Taglines: For what they had done to the woman he loved …he killed the bravados one by one!
The Bravados movie storyline. Jim Douglass (Gregory Peck) has been tracking four men who he believes killed his wife six months ago. He arrives in a small town where he learns the men he’s been tracking are set to be hanged. They escape and Douglas leads a posse after the men. They commit further crimes, murdering and raping.
Douglas doggedly pursues the men across the desert and into Mexico. Douglas is out for vengeance no matter what the cost and finds them one at a time. He shows each man a picture of his wife and each swears they’ve never seen her before. Douglas must decide whether to return the men to jail for their court-appointed justice or to take matters into his own hands.
The Bravados is a 1958 American western film (color by DeLuxe) directed by Henry King, starring Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva, Kathleen Gallant, George Voskovec, Herbert Rudley, Lee Van Cleef, Andrew Duggan, Ken Scott, Gene Evans and Ada Carrasco. The CinemaScope film was based on a novel of the same name, written by Frank O’Rourke.
About the Story
Jim Douglass (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 Douglass to see the men.
In town, Douglass 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. Douglass 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 Douglass’ 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 Douglass – 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. Douglass eventually catches up. The posse finds a dead man, who appears to be the real Simms.
The outlaws determine that Douglass is the man they must worry about most. Parral is assigned the job of ambushing him. Instead, Douglass takes him from behind. Parall begs for his life and insists, when Douglass shows him a photo of his wife, that he has never seen the woman. Douglass kills him, then sets out after the other three. Taylor hangs back, figuring he can take Douglass down. Douglass, 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 Douglass’ 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 Douglass coming toward them from another direction. The posse also arrives and Emma’s father and fiancé find Emma.
The Bravados (1958)
Directed by: Henry King
Starring: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva, Kathleen Gallant, George Voskovec, Herbert Rudley, Lee Van Cleef, Andrew Duggan, Ken Scott, Gene Evans, Ada Carrasco
Screenplay by: Philip Yordan
Production Design by: Henry Weinberger
Cinematography by: Leon Shamroy
Film Editing by: William Mace
Set Decoration by: Chester Bayhi, Walter M. Scott
Art Direction by: Mark-Lee Kirk, Lyle R. Wheeler
Music by: Alfred Newman, Hugo Friedhofer, Lionel Newman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: June 25, 1958 (United States)
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