Can you imagine a time when a man could mount his horse and ride across the country, camping wherever he pleased? It's the kind of life Kirk Douglas was still living as the cowboy in "Lonely Are The Brave," long after the horse had given way to the horseless carriage and most people were living in towns and cities working for someone else. His only accommodation to the modern world are a pair of snips he keeps in a saddle bag for getting through barbed wire fences. A man like that is just bound to run up against the System, and that is precisely what happens when the cowboy arrives at the house of an old friend, whose wife they both loved. She tells him that her husband has been jailed for smuggling illegals across the border and the cowboy resolves to get arrested and help him break out. However, married life has changed his friend's perspective and he is content to do his time. After taking a beating from the sadistic jailer, played by George Kennedy, the cowboy escapes alone. The rest of the movie is about his attempt to elude the authorities, led by Walter Matthau as the efficient sheriff in charge of lesser lights who admires Douglas enough to hope he makes good his escape and who pursues him skillfully but without enthusiasm. Much of the story is about the relationship between the cowboy and his inexperienced young horse, who symbolizes the wild and free life being lost bit by bit. As they surmount a rugged mountain range, the extent of their trust, affection, and ties to the land become clear, while so-called civilization, aptly represented by a truckload of new toilets, threatens to do what the police can't.
This is a very good movie, well-shot, well-acted, well-written, and with a very poignant theme. In it, Kirk Douglas delivers one of his best performances.
This is a very good movie, well-shot, well-acted, well-written, and with a very poignant theme. In it, Kirk Douglas delivers one of his best performances.