The Bravados (1958)

This is an interesting Western which, as is often the case in this genre, is a tale of revenge. This time, however, there are a few ironical twists. Under the solid hand of director Henry King, this film takes further the point made in OXBOW INCIDENT in 1943, about lynching.In this case, you have the main character, Jim Douglas (Peck) seeking revenge for the rape and brutal murder of his wife. Peck, in one of his finest performances, portrays a generally balanced and good man driven somewhat over the edge by a desire for revenge. The four "baddies" are all played with considerable zest by Stephen Boyd, Henry Silva, Lee van Cleef and Salmi. The weakest part of the film is Joan Collins. Tough for me to understand why and how she got this role.Silva, portraying an Indian, correctly identifies Douglas as a hunter. It is Douglas' sad failing that he gets the wrong culprits, and even more so that he thought the real rapist and murderer a good man, who would not hurt anyone.Douglas ends the film with a tormented conscience for killing three men who were innocent of his charges, but he receives great applause from the local community, grateful to see the town rid of a gang of thieves. The irony of the situation is put across without any moralizing, which adds to the film's virtues.There are a few unnecessary touches along the way, such as Boyd raping an abductee, but by and large it is a tightly told story, helped by very good cinematography.

When I read a brief synopsis of this film I thought, oh my, that old plot again? I'm surprised Gregory Peck fell for it. But, it's difficult for me to resist a Gregory Peck film, so I watched it and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it is another revenge Western, but the script is much better than average, the acting excellent and -- I thought -- realistic, and the settings are often quite stunning.Let's begin with the plot. How many times have we seen the basic plot? Group of men kill man's wife...he seeks revenge. Well, this story goes a little beyond that basic plot. It involves a lovely village with good people. It involves mistaken identity. It involves a past love. It involves repentance. The only problem I had with the plot was that -- at the end -- there is no need for repentance. The outlaws killed were guilty of attempted murder, one was guilty of rape, another guilty of theft, all were guilty of escaping from jail. They were not innocent...they paid a price.In terms of the acting, Gregory Peck is marvelous; of course, wasn't he always? The big surprise came with Joan Collins...I guess she could actually act...at least on occasion...and for brief moments. Stephen Boyd was a nasty villain here, and accomplishe dhis acting duty. Albert Salmi was one of the bad guys in a pretty much nothing part. Henry Silva had several very good scenes near the end of the film. Was there some reason that Kathleen Gallant was smiling almost the whole time during her kidnapping. Nice to see Herbert Rudley as the sheriff...a good character actor. Lee Van Cleef, another of the bad guys had one good pre-death scene. Andrew Duggan had one good scene at the end of the film. The oddest casting was Joe DeRita as the fake hangman; DeRita is best known as one of the replacements for Curly in the Three Stooges!I rarely watch Westerns anymore, but this is a good one. Well worth your time.

This is a story about an extreme case of irony, as well as the sometimes fine line between justice(trial and punishment via the justice system) and revenge(trial and punishment carried out by vigilante status). 4 men(The gang of 4) scheduled to be hanged in the morning for the murder of a bank teller and attempted robbery are set free by a phony executioner who weasels his way into the jail supposedly to size up his charge, but disabling the sheriff, allowing them to escape. The real executioner had traveled from another town, and apparently was murdered by the phony on his way. Apparently, no one in this town knew the looks of the real executioner(very surprising), so why the phony was successful. The phony timed his jail visit to coincide with a special evening Catholic church, to which nearly everyone in the town attended, thus clearing the way for the Gang of 4 to escape through town. Soon, a posse is organized to hunt them down. Gregory Peck(as Douglas)joins this posse, but often hunts alone. He is especially intent on killing these men because they presumably raped and killed his wife and stole his life savings in a bag. Were they seen or heard killing his wife? no. He was told they were riding around the vicinity approximately when she was killed. This should have been a warning that the case against them was not definitive. That should have been a warning that he should be conservative in assuming their guilt. Late in the film, Douglas comes upon a combination of oral and physical evidence that apparently they were not the killers of his wife. In fact, the one of the 4 still alive at that point relates evidence that one of them(Stephen Boyd, as Zachary) shot and killed the real killer for reasons of greed and privacy in raping the woman hostage. The whole story of tangled happenings and motives turns into a case of extreme irony. Douglas is more than shocked that he apparently has killed 3 men who were not responsible for his wife's death or robbery. He goes to the town cathedral and prays for forgiveness, and discusses the matter with the priest, who reminds him that he was legally justified in killing these men, as he was part of an official posse with authority to bring them back dead or alive. But, this does not immediately satisfy him, as he killed them not for what they had been convicted of, but rather for their assumed, but not proved, guilt in killing his wife.Question: What happened to Lujan, the only one of the 4 that Douglas didn't kill, and provided the key to solving the mystery? He was still an escaped fugitive from justice. Apparently, it was felt this was not of sufficient interest to the audience to pursue?Question: Why did Emma suddenly run out of the cathedral during the evening church service to her shop, which just happened to be where the Gang of 4 decided to hide after their jail break and before they found some horses to ride? Also, was their initial reason for kidnapping her to exchange her for safe passage to Mexico, or to satisfy their lust, or both?Joan Collins plays Josefa: an old girl friend of Douglas, who wants to be reinstated as such, upon learning that his wife had died. She is often criticized as being too demure and non-Latino in looks and speech to make a believable Latino ranch manager. This didn't bother me. Stephen Boyd, Lee Van Cleef, Albert Sami, and Henri Silva played the Gang of 4. Andrew Duggan played the padre, who soothed Douglas' conscience. Kathleen Gallant played Emma.See it on YouTube

"The Bravados" is a Western story of crime, revenge, justice, wrongs, love lost and regained, and redemption. It's based on a novel by Frank O'Rourke. Peck plays Jim Douglass, who is pursuing the killers of his wife. He arrives in a town in which four outlaws he has been trailing for six months are in jail and awaiting hanging the next day. To say more about the plot would take away some of the power of the story. Suffice it to say that the movie has some surprises, and various characters that fit in Douglass's life before. It has a fine supporting cast including Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva, Lee Van Cleef, Andrew Duggan and more. Gregory Peck may have played more roles of characters with soul and/or in conflict than any other actor. All were excellent. He received an Academy award nomination for only his second film in which he played a missionary priest in "The Keys of the Kingdom" of 1944. In 1947 he played a journalist who pretends to be Jewish to experience and then expose the prejudice of anti-Semitism in areas of New England, especially among the blue bloods. In "Twelve O'Clock High" of 1949 he is an Army Air Force officer during WW II. He plays an ex-soldier in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" of 1956 who struggles with his past. He plays a Southern attorney in the 1962 film, "To Kill a Mockingbird," for which he won the best actor Oscar. A number of his other films have morality and ethical themes and struggles. This Western movie, "The Bravados" of 1958, is an exceptional film in that category. It belongs in any library of Western films.