Wow! This score gets to the core of why I love film music and why I am usually not with the mainstream opinion. Trying to keep an open mind I got through the "Epic playlist" in another thread and was dismayed by the amount of similar instrumental and choral combinations someone can want repeated to them in a narrow range and wondered "does this fellow even consider another approach?" I sent a whole CD full of western themes to a girlfriend long ago to sell her on Goldsmith and she was enthused except for LONELY ARE THE BRAVE. Her only comment was "that sure sounds lonely" and precisely that which separates it from the crowd is always what gets my respect and affection. Sure there is the exuberant cowboy music of "The River" and "Run for it" that is part of the tapestry of the Kirk Douglas character. But there are also suspenseful, contemplative, comedic, desolate and tragic moments that are expressed in this score. Even the love theme is one of a path not taken, wistful with a sense of loss. This score is so damn specific it is like precision film composing. And how often do I get to hear all this in one score? A masterpiece.
Morricone, you've summed up why this is my favorite Goldsmith western. It perhaps took me the longest to love, but once the love was established it keeps on burning because there is such depth to the score.
I just watched this movie again two days ago. Maybe a few newbies will read this topic and listen to the score, but why I really resurrected this topic is because I’d like some insight from you savvy movie watchers about the ending of this movie. What is your interpretation?
Spoilers Ahead. Yes, I understand Kirk was a man behind the times. The cowboy was becoming archaic in the modern world. (Saw this theme in The Wild Bunch and other westerns.) We have him trying to escape and riding his horse out on to a “modern” highway where a truck carrying bathroom parts hits him. People gather around Douglas who just stares at everyone. I thought he was in shock. The horse is shot. Douglas just keeps looking around and never closes his eyes. Walter Matthau does NOT identify Douglas as the bad guy because I think he had learned to respect this rather unique individual. Then Kirk is loaded into an ambulance. Done.
Does he die? Is it supposed to be an open ending? Is the ending simply about the modern world encroaching on the past? If you have any perspectives, let me know because I find the ending rather perplexing.
Does he die? Is it supposed to be an open ending? Is the ending simply about the modern world encroaching on the past? If you have any perspectives, let me know because I find the ending rather perplexing.
I have watched this film many times; it is a favorite. Does he die? I always like to think of the sequel that might have come out of this. They load him into to the ambulance and get him to the hospital and save him, but remember he was shot in the leg. They will find that and notify the police. Even though Matthau has let him go, he will be brought back into it. They will decide to keep Jack at the hospital to heal, but he will get his spirit back and decide to escape again, and head for Mexico.
... that's what I would opt for, but... In truth I think they meant to leave it like that, with the viewers wondering and contemplating what has become of the American Spirit... I think they wanted the viewers to come up with their own answers...
...So I like to believe that he finally made it to Mexico.
mgh, I like your sequel. Yes, I assume we are to find our own answers, but I like your script. I would love it if he had escaped the hospital because he has an indomitable spirit and finally makes it to Mexico.
Well, these new posts got me to watch the film again (found it on demand from TCM). I enjoyed it much more this time, and the score even more so, so I must be getting smarter with age.
I have to say I think the ending is intended to be unredeemably bleak. Burns is broken, body and soul, by the modern world he could not escape. It killed his horse (though of course he is truly responsible, as he is for so many bad things that happen). And it has silenced him.
Because it was his voice that defined him - his schemes, his plans, his optimism, his yearning for a simpler world, even his self aware speech to Gena Rowlands. And now he cannot speak at all.
The last image, of the hat on the rainy highway, is as grim as any 70's nihilist ending, and I think of this as a precursor to those dark tales.
Anyway, that's what it says to me. Thanks for revisiting this thread Joan, to spur me on to a rewatch.
Sean, you are definitely getting smarter with age. You posted some "genius" level insights here.
I never thought about the fact that his "voice" defined him and now he has been rendered mute.
Never thought about him being "responsible" for the death of his horse. That is a new perspective. I am still pondering that idea.
Also, I didn't mention that ending image, so I am glad you brought it up. That cowboy hat on a wet, bleak highway does seem like a nihilistic image. No happy Disney ending for this movie.
Thanks, Joan. Another point I wanted to mention is that I take Matthau not recognizing Douglas as meaning something like this: "This doesn't seem to be the guy I saw up in the hills. That guy could climb his horse up a mountain, get the drop on a sadistic cop, and even bring down a helicopter with a rifle. This guy couldn't make it across the highway."
Because in the hills and the timber he was in his element. But on the highway, he is in ours, and he loses his way, so to speak, and loses himself. "I never saw him this close," Matthau says.
By the way, seeing this again reminds me of what a brave actor Douglas is. Not because he does his own stunts (though that too), but because he is absolutely fearless in showing all aspects of this man, good and bad and strong and weak all mixed together in ways that harms him and those around him. (No one he loves comes out unscathed in this film.) Douglas was always more than a movie star, starting way back in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, but never more than here.
A sequel to the film would be meaningless. At the start of the film, you think it's an old western until you see the jet plane contrails. It's "civilization" on the distant horizon, and unlike a barbed wire fence, he cannot avoid or survive it's encroachment (in this case, a truck of toilets). The constriction of habitat for a free man or wild animal means they can longer exist except in a zoo. I dont know how the novel ends, but the film implies he's probably paralyzed and dies after being devastated by Whisky's death.
LC, nice job. Yes, that first image of the jet and its contrails seems to be our first symbol of modernity. And those who are comfortable in the wilds, didn't need toilets.
Sean, you may have a point about Matthau thinking that Douglas had managed to evade capture and yet was slammed on a highway. It makes sense. However, at times I sensed he grew to have a kind of begrudging respect for the cowboy's escape tactics and savvy. I like the fact the movie embraces themes and symbols that allow us to bring various perspectives to the movie and its finale.
I agree about the grudging respect Matthau has for Burns. He also seems generally discomfited and irritated by the modern world, so my guess is that during the chase he sees in Burns the freedom he lacks, and that at the end, he sees how beat down Burns has become. Different from him, but he's beat down too.
Yeah, Sean, Matthau in his way was "beat down." Also you make a good point about Douglas taking on this role. Some lead actors only want to play the perfect, flawless hero. Douglas knew he would be playing a flawed man who wasn't perfect. In some movies Douglas played a real and total villain. He wasn't afraid to take on challenging roles that had multi-faceted characters.
....I have tended to think of "Lonely..." as one of Goldsmith's last "early" scores where he is still developing his signature sound, and haven't given it much attention.
One more post to amend my opinion of Jerry's score (quoted above from earlier in the thread). Having just watched the film all the way through for the first time in many years, I've been listening to the score on repeat. And honestly, I don't know why I thought this was not as much a "pure" Goldsmith score as it certainly is.
It must just never have hooked me when I listened to it occasionally. Three years later, maybe it's that I hunger even more for this kind of score, and since I don't know it as well, it sounds fresher. But it is clearly the terrific score mgh, Joan, Yavar, and Morrricone say it is.
Yeah the quality of this one creeps up on you. Glad you've finally come around, Sean! I think it's some of the most "pure Jerry" there is...that Worlds Apart cue in particular. Though I was initially underwhelmed when I first heard it, compared to his more in-your-face scores to 100 Rifles, Take A Hard Ride, and (parts of) Rio Conchos...now I rate this above all of them. (Rio Lobo has also really grown on me, though it's not quite on this level.) And it doesn't hurt that the film is one of the best he ever scored.
In fact, I got so into this film that I wrote my senior paper on it (at St. John's College)...it is usually tough to get something so off-program approved, but I had the advantage of the Dean of the school also being a big fan of this film, so it happened and turned out very well. Of course I made special note of the score in my paper...temped to share it somehow, but the file is pretty big because I used a lot of film stills. But I should really find a way to share it with interested parties because I do touch on a lot of points people are discussing here...anyone have a recommendation of how to share a very large PDF file?
Sean said, "But it is clearly the terrific score mgh, Joan, Yavar, and Morrricone say it is."
Yeah, we won over another guy.
Wonder why Herrmann thought the music was too good for the movie.
Yavar, you brought up Rio Lobo. That is a score I've never really gotten into, so maybe I should be like Sean and try again. I also haven't seen the movie; I just own the CD. Maybe a viewing would help.
I haven't seen the movie either (not a John Wayne fan at all), but the score grew on me greatly after I got the new LLL edition with the entire score in order. It's rather understated for the most part, which is why I likened it a bit to Lonely Are the Brave. I adore the solo guitar main title.
I'm quite fond of Rio Lobo myself, both the movie and the score, but most especially the main titles, where you can watch Tommy Tedesco play the solo opener.
....I have tended to think of "Lonely..." as one of Goldsmith's last "early" scores where he is still developing his signature sound, and haven't given it much attention.
One more post to amend my opinion of Jerry's score (quoted above from earlier in the thread). Having just watched the film all the way through for the first time in many years, I've been listening to the score on repeat. And honestly, I don't know why I thought this was not as much a "pure" Goldsmith score as it certainly is.
It must just never have hooked me when I listened to it occasionally. Three years later, maybe it's that I hunger even more for this kind of score, and since I don't know it as well, it sounds fresher. But it is clearly the terrific score mgh, Joan, Yavar, and Morrricone say it is.
And Dana too. Funny, just this past week I gave this one another spin (had been quite a while) and found myself really appreciating its simple charms, not least among them its empathy for the plight of Jack Burns. The young Jerry Goldsmith was among the very best at capturing the heart of a film (as he did in LILIES OF THE FIELD and A PATCH OF BLUE, for instance). Dalton Trumbo on the script, Jerry Goldsmith on the score...wow!
