![]() ![]() The film revolves around Jack's quest to help his best friend avoid serving a 2 year prison term for, of all things: smuggling, aiding and abetting "wetbacks"! (Some things never change!) But who is going to save Jack from himself? Jack's horse, "Whiskey" co-stars. It's hard to fathom why he was denied even the recognition of a nomination. In the "Making of." special features short,(Please, don't miss it!) both Kirk Douglas (Jack Burns) and son, Michael, agree that "Lonely" constitutes both Kirk's favorite film and characterization. The opening minutes are probably the most surprising of any "Western" I've ever seen, serving both to highlight the condition of dead-man-walking cultural anachronism of its protagonist and as a foreshadowing of events. From the very opening scene, LONELY has a unique way of punctuating every detail, each occurrence, that was very Avantgarde for 1962. How this early sixties masterpiece has flown under my radar, and just about everyone else's, for half a century, I'll never know. After watching Lonely Are the Brave, his phrase re-surfaced and, perhaps, I finally got it. CA CALI, COLOMBIA+ORLANDO, FL "Some things never change.and some things remain the same!" A college philosophy professor of mine had a penchant for utilizing this quote at, seemingly, the most inappropriate of times. Absolutely don't miss Lonely Are The Brave when it is broadcast, especially fans of Kirk Douglas.įrom PASTO, COLOMBIA-Via: L. The ending is truly an ironic one as the cowboy loses that part of him that makes him a unique American icon. Of course if Douglas had actually killed someone in eluding the law, Matthau's duty would have been clear. In a lot of ways it's like the Charles Bronson classic Death Hunt where Mountie Lee Marvin truly is sorry he's on this particular job. Mention must also go to Walter Matthau as the wise and laconic sheriff who really does understand Douglas's mentality as no one else really does. You root for this law breaking maverick every step of the way. And he's one of the most appealing of all the roles Kirk Douglas has. He invests so much of himself in Burns it's hard to tell where Kirk leaves off and Burns begins. The non-conformist part of Jack Burns certainly must have appealed to Kirk Douglas. But that doesn't stop Kirk who breaks loose and the chase is on. So when Kirk's ready to bust jail, Kane refuses to go to his surprise. While there Deputy George Kennedy works him over. So Kirk gets himself in a nasty bar fight with one armed Bill Raisch and gets tossed in sheriff Walter Matthau's jail. What to do but be a cowboy hero and bust him from jail. Kane's in jail for helping illegal immigrants cross the US/Mexican border. Kirk is returning to his home town from God knows what and meets up with Gena Rowlands who is married to his best friend Michael Kane. I'm also not so sure how much film and television have influenced 1962's Jack Burns in the way a cowboy should behave. But the frontier that Dempsey dealt with in that film has changed, it just doesn't exist any more. Dempsey Rae in that film isn't too much different from Jack Burns, in fact they have opinions on certain subjects almost identical. Run another of Kirk Douglas's classic westerns Man Without A Star side by side. Burns's problem is that he's a man born a century too late. Like the film's Jack Burns Kirk Douglas has charted his own way through life in Hollywood the way Jack Burns does. I think of it the same way that Bette Davis says about Dark Victory that the role of Judith Traherne is 98% of me. Kirk Douglas has said often enough that Lonely Are The Brave is his favorite among the films he's done.
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