Lonely Are the Brave
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VHS Movie Reviews of Lonely Are the Brave
Movie Review: The anti-establishment hero
Summary: 5 Stars
Kirk Douglas as the outcast cowboy in a modern world that has squeezed his kind out - though he goes down fighting. It's a familiar role in American movies: think of Bogart in "Casablanca" or Eastwood as "Dirty Harry," each the loner in a world that expects conformity. Although the movie gets off to a shaky start with Douglas purposely getting arrested in order to help a friend bust out of the slammer (the friend would rather just serve his time), once Douglas breaks out himself and takes to the hills on his horse, the movie really picks up. Pursued by sheriff Walter Matthau, who secretly admires Douglas's gumption and individuality, Douglas is able to outwit him and his battery of modern appliances - until the night he and his horse are run over by an 18-wheeler while crossing a highway. The irony of that is unmistakable. Douglas admired this picture a lot, and he plays the part of Jack Burns with great vigor and respect. Somewhat ahead of its time regarding the anti-hero fighting the "establishment," the movie set an early precedent of what would become a mainstream theme only a handful of years later. Everything in the movie, from the direction by David Miller to the script by Dalton Trumbo is first rate. Definitely worth checking out.
Movie Review: Classic Lover
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a reason some movies get the label "Classic." Lonely Are the Brave earned it. Walter Matthau gave the performance of his life. I never t thought the same way about Matthau after I saw him in this film.
If there's an analog to "Chick Flicks" I hope Lonely Are the Brave would be an intellectually honest "Beau Show."
Movie Review: One one of the warmest, most deeply felt characterizations in all Western movies...
Summary: 4 Stars
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 century--its 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 with--naturally--a 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 situation--that 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 implication--that deep, down in the lethargy and disillusion there's a soft spot for the man on a horse... Is the sheriff at heart--if you could ever find his heart--a 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...
Movie Review: A Man Follows His Star
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the finest 60's westerns dealing with man's struggle for independence, overshadowed by "Hud," though far more entertaining a film. An incredible lineup, a cast of stars and future stars if you watch closely:Bill Bixby(helo pilot), Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, Gena Rowlands and Bill Rausch. A year later you would know Rausch as the one-armed man Dr. Richard Kimble chased for 4 seasons on "The Fugitive." Adapted from,"Brave Cowboy," a simple story about a drifter-cowboy who didn't like fences, this is more fleshed out, with Kirk Douglas trying to talk sense into his friend, by breaking in jail with him, a plausible sub-plot to explain his visit. Douglas has some touching scenes with Gena Rowlands where, at times, he struggles with his conscience and allegiance to his friend. Nevertheless, Douglas escapes and the entire locals pursue. Douglas and his valiant horse outwit all armed forces aganst him as he ascends the mountains to freedom, leading to a terrifying, heart-wrenching climax on a rain-swept highway. The on-lccation scenes are sparingly shot, symbolically at times, never slowing the suspense. There are poetic moments and moments of stark violence, handled with deft assurance. One of those black and white movies that explores the grays as well, you sit in your seat it a daze. Then in a few moments you realize you were experiencing screen "realism." You just want to jump into the screen and run off with Douglas. A rarity. The classic.Movie Review: A great story and a great film
Summary: 5 Stars
One of Kirk Douglas' best roles, and a moving film in all respects, well-acted by the superb cast. Contrasts the remnants of the "old west" personified by Douglas, with the "new" west of social activism, progress and consumer products, property--and most symbolically, highways that cut up and limit the open range. When the Old resists the New, the New must deal with the Old on its own terms: humor and respect, but ultimately tragedy, are the results. This movie deserves to be released on DVD as soon as possible!