| Lonely Are the Brave | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | David Miller |
| Screenplay by | Dalton Trumbo |
| Based on | The Brave Cowboy 1956 novel byEdward Abbey |
| Produced by | Edward Lewis |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Philip H. Lathrop |
| Edited by | Leon Barsha |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2 million[1] |
Lonely Are the Brave is a 1962 American black and whiteWestern film adaptation of the 1956Edward Abbey novelThe Brave Cowboy directed byDavid Miller from a screenplay byDalton Trumbo[2] and starringKirk Douglas,Gena Rowlands andWalter Matthau.
Kirk Douglas playscowboy Jack Burns,Gena Rowlands portrays his best friend's wife, andWalter Matthau appears as asheriff who sympathizes with Burns but must do his job and chase him down. The picture also features an early score by composerJerry Goldsmith. Douglas repeatedly said that this was his favorite film of his own work.[3][4]
John W. "Jack" Burns works as a roaming ranch hand with his horse Whiskey. He carries no identification, and has no home address because he just sleeps wherever he finds a place.
One day as Burns crosses a highway into town, his horse has a difficult time crossing the road, scared by the traffic. Once over the highway, they visit Jerry, the wife of old friend Paul Bondi, who has been jailed for giving aid to illegal immigrants. Jack dislikes a society that restricts a man on what he can or cannot do.
To break Bondi out of jail, Burns decides to get himself arrested. After a barroom fight against a one-armed man, in which he too must use only one arm, Burns is arrested. When the police let him go, he deliberately punches a cop to get put in jail. Bondi is initially pleased to see him and Burns defends Bondi from the attention of bullying Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez. At night, the inmates saw through one of the jail's bars using two hacksaw blades that Burns had hidden in one of his boots. Gutierrez summons Burns in the middle of the night and beats him. Burns loses a tooth which he pockets. He cannot get Bondi to escape with him as Bondi has accepted his two-year sentence; his family means he has too much at stake to risk becoming a fugitive which carries a five-year term.
Burns breaks out by himself, returning to Bondi's house, where he picks up his horse and some food from Jerry. They talk about what might have been and he acknowledges he could never have loved her like Bondi does; he never wanted to settle down. He asks for a kiss to give him the energy to reach the mountains and they kiss.
After the jailbreak, the sheriff learns that Burns served in the military during theKorean War, including seven months in a disciplinary training center for striking a superior officer. He also received aPurple Heart and aDistinguished Service Cross for his valor during battle. This gives the sheriff some sympathy for Burns.
Burns heads for the mountains, with the goal of crossing the border intoMexico. The police mount an extensive search, with Sheriff Johnson and Deputy Sheriff Harry searching in ajeep. A militaryhelicopter is brought in, when the Air Force ask to be allowed to give their pilots some search 'practice'. The aircrew locate Burns and relay his location to the sheriff. Whiskey is repeatedly spooked by the helicopter, which continues to hover, so Burns shoots the tail rotor, causing the pilot to crash land. The pilots are OK but their general is angry at the cost to the military of the crashed helicopter and says so over the radio to the sheriff who cuts him off.
Deputy Gutierrez is on foot chasing Burns. He sees the horse on a corner and raises his gun, telling Burns to show himself, but Burns is behind him, and knocks him over. He then throws away Gutierrez's weapons and leaves his tooth in Gutierrez's pocket. Burns continues to head up the mountain with Whiskey. Surrounded on three sides, Burns finally surmounts the crest of theSandia Mountains and escapes into a broad stand of heavy timber, with the lawmen shooting after them. Burns is shot through the ankle. The sheriff believes him to have escaped.
Burns tries to cross Highway 66 inTijeras Canyon during a heavy rainstorm, but Whiskey is spooked and blinded by the lights. A truck driver strikes Burns and Whiskey and throws them to the side of the road. Burns is conscious and the horse is neighing in distress. The sheriff arrives and, when asked by the state police if Burns is the man who he has been looking for, says he cannot confidently identify him because he has never seen the man up close. Whiskey is shot (put down), and a shocked Burns is taken away in an ambulance.
Lonely Are the Brave was filmed after Kirk Douglas readEdward Abbey's novelThe Brave Cowboy and convincedUniversal Pictures to produce it with him in the starring role:
It happens to be a point of view I love. This is what attracted me to the story – the difficulty of being an individual today.[3]
Douglas assembled the cast and crew through his production companyJoel Productions, recruiting ex-blacklisted writerDalton Trumbo, who had writtenSpartacus two years before, to write the screenplay.
The movie was filmed in and aroundAlbuquerque,New Mexico: theSandia Mountains, theManzano Mountains, theTijeras Canyon andKirtland Air Force Base.[7]
The working title for the film wasThe Last Hero,[8] but the release title of the film was a matter of contention between the studio and Douglas, who wanted to call itThe Brave Cowboy, after the novel. Douglas wanted the film to open in art houses and build an audience, but Universal chose to market the film as a Western, titling itLonely Are the Brave and widely distributing it without any particular support. Despite this, the film gained a cult following and is often listed as one of the best Westerns ever made.[3]
Miller directed the picture with a reverent and eloquent feeling for the landscape, complementing the story arc of a lone and principled individual tested by tragedy, and the drive of his fiercely independent conscience.[9]
Lonely Are the Brave premiered inHouston,Texas, on May 24, 1962.[8]
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy watched the movie in theWhite House in November 1962. In his memoirConversations with Kennedy,Ben Bradlee wrote, "Jackie read off the list of what was available, and the President selected the one [film] we had all unanimously voted against, a brutal, sadistic little Western calledLonely Are the Brave."[10]
The score toLonely Are the Brave was composed byJerry Goldsmith.[11] Goldsmith's involvement in the picture was the result of a recommendation by veteran composerAlfred Newman, who had been impressed with Goldsmith's score on the television showThriller, and recommended Goldsmith to the head ofUniversal Pictures's music department, despite having never met him.[12]
On the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has a 93% "fresh" rating, based on 14 reviews.[13]
Kirk Douglas was nominated for a 1963BAFTA Award as "Best Foreign Actor" for his work inLonely Are the Brave, and placed third in theLaurel Awards for "Top Action Performance". TheMotion Picture Sound Editors gave the film a "Golden Reel Award" for "Best Sound Editing" (Waldon O. Watson, Frank H. Wilkinson,James R. Alexander, James Curtis, Arthur B. Smith), in a tie withMutiny on the Bounty.[14]
Roger Ebert called it an "unrecognized masterpiece" in the review of the film Will Penny (1967)
The film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
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