Lonely are the Brave

Jack Burns is a cowboy who has not adapted to the modern American West. When he learns that his friend Paul Bondi is serving time in a New Mexico jail, Jack has himself arrested so he can break Paul out. Paul, however, has decided to serve his sentence rather than run, so Jack escapes alone across the border country while Sheriff Morey Johnson leads the pursuit.

The film was directed by David Miller, its 1962 release placing it between Back Street (1961) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) in a directing career that began with Love Happy (1949) and includes Sudden Fear (1952) and Midnight Lace (1960). Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay, adapted from Edward Abbey's novel The Brave Cowboy, and Edward Lewis produced. Kirk Douglas plays Jack Burns, with Gena Rowlands as Jerry Bondi, Walter Matthau as Sheriff Johnson, Michael Kane as Paul Bondi, Carroll O'Connor as Hinton and William Schallert as Harry among a credited cast of 54. Made for about 2 million USD, it drew an 8.4/10 critics' rating from 14 reviews, while audiences gave it 7.5/10 on IMDb from 11,000 votes and 7.4/10 on TMDB from 173 votes.