The Weekend Western: Lonely Are the Brave
Westerns don’t need to be epics or even period pieces to be classics, as this contemporary tale of a cowboy in a world that’s moved on without him shows.
When John W. “Jack” Burns (Kirk Douglas) learns that an old friend has been sent to prison for trying to help illegal Mexican immigrants he gets himself arrested in order to see him. Failing to persuade him to break jail, Burns goes on the run alone, with Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau) leading the hunt.
David Miller’s paean to a disappearing way of life, and to the freedom that went with it, is a superior piece of filmmaking. Everyone involved is at the top of the game, both in front and behind the camera, and the resulting film is a minor classic.
Burns must rank among Douglas’ finest performances. A true free spirit, with no home or steady job, Burns goes where the mood takes him and Douglas makes this carefree wanderer real. Through his eyes we see how the world is changing, full of fences and signs, rules and regulations. It’s become a world in which men like Jack Burns are obsolete, a world that, if you don’t move with it, will run right over you.
The part of Sheriff Johnson is tailor made for Walter Matthau, his hangdog features fitting the character to a T. Johnson, one feels, not only has some admiration for his quarry but also sympathy with his plight. His job is as predictable as the dog he watches from his office window everyday, and you sense that part of him relishes the change of pace, while another regrets the inevitable outcome.
Also making an impression is George Kennedy as a sadistic guard. Watching this, it’s no surprise that he went on to bigger things and within five years he was Oscar nominated for a performance that put him on the other side of the bars in Cool Hand Luke.
The film looks great, with the cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop breathtaking, making the most of the impressive New Mexico locations during the chase sequence. Legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith provides the films score and it’s a good one, perfectly underpinning the action and the emotion.
Best of all though is Dalton Trumbo’s screenplay, which sets the scene in the first half of the film and the lets the action take over when the manhunt begins. Trumbo was a Douglas favourite after Spartacus, providing the script for the much less impressive The Last Sunset the year before. Here he gives the actors the ammunition they need to give such impressive performances. While the other films he made with Douglas were a bit overwritten, Lonely Are the Brave says what it has to say early on and then lets the characters and the action take over. Its finale though punctuates the films message all too literally.
Fans of Sylvester Stallone’s First Blood should check this out, as it’s virtually the same story, just with added violence and Sly’s Viet Nam vet in place of Kirk’s cowboy.
