Gregory Peck is Jim Douglass, a man on the trail of the four men who robbed his home and raped and killed his wife.
His journey leads him to Rio Ariba where the four men are to be hanged for another killing and a botched bank holdup.
But they break jail and take a young woman named Emma captive.
Jim Douglass methodically leads the pursuit, guiding a posse that include deputy sheriff Primo, Emma’s boyfriend Tom, Emma’s father and, at times, Josefa Velarde (Joan Collins), a woman to whom Jim once proposed marriage.
Douglass finds one bandit (Lee Van Cleef as Parral) waiting in ambush and kills him, though he begs for his life and swears he had nothing to do with the death of Douglass’ wife. He does the same with a second bandit, hanging him from a tree by the feet before executing him.
But there are two more suspects on the run. They’re getting more desperate.
They still have Emma. And they’re heading in the direction of Jim Douglass’ ranch.
Gregory Peck as Jim Douglass, wanting to get a glimpse of the four men he’s been tracking for months in The Bravados (1958)
Joan Collins as Josefa Velarde, enjoying a reunion with a man she once thought she loved in The Bravados (1958)
Review:
Excellent variant on the revenge for a murdered wife theme with a unique twist we won’t give away here. Of course, that’s Gregory Peck leading the cast, which always helps. So does a touch of realism, like the messy jailbreak that springs the four men he’s seeking.
The theme of redemption runs through the film as well. The pastor urges the residents of Rio Ariba to pray for the four bandits on the eve of the hanging that never does occur.
And Josefa, sensing a hardness in the man she nearly married five years earlier, urges him to give up the chase and let the law handle matters.
But when the posse finds one of the bandits has brutally attacked Emma, even she goads Jim in his quest to be judge, jury and executioner for this band of outlaws.
As a side note, Jim’s three-year-old daughter is played by a child actress named Maria Garcia. She would appear in just seven films, but would marry the first son of singer Placido Domingo.
And in an uncredited role, Joe DeRita plays the hangman. He joined The Three Stooges as the new Curly the same year this film was released and appeared with the trio in “The Outlaws is Coming” (1964) and a cameo in “Four for Texas” (1963).
Henry SIlva as Lujan, insisting he had nothing to do with the death of Jim Douglass’s wife in The Bravados (1958)
Lee Van Cleef as Alfonso Parral, pleading with Jim Douglass for mercy after being caught trying to set an ambush in The Bravados (1958)
Directed by:
Henry King
Cast:
Gregory Peck … Jim Douglass
Joan Collins … Josefa Velarde
Stephen Boyd … Bill Zachary
Albert Salmi … Ed Taylor
Henry Silva … Lujan
Lee Van Cleef … Alfonso Parral
Kathleen Gallant … Emma Steimmetz
George Voskovec … Gus Steimmetz
Barry Coe … Tom, Emma’s boyfriend
Herbert Rudley … Sheriff Sanchez
Ken Scott — Deputy Sheriff Primo
Gene Evans … John Butler
Joe DeRita … Mr. Simms
Andrew Duggan … Padre
Maria Garia … Jim’s daughter
Runtime: 98 min.
Stephen Boyd as Bill Zachary and Albert Salmi as Ed Taylor, in jail and awaiting their hanging in The Bravados (1958)
Herbert Rudley as Sheriff Sanchez, wondering why Jim Douglass has traveled to Rio Ariba in The Bravados (1958)
Memorable lines:
Simms, the hangman, to Jim Douglass: “Hope I see you again, sir. Of course, not professionally.”
Jim Douglass, walking past the gallows: “You’re wasting an awful lot of good lumber. A tree would have done just as well.”
Sheriff: “They were sentenced to be hanged, not lynched.”
Outlaw Bill Zachary, as he fondles the rope to which Emma Steimmetz is tied: “I’ve got one weakness I feel you should know about.”
Outlaw Ed Taylor: “What’s that?”
Zachary: “Women.”
Taylor “Every man’s entitled to one weakness. Mine’s cards.”
Gregory Peck as Jim Douglass, questioning one of the suspects in his wife’s death in The Bravados (1958)
Joan Collins as Josefa Velarde, learning why Jim Douglass has turned into a hunter of wanted men in The Bravados (1958)
Stephen Boyd as Bill Zachary, coming face to face with the man who’s been hunting him The Bravados (1958)
Kathleen Gallant as Emma Steinmetz, the young woman taken captive by the outlaws in The Bravados (1958)
Gene Evans as John Butler, Jim Douglass’ neighbor, wary of two strange riders who show up on his property in The Bravados (1958)
Gregory Peck as Jim Douglass, looking for answers at the home of one of the men he’s been chasing in The Bravados (1958)
Maria Gracia as Helen, Jim’s daughter, peeking at her father as he returns home for a visit in The Bravados (1958)
Joe DeRita as Mr. SImms, the hangman who arrives in Rio Ariba in The Bravados (1958)
Andrew Duggan as the padre Josefa Velarde turns to for answers about Jim Douglass in The Bravados (1958)
Alicia del Lago as Angela Lujan, hearing riders approach her home in The Bravados (1958)
Ken Scott as Deputy Primo, the man leading the search for four outlaws after the sheriff is wounded in The Bravados (1958)
Henry SIlva as Lujan, Albert Salmi as Ed Taylor and Lee Van Cleef as Alfonso Parral, realizing the posse is gaining ground in The Bravados (1958)
Stephen Boyd as Bill Zachary with Emma Steimmetz (Kathleen Gallant), his captive in The Bravados (1958)
Joan Collins as Josefa Velarde and Gregory Peck as Jim Douglass, attending mass together in The Bravados (1958)
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Did Maria Garcia continue acting, what does she look like now?
I’ve always said that the movie is so mean-spirited that one of the Three Stooges (DeRita) knifes a sheriff in the back.
This is the tale of an avenging angel (played by Gregory Peck) whose imperative compass goes askew. Rancher Jim Douglas (Peck) is the victim of a hideous crime (his house burglarized and his wife raped and murdered) and he duly and understandably sets forth on a mission to exterminate the monsters responsible. Douglas seemingly has an ironclad description of the villains, and he tracks them, over the course of six months, from one end of New Mexico territory to the other. Ultimately the four men commit a bank robbery and murder in the town of Rio Arriba, are apprehended and sentenced to hang. Douglas arrives soon thereafter to observe the hanging.
But things don’t work out so well. The criminals stage a successful jailbreak and Douglas’ pursuit commences anew. One by one, he catches up with and kills his quarry. Only one remains–an Indian (Henry Silva) who successfully impresses upon Douglas that the men he tracked and killed had nothing to do with the atrocity at Douglas’ ranch. Douglas alas, has killed three men who were innocent of the crime against Douglas and his wife. The film ends with Douglas seeking surcease in religion even while he is feted by Rio Arriba’s citizens as a great hero.
This is a very good Western whose primary concern is demonstrating the perils of vigilantism. Yes, the men Douglas killed were vermin and his having done away with them doubtless made the world fractionally a better place. But suppose they hadn’t been actual cutthroats? In that case Douglas, blinded by implacable rage, would have been guilty of the terrible crime of murdering truly innocent men. In the process, he would have put his immortal soul at hazard.
And this leads to one of the more interesting features of The Bravados. Hence, it is easily one of the most religious Westerns I have seen. One of the oddities of the Western genre is how it has sidestepped religion and more specifically, Christianity. It is well known that when new towns were established in the Old West, a church was one of the very first structures to be built. Obviously then, Christianity was very important to most of the people in the Old West. Yet for the most part…silencio. The Bravados is one of the few Westerns I have seen that makes genuine religious sentiment a chief concern. That being the case, the film is something of a realistic corrective to the more general neglect.
This film features an unusually strong score from Lionel Newman who probably should have received an Oscar nomination for this work. The score is heroic, propulsive and memorable.
Now a common bugaboo for Westerns is the treatment of romance. Too often it is artificial, unrealistic and the female love interest is written as a flighty, obnoxious dingbat. That’s not the case with Jim Douglas and Josefa (Joan Collins) in this picture. The relationship between the two is believable and it meshes with the broader plot rather than sidetracking it. And Collins does good work. There are no histrionics and no meddling.
As a brief aside, Joe DeRita (Curly Joe of the Three Stooges) puts in an appearance as a false hangman who abets the jailbreak. And, odd though it may seem, he looks rather like Lionel Barrymore. Go figure.