The Bravados (1958)

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay)
Frank O'Rourke (novel)

Release Date:

1 August 1958 (West Germany)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

A Powerful Western Tale of Revenge and Redemption

Plot:

Jim Douglas has been relentlessly pursuing the four outlaws who murdered his wife, but finds them in jail about to be hanged...

Plot Keywords:

Shot In The Back | Revenge | Father Daughter Relationship | Chase | Rape

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Jim Douglass
Joan Collins	...	Josefa Velarde
Stephen Boyd	...	Bill Zachary
Albert Salmi	...	Ed Taylor
Henry Silva	...	Lujan
Kathleen Gallant	...	Emma Steimmetz
Barry Coe	...	Tom
George Voskovec	...	Gus Steimmetz
Herbert Rudley	...	Sheriff Sanchez
Lee Van Cleef	...	Alfonso Parral
Andrew Duggan	...	Padre
Ken Scott	...	Primo, Deputy Sheriff
Gene Evans	...	John Butler
Ninos Cantores de Morelia Choral Group	...	Themselves (as The Niños Cantores De Morelia Choral Group)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:16 | USA:Approved (certificate #19005) | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1989)

Filming Locations:

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Gregory Peck stated that the movie was written as an attack on McCarthyism, which he strongly opposed.

Quotes:

Sheriff Sanchez: Ladies and gentlemen, there's no need for me to tell you - the emergency arose and the man appeared. Mr Douglass, it's not often a man gets to do so much for his neighbors and do it like you did. We want you to know we'll always be grateful... and in our hearts always.
Jim Douglass: Thank you... and in your prayers, please.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)

Forgiveness is a many-splendored thing.

"Los Bravados" proves that Henry King totally mastered the western style among many others.Much more interesting than his precedent effort "the sun also rises",this work casts Peck as a desperate man eager to take revenge of four outlaws who killed and raped his wife. he arrives in the town where the criminals -or rather the men he thinks are the criminals- are to be hanged.

The first thirty minutes are the more convincing.The soundtrack is particularly remarkable:first we hear the hammers of the men building the scaffold;often there's no music at all and this ominous noise creates an agonizing atmosphere.Then ,later,the whole congregation attends the service in a baroque church and the canticles provides the movie with an even more sinister soundtrack.The editing shows in parallel the outlaws' escape and the people praying in the church where Peck gazes upon a madonna and her child:this picture will frequently come back in the movie as a leitmotiv:it's the image of forgiveness.

Because what makes this western worthwhile is the absurdity of the vengeance it depicts.Once a victim,the hero becomes a criminal.But as the priest says ,a lot of people kill and they do not feel any remorse. King's obsession seems to be the reconstruction of the family as well:Peck and his little girl with Collins ,and the half-breed who succeeded in convincing him that he's not responsible for his misfortune.And anyway ,for this director whose body of work stretches on 50 years ,forgiveness and love are many-splendored things.