The Bravados

The Bravados is a 1958 American western film (color by DeLuxe) directed by Henry King, starring Gregory Peck and Joan Collins. The CinemaScope film was based on a novel of the same name, written by Frank O'Rourke.[1]

The Bravados
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHenry King
Produced byHerbert B. Swope Jr.
Screenplay byPhilip Yordan
Story byFrank O'Rourke
StarringGregory Peck
Joan Collins
Music byAlfred Newman
Hugo Friedhofer
Lionel Newman
CinematographyLeon Shamroy
Edited byWilliam Mace
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • June 25, 1958 (1958-06-25) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot
Joan Collins and Gregory Peck in a scene from the film.

Jim Douglas (Gregory Peck) is a rancher pursuing four outlaws he is convinced murdered his wife six months before. He rides into Rio Arriba, where these four men, Alfonso Parral (Lee Van Cleef), Bill Zachary (Stephen Boyd), Ed Taylor (Albert Salmi) and Lujan (Henry Silva), are in jail awaiting execution for an unrelated murder. Sheriff Eloy Sanchez (Herbert Rudley) allows Douglas to see the men.

In town, Douglas happens upon Josefa Velarde (Joan Collins), whom he met and fell in love with nearly five years previously in New Orleans. She has been looking after her late father's ranch and has never married. Douglas reveals that he did marry, is now a widower, and that he has a daughter (Maria Garcia Fletcher). Josefa later learns, from Rio Arriba's priest (Andrew Duggan), the truth of how Douglas' wife died.

Simms, the executioner, arrives. He waits until the townspeople are at church, then while pretending to check the men's height and weight, stabs the sheriff in the back. The sheriff manages to shoot and kill him, but the inmates escape and take a young woman named Emma as a hostage. A posse rides out immediately, but Douglas - with his extensive experience trailing these outlaws - waits until morning; he anticipates one of the prisoners will stay behind to cut off everybody at a pass, which is what happens. Douglas eventually catches up. The posse finds a dead man, who appears to be the real Simms.

The outlaws determine that Douglas is the man they must worry about most. Parral is assigned the job of ambushing him. Instead, Douglas takes him from behind. Parall begs for his life and insists, when Douglas shows him a photo of his wife, that he has never seen the woman. Douglas kills him, then sets out after the other three. Taylor hangs back, figuring he can take Douglas down. Douglas, however, evades his fire, then ropes him by the feet and hangs him upside-down from a tree.

The two remaining fugitives reach the house of John Butler (Gene Evans), a prospector and Douglas's neighbor. Butler tells the men he needs to get to work outside and leaves, in actuality attempting to escape. Zachary shoots and kills him; Lujan goes to retrieve a sack of coins which Butler had taken with him. While Lujan is doing this, Zachary rapes Emma. Lujan sees riders approaching, calls to Zachary, and they flee, leaving the girl behind. The riders turn out to be Josefa and one of her ranch-hands, who now spot Douglas coming toward them from another direction. The posse also arrives and Emma's father and fiancé find Emma.

Douglas goes to his ranch to get fresh mounts, but finds that the fugitives have taken his last horses. He leaves Josefa with his daughter. In a town just across the Mexican border, Douglas enters a bar and finds Zachary. The outlaw claims to not know the woman in the picture Douglas shows him and shouts at him to let him be. Douglas draws his gun, Zachary pulls his, and Douglas shoots him dead. He then goes on to the home of the fourth man, Lujan, who has a family of his own. When shown a photo of Douglas's wife, Lujan says he has never seen the woman before. He recalls that he and his companions had ridden past the ranch. Douglas points to Lujan's sack of coins and tells him that whoever killed his wife stole that from his ranch. Lujan explains that he took the bag from Butler, whereupon Douglas realizes that Butler was the murderer.

Now knowing that the four men whom he pursued had nothing to do with his wife's death, Douglas realizes that he is no better than they were, having killed three of them in cold blood. He returns to town and goes to the church to ask for forgiveness. The priest says that while he cannot condone Douglas' actions, he respects him for not making excuses for what he has done. Josefa arrives with Douglas's daughter, and they exit the church together.

Cast

The film is notable for including a rare serious role for Joe DeRita who, around the time the film was released, became "Curly Joe" of the Three Stooges.

Reception

Critical response

When the film was released The New York Times film critic, A. H. Weiler, gave it a positive review, writing, "Despite these flaws, which are fundamentally minor deficiencies, The Bravados emerges as a credit to its makers. Director Henry King, who headed the troupe that journeyed down to the photogenic areas of Mexico's Michoacán and Jalisco provinces, has seen to it that his cast and story move at an unflagging pace...The canyons, towering mountains, forests and waterfalls of the natural locales used, make picturesque material for the color cameras. But the producers have given their essentially grim 'chase' equally colorful and arresting treatment."[2]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 5 critic reviews with an average rating of 8/10.[3]

Awards

Albert Salmi won the National Board of Review NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1958.

See also

References
  1. The Bravados on IMDb
  2. Weiler, A.H. The New York Times, film review, June 26, 1958. Last accessed: February 23, 2011.
  3. "The Bravados (1958)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
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