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October 9, 2012 (XXV:6) , (1962, 107 min)

Directed by David Miller Screenplay by Based on the novel, The Brave Cowboy, by Produced by Original Music by Cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop Editing by Leon Barsha Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen and Robert Emmet Smith Set Decoration by George Milo Makeup by Larry Germain, Dave Grayson, and Bud Westmore

Kirk Douglas…John W. "Jack" Burns …Jerry Bondi …Sheriff Morey Johnson Michael Kane…Paul Bondi Carroll O'Connor…Hinton …Harry …Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez …Rev. Hoskins William Mims…First Deputy Arraigning Burns Martin Garralaga…Old Man Lalo Rios…Prisoner …Airman in Helicopter …One Arm

Table Tennis, 1936 Let's Dance, 1935 A Sports Parade Subject: Crew DAVID MILLER (November 28, 1909, Paterson, New Jersey – April Racing, and 1935 Trained Hoofs. 14, 1992, , ) has 52 directing credits, among them 1981 “Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood”, 1979 “Goldie DALTON TRUMBO (James Dalton Trumbo, December 9, 1905, and the Boxer”, 1979 “Love for Rent”, 1979 “The Best Place to Be”, Montrose, Colorado – September 10, 1976, Los Angeles, California) 1976 Bittersweet Love, 1973 Executive Action, 1969 Hail, Hero!, won best writing Oscars for The Brave One (1956) and Roman 1968 Hammerhead, 1963 Captain Newman, M.D., 1962 Lonely Are Holiday (1953). He was blacklisted for many years and, until Kirk the Brave, 1961 Back Street, 1960 , 1959 Happy Douglas insisted he be given screen credit for Spartacus was often to Anniversary, 1957 The Story of Esther Costello, 1956 Diane, 1951 write under a pseudonym. Some of his 67 credits are 2008 Johnny Saturday's Hero, 1950 Our Very Own, 1949 Top o' the Morning, Got His Gun, 1989 Always (screenplay "A Guy Named Joe"), 1987 1946 Seeds of Destiny, 1942 Flying Tigers, 1942 Further Prophecies “Roman Holiday”(story), 1978 “Ishi: The Last of His Tribe”, 1973 of Nostradamus, 1942 Sunday Punch, 1941 Billy the Kid, 1940 The Papillon, 1973 Executive Action, 1971 The Horsemen, 1971 Johnny Happiest Man on Earth, 1938 The Great Heart, 1938 Nostradamus, Got His Gun (novel / screenplay), 1968 The Fixer, 1965 The 1938 Fisticuffs, 1938 It's in the Stars, 1938 Modeling for , Sandpiper, 1962 Lonely Are the Brave, 1960 Exodus, 1960 Spartacus, 1937 Equestrian Acrobats, 1937 Tennis Tactics, 1936 Hurling, 1936 1958 Terror in a Town, 1957 The Green-Eyed Blonde, 1957 Dare-Deviltry, 1936 Aquatic Artistry, 1936 Racing Canines, 1936 The Brothers Rico, 1956 The Brave One, 1956 The Boss, 1955 The Court-Martial of , 1954 They Were So Young, 1953 Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—2

Roman Holiday, 1951 He Ran All the Way, 1951 The Prowler, 1950 1961 “Hong Kong” (24 episodes), 1960 The Private Lives of Adam Rocketship X-M, 1950 Gun Crazy, 1945 Our Vines Have Tender and Eve, 1958-1960 “” (61 episodes), 1959-1960 “Mr. Grapes, 1945 Jealousy (story), 1944 Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Lucky” (33 episodes), 1959 “'s Wonderful World of 1943 Tender Comrade, 1943 A Guy Named Joe, 1940 Kitty Foyle, Color”, 1959 Cry Tough, 1959 “Steve Canyon” (11 episodes), 1959 1940 We Who Are Young, 1940 A Bill of Divorcement, 1940 Curtain The Monster of Piedras Blancas, 1959 “Rawhide” (9 episodes), 1958 Call, 1939 Five Came Back, 1939 The Flying Irishman, 1938 A Man , 1958 Money, Women and Guns, 1958 The to Remember, 1937 The Devil's Playground, 1936 Tugboat Princess Saga of Hemp Brown, 1958 Wild Heritage, 1958 Live Fast, Die (story), 1936 Love Begins at Twenty, and 1936 Road Gang. Young, and 1958 Girls on the Loose.

JERRY GOLDSMITH (Jerrald King Goldsmith, February 10, 1929, …John W. "Jack" Burns (b. Issur Danielovitch Pasadena, California – July 21, 2004, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Demsky, December 9, 1916, Amsterdam, New York) has 92 acting California) won a best original score Oscar for The Omen (1976). credits, amond them 2008 “Empire State Building Murders”, 2004 Some of his other 251 composing credits are 2004 “ New Illusion, 2003 It Runs in the Family, 1999 Diamonds, 1994 “Take Me Voyages: Phase II”, 2002 Star Trek: Nemesis, 2002 The Sum of All Home Again”, 1991 “Tales from the Crypt”, 1988 “Inherit the Wind”, Fears, 2001 Along Came a Spider, 2001 Soarin', 1999 The Haunting, 1982 The Man from Snowy River, 1980 The Final Countdown, 1980 1998 Star Trek: Insurrection, 1998 Mulan, 1996 Star Trek: First Saturn 3, 1978 The Fury, 1976 “Victory at Entebbe”, 1975 Once Is Contact, 1996 City Hall, 1993 Six Degrees of Separation, 1992 Basic Not Enough, 1973 Scalawag, 1973 “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, 1971 Instinct, 1991 Sleeping with the Enemy, 1991 Not Without My To Catch a Spy, 1971 , 1971 The Light at the Edge of the Daughter, 1990 The Russia House, 1990 Total Recall, 1989 Star Trek World, 1970 There Was a Crooked Man..., 1969 The Arrangement, V: The Final Frontier, 1989 Warlock, 1988 Rambo III, 1987 Extreme 1968 The Brotherhood, 1967 The War Wagon, 1967 The Way West, Prejudice, 1986 Hoosiers, 1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1983 1966 Is Paris Burning?, 1966 , 1965 The Under Fire, 1982 First Blood, 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Heroes of Telemark, 1965 In Harm's Way, 1964 , 1979 Alien, 1978 The Boys from Brazil, 1978 Coma, 1977 Capricorn 1963 The List of Adrian Messenger, 1962 Two Weeks in Another One, 1977 Islands in the Stream, 1977 Twilight's Last Gleaming, Town, 1962 Lonely Are the Brave, 1961 The Last Sunset, 1961 Town 1976 The Cassandra Crossing, , 1976 Logan's Run, 1973-1974 Without Pity, 1960 Spartacus, 1960 Strangers When We Meet, 1959 “Police Story” (16 episodes), 1974 Chinatown, 1973 Papillon, 1970 The Devil's Disciple, 1959 , 1958 The Rio Lobo, 1970 Tora! Tora! Tora!, 1970 The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Vikings, 1957 , 1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 1957 1970 Patton, 1969 Justine, 1969 The Illustrated Man, 1968 The Top Secret Affair, 1956 Lust for Life, 1955 , 1955 Detective, 1968 Planet of the Apes, 1964-1967 “The Man from Man Without a Star, 1955 The Racers, 1954 20,000 Leagues Under U.N.C.L.E.” (15 episodes), 1960-1966 “” (6 episodes), the Sea, 1954 Ulysses, 1953 The Juggler, 1953 The Story of Three 1966 Seconds, 1966 The Blue Max, 1966 Our Man Flint, 1965 A Loves, 1952 The Bad and the Beautiful, 1952 The Big Sky, 1951 Patch of Blue, 1965 Von Ryan's Express, 1965 In Harm's Way, 1964 Detective Story, 1951 Ace in the Hole, 1951 Along the Great Divide, Rio Conchos, 1964 Seven Days in May, 1963 The Prize, 1963 Take 1950 The Glass Menagerie, 1950 Young Man with a Horn, 1949 Her, She's Mine, 1963 Lilies of the Field, 1963 The List of Adrian Champion, 1949 , 1948 My Dear Secretary, Messenger, 1962 Lonely Are the Brave, 1962 The Crimebusters, 1948 The Walls of Jericho, 1948 , 1947 Mourning 1960-1962 “Thriller” (53 episodes), 1961 “Cain's Hundred” (7 Becomes Electra, 1947 , and 1946 The Strange Love of episodes), 1961 “Wagon Train”, 1961 “Rawhide”, 1960-1961 Martha Ivers. He is also a successful memoirist and novelist. “Twilight Zone” (7 episodes), 1960 Studs Lonigan, 1960 “Have Gun - Will Travel”, 1960 “The Gambler, the Nun and the Radio”, 1959 “The Lineup”, 1959 “Perry Mason”, 1959 “For Better or Worse”, 1959 Face of a Fugitive, 1959 “Peck's Bad Girl”, 1959 City of Fear, 1958 “Studio One in Hollywood”, 1954-1957 “Climax!”, 1957 Black Patch

PHILIP H. LATHROP (October 22, 1912, Merced, California – April 12, 1995, Los Angeles, California) has 85 cinematographer credits, among them 1988 “Little Girl Lost”, 1986 Deadly Friend, 1986 “Mr. and Mrs. Ryan”, 1985 “Between the Darkness and the Dawn”, 1982 Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again, 1980 Foolin' Around, 1980 Loving Couples, 1980 Little Miss Marker, 1979 The Concorde... GENA ROWLANDS…Jerry Bondi (b. Virginia Cathryn Rowlands, '79, 1978 The Driver, 1977 Airport '77, 1975 The Black Bird, June 19, 1930, Madison, Wisconsin) has 103 acting credits, some of 1975 The Killer Elite, 1975 Hard Times, 1975 The Prisoner of which are 2012 Yellow, 2011 Olive, 2010 “NCIS”, 2007 Broken Second Avenue, 1974 Airport 1975, 1974 Mame, 1972 Portnoy's English, 2006 Paris, je t'aime, 1999 The Weekend, 1998 Hope Floats, Complaint, 1970 Rabbit, Run, 1969 They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, 1995 Something to Talk About, 1991 Ted & Venus, 1991 Night on 1969 , 1969 The Illustrated Man, 1968 I Love You, Earth, 1991 Once Around, 1990 “Montana”, 1988 Another Woman, Alice B. Toklas!, 1967 Point Blank, 1967 Don't Make Waves, 1967 1987 “The Betty Ford Story”, 1987 Light of Day, 1985 “An Early The Happening, 1966 What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, 1965 Frost”, 1985 “Nederland C”, 1984 Love Streams, 1982 Tempest, 1980 The Cincinnati Kid, 1964 The Americanization of Emily, 1963 The Gloria, 1979 “Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter”, 1978 Pink Panther, 1962 Days of Wine and Roses, 1962 Lonely Are the The Brink's Job, 1977 Opening Night, 1976 Two-Minute Warning, Brave, 1962 , 1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1960- 1975 “Columbo”, 1974 “Marcus Welby, M.D.”, 1974 A Woman Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—3

Under the Influence, 1972 “Circle of Fear”, 1971 Minnie and CARROLL O'CONNOR…Hinton (b. John Carroll O'Connor, August Moskowitz, 1969 Machine Gun McCain, 1968/I Faces, 1967 “Peyton 2, 1924, Manhattan, New York City, New York – June 21, 2001, Place” (37 episodes), 1967 Tony Rome, 1966 “The Long, Hot Culver City, California) has 82 acting credits, some of which are Summer”, 1966 “Run for Your Life”, 1964 “Burke's Law”, 1964 “Dr. 2000 Return to Me, 1999 Gideon, 1996-1999 “Mad About You”, Kildare”, 1963 “Breaking Point”, 1963 “77 Sunset Strip”, 1963 A 1999 “36 Hours to Die”, 1988-1995 “In the Heat of the Night” (146 Child Is Waiting, 1963 “The Dick Powell Theatre”, 1962 The Spiral episodes), 1986 “Convicted”, 1979-1983 “Archie Bunker's Place” (96 Road, 1962 Lonely Are the Brave, 1961 “87th Precinct”, 1960 “The episodes), 1982 “Gloria”, 1968-1979 “All in the Family” (208 Show”, 1960 “ Presents”, 1960 episodes), 1977 “The Last Hurrah”, 1974 Law and Disorder, 1972 “Adventures in Paradise”, 1959 Shadows, 1959 “Laramie”, 1958 The “Of Thee I Sing”, 1971 Doctors' Wives, 1970 Kelly's Heroes, 1969 High Cost of Loving, 1955 “The Steel Hour”, 1955 Marlowe, 1969 Death of a Gunfighter, 1969 “Walt Disney's “Appointment with Adventure”, 1955 “Studio One in Hollywood”, Wonderful World of Color”, 1968 The Devil's Brigade, 1966-1967 1955 “Ponds Theater”, 1955 “Robert Montgomery Presents”, abnd “Gunsmoke”, 1967 Waterhole #3, 1967 “That Girl”, 1967 “Mission: 1955 “The Way of the World.” She was married to the actor/director Impossible”, 1966 Not with My Wife, You Don't!, 1966 Hawaii, 1966 and appeared in several of his . What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? , 1965 “Slattery's People”, 1962-1965 “Dr. Kildare”, 1965 In Harm's Way, 1964 “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, 1964 “The Fugitive”, 1963 “”, 1963 “Stoney Burke”, 1963 “”, 1962 “Naked City”, 1961-1962 “The Untouchables”, 1961 By Love Possessed, 1960 “ Theatre”, 1960 “The United States Steel Hour”, and 1951 “The Whiteheaded Boy.”

WILLIAM SCHALLERT…Harry (July 6, 1922, Los Angeles, California) is one of the great character actors. Some of his 363 credits are 2011 “Bag of Bones”, 2010 “Medium”, 2008 “Recount”, 2008 “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”, 1999 “Family Law”, 1994 “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”, 1994 “Sweet Justice”, 1994 “Melrose Place”, 1994 “Shake, Rattle and Rock!”, nd WALTER MATTHAU…Sheriff Morey Johnson (b. Walter John 1994 “The Good Life”, 1994 “Coach”, 1993 Beethoven's 2 , 1993 Matthow, October 1, 1920, New York City, New York – July 1, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, 1990 “”, 1986-1988 2000, Santa Monica, California) won a best supporing actor Oscar for “The New Gidget” (44 episodes), 1988 “Bring Me the Head of Dobie The Fortune Cookie (1966). Some of his other 104 credits are 2000 Gillis”, 1987 “Matlock”, 1986 “”, 1985 “The Hanging , 1998 The Odd Couple II, 1996 I'm Not Rappaport, 1995 Paper Chase”, 1984 “Matt Houston”, 1983 “Magnum, P.I.”, 1979- Grumpier Old Men, 1995 The Grass Harp, 1994 I.Q., 1993 Grumpy 1982 “Lou Grant”, 1976 “Ellery Queen”, 1975 “Promise Him Old Men, 1993 Dennis the Menace, 1991 JFK, 1986 Pirates, 1982 I Anything”, 1975 “Police Story”, 1974 “The Six Million Dollar Man”, Ought to Be in Pictures, 1981 Buddy Buddy, 1981 First Monday in 1957-1973 “Gunsmoke” (7 episodes), 1973 , 1967- October, 1980 Hopscotch, 1980 Little Miss Marker, 1978 California 1973 “Ironside”, 1973 “Kung Fu”, 1972 The Trial of the Catonsville Suite, 1976 The Bad News Bears, 1975/I The Sunshine Boys, 1974 Nine, 1969-1972 “The F.B.I.”, 1972 “”, 1971 “The , 1974 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, 1973 Partridge Family”, 1969-1970 “Hawaii Five-O”, 1969 “”, The Laughing Policeman, 1973 Charley Varrick, 1972 Pete 'n' Tillie, 1968 Will Penny, 1968 “”, 1967 “Star 1971 Kotch, 1971 Plaza Suite, 1969 Hello, Dolly!, 1969 Cactus Trek”, 1967 In the Heat of the Night, 1967 “Mission: Impossible”, Flower, 1968 Candy, 1968 The Odd Couple, 1965 Mirage, 1964 Fail- 1966 “”, 1963-1966 “The Show” (104 Safe, 1964 Ensign Pulver, 1964 “ Presents the Chrysler episodes), 1962 Paradise Alley, 1962 Lonely Are the Brave, 1962 Theatre”, 1963 Charade, 1963 Island of Love, 1962 Who's Got the “The New Breed”, 1960-1962 77 “Sunset Strip”, 1959-1962 “The Action?, 1962 Lonely Are the Brave, 1956-1962 “G.E. True Theater”, Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” (24 episodes), 1962 “Bonanza”, 1962 1961-1962 “Target: The Corruptors”, 1958-1961 “Alfred Hitchcock “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, 1960 “Michael Shayne”, 1960 “Sea Presents”, 1961 “Tallahassee 7000” (26 episodes), 1958 Onionhead, Hunt”, 1960 “The Gambler, the Nun and the Radio”, 1960 “Wagon 1958 Ride a Crooked Trail, 1957 Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, 1952- Train”, 1959 The Beat Generation, 1957 “”, 1957 1957 “Goodyear Playhouse” (7 episodes), 1957 A Face in the Crowd, “Zorro”, 1957 Band of Angels, 1957 The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1956 Bigger Than Life, 1952-1954 “Armstrong Circle Theatre”, 1956 , 1956 Friendly Persuasion, 1956 The Lone 1950-1953 “Studio One in Hollywood”, 1951 “Shadow of the Ranger, 1953 Sword of Venus, 1951 The Man from Planet X, 1950 Cloak”, and 1950 “The Big Story.” Perfect Strangers, 1949 The Reckless Moment, 1949 Mighty Joe Young, and 1947 The Foxes of Harrow. MICHAEL KANE…Paul Bondi has 41 acting credits, among them 1994 “Witchcraft VI” (video), 1987 “The Gunfighters”, 1983 Cross GEORGE KENNEDY…Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez (February 18, 1925, Country, 1980 Middle Age Crazy, 1975 Three Days of the Condor, New York City, New York) won a best supporting actor Oscar for 1974 “The Six Million Dollar Man”, 1970 Love in a 4 Letter World, Cool Hand Luke (1967). Some of his other 182 acting credits are 1965 Promise Her Anything, 1965 The Bedford Incident, 1962 Lonely 2011 Another Happy Day, 2003-2010 “The Young and the Restless”, Are the Brave, 1960-1961 “Armstrong Circle Theatre”, 1961 “The 2008 The Man Who Came Back, 2005 Three Bad Men, 1996 Dallas: Working Mother”, 1954 “Macbeth,” and 1950 “Lights Out” J.R. Returns”, 1994 Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, 1994 “Lonesome Dove: The Series”, 1991 The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—4 of Fear, 1988-1991 “Dallas” (68 episodes), 1989 The Terror Within, libertarian or a patriotic anarchist. He has written the government and 1988 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, 1987 local authorities about his resistance to unjust authority and been Creepshow 2, 1986 The Delta Force, 1980 Death Ship, 1979 The given a year in jail. So it’s a moral imperative for Paul — when his Concorde... Airport '79, 1977 Airport '77, 1975-1976 “The Blue old compadre John W. Burns shows up with two files and a plan to Knight” (24 episodes), 1975 The Eiger Sanction, 1974 Airport 1975, ride for Mexico — to turn him down. 1974 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, 1973 Cahill U.S. Marshal, 1973 Lost Horizon, 1971-1972 “Sarge” (15 episodes), 1970 Airport, 1969 Fifty years after the release of that film, “Lonely Are the Brave,” Guns of , 1968 The Boston Strangler, 1968 The westerns may not be much in evidence at the multiplex. But on the Legend of Lylah Clare, 1967 , 1967 Hurry Sundown, small screen this summer, complex takes on the genre like “Hell on 1967 The Ballad of Josie, 1964-1966 “The Virginian”, 1963-1966 Wheels” (returning Aug. 12 to AMC) and “Longmire” (which has “Dr. Kildare”, 1960-1966 “Gunsmoke” (7 episodes), 1965 The Sons drawn big ratings for A&E) are in vogue again, and it’s worth taking of Katie Elder, 1965 Shenandoah, 1965 In Harm's Way, 1961-1964 another look at one of the bleakest westerns ever to grace the big “Bonanza”, 1963-1964 “McHale's Navy”, 1963 Charade, 1963 “The screen. Andy Griffith Show”, 1963 “Perry Mason”, 1963 The Man from the Diners' Club, 1960-1963 “Have Gun - Will Travel” (7 episodes), In 1961, when Trumbo wrote the first version of the screenplay, it 1962 “Death Valley Days”, 1962 “Rawhide”, 1961 “The was unthinkable in Hollywood to feature a draft resister. It would be Untouchables”, 1961 “The Asphalt Jungle”, 1960 “Route 66”, 1960 years before the Vietnam War made the draft an issue — so Trumbo, Spartacus, 1960 “Wanted: Dead or Alive”, 1960 “Shotgun Slade”, at his most sardonic, thought of an alternative crime for Paul: 1959 “Colt .45”, and 1956-1959 “The Phil Silvers Show” (9 associating with parrot smugglers. This lasted one round of what is episodes). otherwise an excellent screenplay. In the next version, titled “The Last Hero,” Trumbo came up with another solution: Paul is in jail for assisting illegal immigrants find food and work. It was a prescient choice, anticipating the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s and our current turmoil over undocumented workers.

Having addressed Paul’s “crime of principle,” Trumbo follows Abbey’s novel closely: Burns gets locked up then busts himself and two Indians out of jail, heading for the hills on his coquettish horse, Whiskey. The film’s second half tracks Burns’s evasion of his pursuers and his encounter with a nemesis both inevitable and ludicrous. Trumbo shows a clear sense of location and landscape, including as his title page a hand-drawn map of the cowboy’s Alex Cox in the NY Times, 29 July 2012 intended route, via the Sangre de Cristo and Manzano Mountains, into Mexico. Kirk Douglas was worried. It was 1961, and this actor-producer had recently gambled on a big history picture, “Spartacus.” He had fired Armed with a map, a great script, and a first-rate cast — he was the director — — after a week of shooting, replacing playing Burns himself — Mr. Douglas seemingly had nothing to him with Stanley Kubrick. Mr. Douglas thought the picture had worry about. Yet on May 4, 1961, from the Skies Hotel in turned out well, but it still hadn’t been released. Meanwhile he had Albuquerque, with production already under way, he wrote a troubled encountered a paperback novel — “The Brave Cowboy,” by Edward letter. It was addressed to Mr. , Beverly Hills. Abbey — and optioned it through his production company, Byrna. And Byrna, which had a production deal with Universal, “Dear Coop,” he wrote. “When for years you’ve had affection for a commissioned a screenplay, by Dalton Trumbo. guy and you find it suddenly turning to resentment, you begin to think it deserves some comment.” He went on to say, “Put yourself in Mr. Douglas was gambling again, but playing a good hand. The my spot. I’m doing a picture that should have been done by only one material — the story of a modern-day cowboy who breaks into jail to guy. I know it — my entire company knows it. Start with the title — rescue his best friend — is original for a western, and gets better as it The Last Hero. Now whom does that fit — me? Hell, no!” goes along. Its screenwriter was talented and hard working. (Blacklisted and jailed after refusing to testify before the House Un- Mr. Douglas complained to Cooper that his director, David Miller, American Activities Committee, Trumbo had for 10 years written was uncommunicative and focused on realism. The only direction scripts under assumed names, winning an Oscar for one of them as Miller had given was, “try and play this the way Gary Cooper Robert Rich. Mr. Douglas went to bat for Trumbo on “Spartacus,” would.” Even worse had been Abbey’s arrival on set. Mr. Douglas promising him a screen credit with his real name.) And Trumbo had reported that he’d driven to meet Abbey at the Albuquerque airport: solved the story’s two biggest problems: Why was the hero’s best “Fifty guys step off the plane but I spot him immediately — why? He friend in jail in the first place? And why wouldn’t he leave? looks like Gary Cooper. To make matters worse, when I meet him, he talks like Cooper!” Abbey’s novel, published in 1956, is set a decade earlier, following the introduction of the military draft. Paul, the hero’s friend, has For a moment it sounds as if Mr. Douglas the producer was angling refused to register, not because he is a pacifist (he isn’t) but because for Cooper to take over the lead. But this was impossible. Cooper was he considers a draft unconstitutional. Like Abbey, Paul is an incipient terminally ill and would die nine days later. Certainly Mr. Douglas Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—5 knew this when he wrote he wanted to follow in Cooper’s footsteps your article you quote Abbey: "I am the one who loved un-fenced throughout the shoot: “I know now that at best I will come remotely countries." close. But more important — I do know also that just trying to be you I never met Mr. Abbey, but we wrote to each other several will make a better me.” times. I apologized to him that the studio insisted on changing the title of "Brave Cowboy" to "Lonely Are the Brave." Such heartfelt words acknowledged that outside help would not be In the more than 60 films that I've made, this is my favorite. forthcoming. It is the message of the film as well. Abbey’s presence I am very pleased when I get a letter, or someone comes up to me looms over the film — both Burns and Paul contain aspects of his saying it is also their favorite. character — but did he really look like Cooper? To a certain extent. Hollywood was capable of transferring the feelings of this Did he really visit the set? Recalling Abbey after his death in 1989, great environmentalist to film. People will always be able to see as Mr. Douglas wrote, “I never met Mr. Abbey, but we wrote to each well as read the beliefs of this great man in "Lonely Are the Brave." other several times.” KIRK DOUGLAS Beverly Hills

Which was it? Does it matter? Either way, the story of Abbey’s visit gave Mr. Douglas an opportunity to write a fan letter, and to prepare for a role he felt his mentor could have better played. As the pressmen conclude in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” the other great western made that year: If confronted with two conflicting versions, “print the legend.”

Before the shoot Byrna put out a release emphasizing Miller’s realism: nonactors would be cast, a genuine painter would play Paul’s wife, the sets would showcase her work. It was all for naught: professional actors — Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy — were used instead. “The Brave Cowboy,” shot as “The Megan Sapnar, U Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research Last Hero,” was released in 1962 as “Lonely Are the Brave” — elegantly photographed, theatrical rather than “natural,” exuberantly "Lonely Are the Brave is my favorite movie. I love the theme that if acted, deftly paced. There is no greater western, and certainly no you try to be an individual, society will crush you…I pleaded with more tragic one. Despite his doubts Mr. Douglas personified Burns, Universal not to release Lonely Are the Brave like a cheap little flouting cinematic rules by doing his own stunts and co-starring with Western, which is how they saw it…" (Ragman's Son 339, 341) an animal, a high spot of his career. The late and early 1960's saw an explosion of experimental films made by young French directors like François It’s hard to imagine a film so radical, or so pessimistic, being made Truffaut, Jean-Luc Goddard, and Claude Chabrol. This French "New today. Though a hero, Burns refuses to carry ID or listen Wave" movement won international acclaim while also earning big to reason. He disrespects the power company by cutting its barbed- bucks at the U.S. box office. New art house venues were thriving and wire fences; the county jail, by breaking out; the sheriff, whose Americans were developing a hearty appetite for European art manhunt he eludes; the military-industrial complex, whose helicopter cinema. It was against this industrial climate that Kirk Douglas he shoots down; and us, the viewers, who — when the lights go up or became interested in producing a new American western, one that the DVD ends — return to a life played mainly by the rules. would challenge the stronghold of the international avant-garde and Remarkable for a low-budget western, “Lonely Are the Brave” poses remind American audiences that Hollywood craftsmanship can uneasy questions about the idea, and value, of heroism. Do Paul’s compete with foreign films. "I got tired of hearing people rave about principles justify abandoning his wife and child? Where does Burns’s the 'artistry' of European films," he told one reporter. "We can make extraordinary journey lead? just as fine films in America—and I decided to prove it." ("Kirk Douglas Film Has Odd Career"). Letter from Kirk Douglas in the , March or Based on Edward Abbey's novel "The Brave Cowboy," and April 1989 Death of Writer Edward Abbey adapted as a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, Lonely Are the Brave I was very sad to read in your paper that author Edward Abbey follows the story of a free-spirited cowboy named Jack Burns (Kirk ("Thoreau of the American West") has died (Part 1, March 16). In Douglas) who struggles to live as an individual among the your detailed obituary, I was astonished that no mention was made of encroaching world of modern civilization. After coming to the aid of his book "The Brave Cowboy."" a friend (Michael Kane) and then breaking out of jail, Burns is chased I came across a paperback edition of this book around 1960, on horseback through the perilous 2-mile high cliffs of the Sandia and was deeply moved. I bought the movie rights and finally mountain range in Central , fighting off helicopters and persuaded Universal to allow my company, Bryna, to make the film, the forces of law and modernity. He is patiently pursued by the mild- which was brilliantly written by Dalton Trumbo and produced by mannered Sherrif Johnson (Walter Matthau), who secretly hopes that Eddie Lewis. In the cast with me were Gena Rowlands, Walter the cowboy makes it over the border to safety. Matthau and William Shatner [sic], and introducing Carrel [sic] Lonely are the Brave was not only Kirk Douglas's favorite O'Connor in a small role. They all gave marvelous performances. film, but it was also a source of pride for the team who made it. In the opening scene, I played Jack Burns (Edward Abbey), Executive Producer Edward Lewis notes that the film tested who rides across a wide plain and comes up to a large wire fence. I extremely well with audiences but "for me, more important, is the get off my horse, taking a pair of pliers, cut the fence and ride on. In fact that I love it—I can truthfully say that it's the first picture that Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—6

I've made that I really like." Cinematographer Philip Lathrop and Instead of opening for a first run at a Broadway theater in New York, director David Miller shared this sentiment, and script supervisor, the film opened directly on the theater circuits in the summer months Dick Michaels, called the work "a fine creative film" and notes that of 1962. The production team worried that reviews for the film were working on it "was a fortunate opportunity," a genuine compliment not given the same prominence that it might have received if it had from a man who adds that he "is not interested in being a script opened on Broadway first. "On a circuit premier you get the second- supervisor much longer." string critics normally," John Friedkin writes in a memo to Warren Before production even started, the script was sent to author Cowan. "The space and position in the paper depend on which Edward Abbey for comments, an unusual move in the industry that Broadway openings run the same day... Few good pix, and this is a demonstrates the team's commitment to the story and the character good one, take the loss to build up prestige." development of Jack Burns. "All of us involved in this project have Douglas himself hoped to see the film in art houses and long admired the novel and it is for this reason that we submit the smaller, more intimate theaters. "When the picture was first released, screenplay to you for your comments you may care to make on it," people assumed it was just another western. And it wasn't reaching Lewis writes. While "delighted" with the script, Abbey begs the the right audiences." Douglas said in an interview. "I thought this was producers not to use the original working title "The Last Hero," a plea the kind of picture people would discuss." ("Hollywood Flop") After that was heeded, however, not because of Abbey's insistence but being named one of the top 10 films of 1962 by national publications because the rights could not be secured. A five-page list of potential like Time, Newsweek, and The Saturday Review, Douglas finally titles was circulated before "Lonely Are the Brave" was selected; it succeeded in getting the film re-issued in early 1963 where it enjoyed "tested by far the best of many we tried, primarily because it a successful run in art houses like the Surf Theater in and the connoted 'quality.'" River Oaks Theater in Houston. Nonetheless, the script still went through the usual back-and- forth with the MPAA Production Code Administration. Geoffrey Shurlock's concern with the scripts "crudities" demonstrates the negotiations between writers and censors in the years before the ratings system was implemented. Despite Shurlock's dogged insistence on the removal of fart jokes, wayward preachers, and extraneous "hells" and "damnits," he ultimately found the film to be "an exciting story which reveals the very heart of the American spirit." It was proof, he said, that "outstanding films can still be made without the immortality and decadence which pervades many of today's movies." Rogers & Cowan, Kirk Douglas's public relations firm, worked on developing a unique publicity point of view that focused on Bryna's two-fold conception of the film's themes of "realism" and From Magill’s American Film Guide, Volume 3. Edited by Frank "ruggedness." The "American neo-realism" that they identify Magill. Salem Press, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1983. includes a "semi-documentary" feel to the filmmaking. In sharp contrast to Spartacus, Bryna's newly released big budget epic, Lonely Lonely Are the Brave is a moving film about a man who is unable to Are the Brave was shot in black and white and produced on a much adapt to the world in which he finds himself. He is a loner unable to lower budget. In addition, they planned to pitch magazine layouts on accommodate his desire to ’s needs, a cowboy in a time angles that emphasized the autobiographical nature of the script and when cowboys are almost obsolete. He is a free spirit unfit for a the inclusion of local people in the production (particularly the world of fences and of laws, a child unable, or perhaps unwilling, to casting of an actual one-armed man, Bill Raisch, for the part of One- grow up. Jack Burns has our admiration throughout, because we share Arm, with whom Douglas has a barroom brawl). his desire to be independent and because he seems completely free of The publicity plan also notes that Edward Abbey's wife is an malice. The film, however, is not simply an exercise in fantasy. Life artist and the novel describes her paintings as decorating one of the is not easy for Jack Burns or for the people who are his friends. We scenes, a detail that would be incorporated in the actual film as well. see that his way is unworkable, no matter how much we might want it It is noted that, "this will be, in effect, the greatest initial exhibition to succeed. any artist ever received…Interviews and possibly a magazine layout Lonely Are the Brave is a Western, but it is a Western with a can be done on this." Alas, the exhibition was not a happy one for difference. The classical Western, such as (1952), is set in Mrs. Abbey. "I don't quite know how to word this," Rita Abbey the past and presents a conflict between outlaws and civilized people. writes to Ed Lewis after seeing publicity stills, "but I was very In such a film the outlaws represent an almost complete anarchy distressed by the hanging of one particular painting which was a while the townspeople stand for order or civilization. The hero, often horizontal landscape—hung perpendicularly to fit the wall space. … a lawman, is a middleman who has some of the same skills and drives in the case of an abstract landscape it never works the wrong way… as do the outlaws but who uses them for the benefit of the town—of I'll have to close my eyes during that scene." civilization. Lonely Are the Brave, however, is set in the present, and Despite the film's promise and positive reviews, Universal- the old categories of outlaw, hero , and civilization are difficult to International, the film's distributor, considered Lonely Are the Brave a apply. It is a time and a film in which the old values and skills are flop at the box office. Douglas and others involved in the film's out of place, in which the “hero” no longer fights for civilization, but production were personally disappointed with the handling of the instead finds it to be his antagonist. Two other westerns in the early film. "What broke my heart was that they tossed the picture into a 1960’s explore similar themes. In The Misfits (1961), modern theater and let it die," Douglas later commented. ("Hollywood Flop"). “cowboys” are reduced to capturing wild horses for dog food, and in Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—7

Ride the High Country (1962) two aging exlawmen try to cope with a men who are hunting him. Then, a military general from a nearby West in which they have become irrelevant. Airbase sends two men in a helicopter to give them some practical The basic conflict of Lonely Are the Brave is established in in pursuing criminals. the opening sequence. We see the barren landscape of New Mexico Jack Burns, then, is facing three quite different opponents. and Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas) waking up beside a campfire as jets Gutierrez is driven by pure hatred, while the men in the helicopter fly overhead. He regards them without anger although they represent have the arrogant feeling that their machine can conquer any the forces which will soon defeat him. Jack mounts his horse, problem; they claim they have the ability to pick the fugitive off a Whiskey, and rides to the house of Paul (Michael Kane) and Jerri treetop if they want to. Less intense and more human is the sheriff. Bondi (Gena Rowlands). His friend has been convicted of helping He knows that his job is to capture Jack, and he performs that job as illegal Mexican immigrants and is in the local jail awaiting his well as he can, but he does so without arrogance or animosity. In fact, transfer to the penitentiary. Jack has come to help him break out of more than once he reveals his admiration for Jack as well as his jail. To Jack the situation is simple; he hides two hacksaw blades in disdain for the attitude of the other lawmen. “For two bits I’d call the his boots and gets himself thrown into jail so that he and Paul can whole thing off,” he says at one point, and when Jack makes it to the then escape. The situation is not so simple to Paul, however, and he top of the mountain ridge, the sheriff says, “You son of a gun, you refuses to leave; Jack escapes alone. He is then pursued by the local did it.” When the men in the helicopter try a foolish tactic and get sheriff and other lawmen as he tries to reach the Mexican border. shot down, the sheriff remarks sarcastically that they got a “bellyful” By the time of the jailbreak we know what kind of a man of practical experience. Jack Burns is. We have seen him, as he rides across the range, cutting Jack never shows hatred in this contest with the lawmen. a barbed wire Indeed, he goes fence and going out of his way through it rather to be than around it. considerate of We have seen his pursuers. that he, unlike When the everyone else, helicopter men rides a horse see him and and has no one of them driver’s licence, starts down a no social rope ladder to security card, no capture him, he identification at does not shoot all, much to the to kill but surprise and merely shoots displeasure of the tail rudder the police who of the craft so book him. Perhaps most importantly we have seen that he is loyal to a that it goes down slowly. Later, Gutierrez comes down a rope from friend. We have also seen the manner in which he is different from the ridge, thinking he has trapped Jack. When Jack comes out of his friends Jerri and Paul. Jerri does not understand Jack’s defiance of hiding he has a perfect chance to take revenge on the man who beat laws and limits. For her the issue is simple: “You go by the rules or him up in jail; instead, he merely knocks him out and throws away his you lose.” This Jack dismisses as an “Eastern” attitude. Indeed, it is a guns. In fact, it is the innate kindness of Jack Burns that is his standard theme of the Western that women represent the values of undoing almost as much as the technological advantages of his civilization and the family. Paul, however, has Jack’s independent pursuers. His horse Whiskey helps him until he is near the top of the spirit but is trying to come to terms with the world in which he lives. ridge, but as the slope gets steeper, Whiskey becomes more It is an effective scene in the jail cell as the two old friends argue hindrance than help. Jack briefly considers abandoning him, but about whether Paul will escape with Jack. Paul and Jerri can go with instead laboriously pulls the animal up to the rim. him, Jack argues, and rear their son, Seth, as a natural man—an idea When he mounts Whiskey and rides down the other side of he and Paul have often discussed. Paul, however, has decided that he the mountain, he has only to cross a highway to reach the forest and can endure jail because Jerri and Seth are waiting for him, and he almost certain freedom. The weather, however, decides Jack’s fate as does not want them to have to run or hide—ever. “You grew up on rain begins to fall, soon becoming a downpour. Trying to cross the me, didn’t you?” asks Jack. Jack, however, remains determined to go highway, Whiskey becomes confused by the lights and cars; he stops, his own way regardless of the consequences and escapes from the and is struck by a huge diesel truck. In the confusion that follows we jail. see Jack Burns lying at the side of the road, alive, but unable to move After the jailbreak Jack has to cross a mountain ridge and a or speak. His eyes tell us eloquently, however, that he feels like a highway to reach a forest which will hide him en route to Mexico. He wild animal that has been wounded and captured. When he hears the gets started well ahead of the lawmen, but we soon see the inequality pistol shot which puts Whiskey out of his misery, Jack’s spirit seems of the contest as Sheriff Johnson (Walter Matthau) goes after him in a to ebb. The only discernible emotion in his eyes is one of fear. We jeep with a two-way radio. Other lawmen, including Gutierrez know that this is the end of Jack Burns even though he is alive when (George Kennedy), a sadistic policeman who beat him up while he an ambulance comes and takes him away. In the last image of the was in jail, are hunting him from other directions. Even a jeep cannot film we see its whole theme: Jack’s cowboy hat lying on the highway follow a horse in the rugged terrain, and Jack keeps out of sight of the Miller—LONELY ARE THE BRAVE—8 in the rain. The anachronistic free spirit has lost to the technological has acquired a large following of people who recognize the well- new world. written and well-acted treatment of the theme of the individual …Even though it was praised by nearly all reviewers, the against society and its rules. film was not commercially successful. Through the years, however, it

COMING UP IN THE FALL 2012 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXV: Oct 16 FAIL-SAFE 1964 Oct 23 1980 Oct 30 COME AND SEE Elem Klimov 1985 Nov 6 GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES Isao Takahata 1988 Nov 13 MAGNOLIA Paul Thomas Anderson 1999 Nov 20 RUSSIAN ARK Alexander Sokurov 2002 Nov 27 WHITE MATERIAL Claire Denis 2009 Dec 4 A SEPARATION Asghar Farhadi 2011

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