DVD Review: Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

Kino Lorber has released David Miller's brilliant transitional western with a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and starring Kirk Douglas. Made for Douglas' own Joel Productions, "Lonely Are The Brave" offers the actor's finest performance in his long career.

Douglas plays Jack Burns, an itinerant ranch hand who separates himself from the technological real world and lives in a manner of the old west. Jack gets into a fight in a bar with a one-armed man (fighting him with the use of one arm), gets arrested, and then starts another fight at the police station. He fully intended to get arrested in order to help an incarcerated friend break out of jail. However, the friend, nearing the end of his sentence, doesn't want to possibly wreck things by breaking out, so Burns breaks out alone. The film then shows the wily ideas of the lone cowboy on horseback, relying on the elements while being pursued by police in jeeps, helicopters, and other technological advancements that Burns' life had always avoided.

There are many elements to "Lonely Are The Brave" that make it one of the best westerns in the genre's long history. The basic idea of the old western ideas at odds with technological advancement is established early, with Burns and his beloved horse Whiskey trying to cross a busy highway in New Mexico, with cars darting past from either direction. Burns' relationship with the horse is another early development, displaying the animal's trained intelligence and his owner's affection and devotion. Burns gets the idea to break his friend out of jail after visting the friend's wife (Gena Rowlands). The man, Bondi (Michael Kane), was locked up for attempting to find work for Mexican illegals who escaped into America. The other element that adds to the narrative is the respect the sheriff (Walter Matthau) has for Kane and his ideas, having to pursue someone whose perspective he both understands and admires. This is the opposite attitude of his sadistic deputy Guitterez (George Kennedy), who relishes in the prospect of the pursuit and eventual capture.

"Lonely Are The Brave" was chosen for filming after Kirk Douglas read Edward Abbey's book "The Brave Cowboy" on which the movie is based. He asked former blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, with whom he had worked on "Spartacus" (1960) to pen the screenplay. Trumbo called his subsequent screenplay "The Last Hero." Douglas wanted to call it "The Brave Cowboy" and open the film in art houses before releasing it wide to mainstream theaters. The studio, Universal, chose to release it wide and market it as a western under the title "Lonely Are The Brave."

The movie's director, David Miller, started his directorial career helming short comedies and later directed features with such diverse types as The Marx Brothers, John Wayne, and Doris Day. "Lonely Are The Brave" is his best film. Miller takes great advantage of the widescreen process and the stark black and white cinematography of Phillip Lathrop, his expansive wide shots showing the loneliness and isolation of cowboy Burns.

Kirk Douglas stated in interviews that "Lonely Are The Brave" is his favorite among all of his films, and agrees that it does contain his best performance. The scene at the end when the captured cowboy hears the lawmen state that they must destroy his beloved horse, who is seriously wounded, is especially memorable. The look on Jack Burns' face as he hears the fatal gunshot that destroys Whiskey is emotionally stunning.

Kino Lorber's blu ray is loaded with great special features, including interesting, informative commentary by Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell, a tribute film with Douglas, Rowlands, and Steven Spielberg, along with Kirk's son Michael, and a look at composer Jerry Goldsmith's remarkable score.

"Lonely Are The Brave" is the quintessential western that ushered the genre into the 60s, which was soon followed by the westerns of Sergio Leone, and other challenges to the genre that was central to the development of narrative cinema.

The blu ray can be purchased at this link: Lonely/Brave.