people around.

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Connections

References The Lone Ranger (1949)

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Soundtracks

Go Away
Written by David Hidalgo (as D. Hidalgo), Louie Perez (as L. Perez)
Performed by Latin Playboys (as The Latin Playboys)
Produced by Latin Playboys (as The Latin Playboys)
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records

User Reviews

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.