Lonely Are the Brave

Lonely Are the Brave is a 1962 American black and white Western film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy directed by David Miller from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and starring Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands and Walter Matthau. Kirk Douglas plays cowboy Jack Burns, Gena Rowlands portrays his best friend's wife and Walter Matthau appears as a sheriff who sympathizes with Burns but must do his job and chase him down. The picture also features an early score by composer Jerry Goldsmith. Douglas said repeatedly that this was his favorite film of his own work. Plot John W. "Jack" Burns is a veteran of the Korean War who works as a roaming ranch hand, much as the cowboys of the old West did, refusing to join modern society. He rejects most of modern technology and carries no identification, such as a driver's license or draft card. He cannot even provide the authorities with a home address because he just sleeps wherever he finds a place.