Lonely Are the Brave

Kirk Douglas, as cowboy Jack Burns, breaks jail to help an old friend and heads for the state border with the sheriff, played by Walter Matthau, in pursuit. Based on Edward Abbey's elegiac novel "The Brave Cowboy" and written by Dalton Trumbo, Burns's flight for freedom on his old horse, pursued by jeeps and helicopter, is an eloquent metaphor for the passing of the old West and its virtues.