Seuls sont les indomptés

Kirk Douglas has said often enough that Lonely Are The Brave is his favorite among the films he's done. I think of it the same way that Bette Davis says about Dark Victory that the role of Judith Traherne is 98% of me.

Like the film's Jack Burns Kirk Douglas has charted his own way through life in Hollywood the way Jack Burns does. Burns's problem is that he's a man born a century too late.

Run another of Kirk Douglas's classic westerns Man Without A Star side by side. Dempsey Rae in that film isn't too much different from Jack Burns, in fact they have opinions on certain subjects almost identical.

But the frontier that Dempsey dealt with in that film has changed, it just doesn't exist any more. But Burns won't recognize it. I'm also not so sure how much film and television have influenced 1962's Jack Burns in the way a cowboy should behave.

Kirk is returning to his home town from God knows what and meets up with Gena Rowlands who is married to his best friend Michael Kane. Kane's in jail for helping illegal immigrants cross the US/Mexican border. What to do but be a cowboy hero and bust him from jail. So Kirk gets himself in a nasty bar fight with one armed Bill Raisch and gets tossed in sheriff Walter Matthau's jail. While there Deputy George Kennedy works him over.

So when Kirk's ready to bust jail, Kane refuses to go to his surprise. But that doesn't stop Kirk who breaks loose and the chase is on.

The non-conformist part of Jack Burns certainly must have appealed to Kirk Douglas. He invests so much of himself in Burns it's hard to tell where Kirk leaves off and Burns begins. And he's one of the most appealing of all the roles Kirk Douglas has. You root for this law breaking maverick every step of the way.

Mention must also go to Walter Matthau as the wise and laconic sheriff who really does understand Douglas's mentality as no one else really does. In a lot of ways it's like the Charles Bronson classic Death Hunt where Mountie Lee Marvin truly is sorry he's on this particular job. Of course if Douglas had actually killed someone in eluding the law, Matthau's duty would have been clear.

The ending is truly an ironic one as the cowboy loses that part of him that makes him a unique American icon.

Absolutely don't miss Lonely Are The Brave when it is broadcast, especially fans of Kirk Douglas.

It never fails when a movie has a good story. It may not win awards every time, but every person who ever sees a movie with a good story has warm and fuzzies in that moment and somehow Karma rules the day. The Universe doesn't forget a good movie with a good story to it. Such is this movie. Kirk Douglas knew what he excelled in and what he did not. He instantly recognized himself in the lead role and he was right. You can identify with this cowboy of a man, the last of his kind for thinking the way he does to want to get away while being chased and you join him as he is being chased. Live and let live rules the day, but you cannot break laws while carrying or living that belief out..Kirk Douglas goes fine line on the subject. We are reminded that the Wild West consisted in a man, his horse and his gun for its beginnings. Here, we are treated to how the three got along and depended on each other. Great scene of a bar fight with twists and good discipline practiced by Jack Burns (Kirk). I am a big fan of food scenes in movies and this has one where Kirk goes at a plate of ham and eggs. I know sales hiccuped for both with this scene. A good meal to a cowboy is a gift and Kirk makes the scene speak just that. Highly recommended movie and I have seen this at least 5 times over the years always pleased and captured and held unto The End....enjoy all you pards out there

Based on the novel "Brave Cowboy" by Edward Abbey, David Miller ably directs this Dalton Trumbo-scripted film about a modern day cowboy in New Mexico who gets himself thrown into jail when he finds that a friend is there. He plans on breaking the two of them out. The friend refuses to go, out of concerns for his family and not wanting to be on the run afterward, but the cowboy goes, heading on horseback to the mountains and, hopefully, Mexico, with the law on his tail using modern technology to try to track him down.

Director Miller and cinematographer Philip Tathrop splendidly capture the beauty, as well as ruggedness, of the American southwest in the scenes of pursuit with some truly striking black and white photography. The film's opening scene, in fact, with Douglas relaxing, his hat over his eyes, as he lies on the ground, a moment seen in so many other westerns, the peace suddenly shattered by the sonic sounds of jets flying overhead, is a wonderful metaphor for what is to follow. The film also features a remarkably well staged and intense bar fight between the cowboy and a mean spirited one armed veteran (played by an unbilled Bill Raisch, best known for television's The Fugitive series).

Douglas delivers one of his most relaxed and engaging performances as Jack Burns, a loner, as he calls himself, whose greatest love is for a horse, Whiskey, to whom he talks and gently scolds, at times, throughout the film. At the same time, though, the actor, has great chemistry with Gena Rowlands as the wife of his imprisoned friend. There's an unspoken special feeling between these two when they first sight one another in the film, and they afterwards share a few moments of great sensitivity. It's a shame that Douglas and Rowlands were never re-teamed on screen again.

Another highly effective performance in the film is that of Walter Matthau, as a gum chewing, laid back sheriff, in charge of pursuing Douglas in the wild countryside but who, for two cents, would probably just as soon like to see the cowboy get away. And, in contrast to Matthau, there is a mean spirited George Kennedy as a nasty prison guard who enjoys tormenting and beating up prisoners.

Lonely Are The Brave has a memorable,finale, one that will stay with you, as much as Douglas's quite extraordinary performance. This film is a little gem that is available on DVD and occasionally shown on Turner Classic Movies. Do yourself a favor and watch it if you can. You won't be disappointed.

I pity those who cannot, even in a small way, identify with Douglas' character, Jack Burns in this ageless work of art. This is a self described 'lonely man,' of no use to his true love( who has married his old friend) because he cannot share his life with anyone. He acknowledges that he is of no use to anyone. Rather he is a constant threat to whatever social order he encounters. The one time he makes a commitment, to his horse no less, he loses his edge. And probably his freedom. What a wonderful movie this is.It steeps itself in the fading of the West. While much of it is seemingly allegorical, there is also a truthfulness, and a tenderness in Burns search for escape over the mountains. Someone else has commented on the similarities between Burns and Bogart's rendition of Roy Earle in HIGH SIERRA. Surely any thoughtful movie goer has experienced that rush to the mountains, that sense that time has passed you by and you are not of this place.

"Lonely Are the Brave" is a western from 1962, an era when this genre was suffering changes. If you are to judge the movie from the plot outline you might consider it to be an old fashioned western, but this is not the case here. This aspect can be noticed from the beginning, when the character of Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas) is introduced. He is a lone cowboy, traveling across the land on his horse, caring little about tomorrow. He seems to be out of place in the modern world and this modern world is hostile to him and his old ways.

One of the strengths of the movie is that it has a well developed central character. Kirk Douglas manages to create a believable cowboy, one that is stuck in the past refusing to acknowledge that the world has changed and he needs to adapt. Jack Burns is indeed a lonely cowboy because his way of seeing things is not shared by the others. The film also has the advantage of having a good screenplay, written by Dalton Trumbo ("Spartacus", "Papillon"), one of the best screenwriters of his time.

This was Kirk Douglas' favorite movie of his own and you can surely tell that because he gives here one of his best performances. The acting is generally good, the roles of Walter Matthau and Gena Rowlands being worth mentioning. You can also check out George Kennedy in one of his early roles, as the brutish deputy Guttierez.

The movie may have its flaws, but it is definitely worth seeing by everyone. Due to its style and content the film also marks a transition from classical westerns to modern ones, so fans of the genre should not miss it.

My rating: 7,5/10