![]() ![]() The audience learns about Jack from his scenes with Paul's wife Jerry (who knows him better than anyone else), the sheriff chasing him, and-yes-his horse Whiskey. The brilliance of Trumbo's screenplay for Lonely Are the Brave is the way in which it paints an in-depth portrait of its introverted protagonist. The two had worked together previously with Spartacus (1960), the first film to credit, by name, the formerly blacklisted Trumbo in over a decade. Kirk Douglas enlisted Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay. The end result is that Paul stays behind and Jack becomes a hunted fugitive as he and Whiskey try to cross the mountains into Mexico. It's a flawed plan for many reasons, the most problematic being that Paul has a wife and son. Jack's solution is to get thrown into jail, so he can break out Paul. He decides to take action when he learns that his best pal, Paul, has been sentenced to two years in prison for hiding illegal immigrants. He is a good man who values independence above all else. He prefers to live alone, converse mostly with his horse Whiskey, and sleep under the New Mexico stars. He has no family, no street address, and no steady job. ![]() Its protagonist, Jack Burns, is a middle-aged cowboy who has refused to adapt with the times. It's easy to see what inspired Kirk to pursue adapting Edward Abbey's novel The Brave Cowboy. It has its admirers, though, to include Steven Spielberg and Kirk's son Michael. Yet, this unusual contemporary Western was not a box office hit and rarely gets mentioned among his best movies. Temper like that, one of these days you’ll find yourself riding through town, belly to the sun, best suit on and no place to go but hell.Of all the films he made, Kirk Douglas listed Lonely Are the Brave (1962) as his favorite. Jack Burns to prison guard: “Take it easy. Inmate: “Then how come you’re in here, reverend.” Preacher: “Ah, the temptations of the flesh. Her name is Do What You Want to Do and the Hell with Everybody Else. Kind of a wild-eyed little mountain girl. Jack Burns, taking to Jerry Bondi about her husband, Paul: “Maybe he had to have one more fling with her before the old man with the white hair moves in.” Jack Burns: “You can always keep something.” And either you go by the rules or you lose. ![]() And it’s got real borders and real fences and real laws and real trouble. The world you and Paul live in doesn’t exist. Jerry Bondi: “Jack, I’m going to tell you something. George Kennedy … Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez Gena Rowlands is Jerry Bondi, wife of the friend Burns wants to help escape Walter Matthau is the sheriff charged with bringing him in.Īnd Carroll O’Connor, in his pre-Archie Bunker days, is the driver of a truck full of portable toilets, a truck that plays a key role in the film’s poignant ending. Douglas supposedly considered it his favorite film, and one can understand why. One of the better modern Westerns you’ll find. He soon learns the friend isn’t willing to risk the longer sentence that would come with an escape conviction, so Burns breaks out alone.įrom that point on, it’s him, his horse Whiskey and his rifle against a modern day posse that can use walkie-talkies, helicopters and airplanes to help track down its prey. Upon learning that a best friend (Michael Kane as Paul Bondi) has been sentenced to two years in prison for helping illegal immigrants, Burns breaks into jail to help him break out. Kirk Douglas is Jack Burns, an individualist, a man who insists on living the wild and free life of a cowboy even in the post-World War II West in which he finds himself herding sheep more often than cattle. ![]()
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