A modern type Western featuring the escapades of a loner – a Cowboy played by Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas has said that Lonely Are The Brave is his favourite among the films he has made

Filmed in Black and White though – I am not aware that this has been ‘colorised’ but it may have been – I hope so

Kirk Douglas just loves to be the main attraction and here he is mainly because of the storyline that keeps him on screen for virtually the whole time.

When working for Walt Disney in ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ he gave an almost pantomime performance in one of the main roles in the film and he was shown up in the acting department when up against such actors as James Mason and Peter Lorre.

Another Disney ‘over the top’ performance that worked wonderfully well was that of Robert Newton as Long John Silver in the 1950 film ‘Treasure Island’ He was just perfect in the role that defined his acting career from that day onwards – and he also defined to this day, the way that pirates are played on film and the way they talk.

The difference between the two of them is that Robert Newton was just playing the role as he saw it and playing it beautifully – whereas Kirk Douglas, you always had the impression, was always ‘self promoting’

A very unappealing trait

Lonely Are the Brave (1962) is a film about a man who is content with life on the open range. He’s the last of his kind, the wandering cowboy. The problem is the open range is disappearing fast

A man like that can’t live off the land anymore because there’s no land for him to live off of. Everywhere he goes the land is either owned or forbidden for him to enter. Kirk Douglas stars as the last cowboy who just can’t get it into his head how much the times have changed.

Gena Rowlands – has had a good and long career in film and television

ABOVE – This still, in a way sums up the film – the old and the new although I have to say that one thing about this film that looks really dated is the style of helicopters of the time.