Kirk Douglas etched an indelible portrait of the rugged, no-nonsense man in the 1962 drama “Lonely Are the Brave.”

Douglas, whose mug alone made him one of Hollywood’s most masculine leading men, plays a cowboy born a half century too late in the move that only now is heading to DVD (July 7).

The film opens with Douglas on horseback trying to navigate a busy New Mexico highway. It’s the perfect setup for what’s to come.

Douglas stars as Jack, an itinerant cowboy looking to reunite with an old pal. But his friend is in jail for trying to help some illegal immigrants cross into the country. So Jack gets himself thrown in jail just to see him.

That impulsive act seals Jack’s fate and sets up a wildly inventive chase picture.

It’s dizzying to tally up all of “Brave’s” cinematic pleasures. Let’s start with the rambunctious fistfight between Jack and the surly one-armed man. But what about Jack’s sexually charged scenes with his pal’s loyal wife (Gena Rowlands)? Or Walter Matthau’s turn as the lawman assigned to bring Jack in, even though he sees something noble in the outlaw?

“Brave” comes from screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, he of the Hollywood Ten fame, and one can see some of his ideological leanings in certain sequences.

But the film’s story never suffers for it – it’s a tale of an American kind of individualism that simply cannot be squelched.

Related posts:

1. WWTW Rewind – ‘The Lonely Guy’ (1984)
2. ‘An American Carol’ – A brave new world
3. WWTW Rewind – ‘Dear Frankie’ (2004)

Hollywood remains obsessed with the blacklist era. It’s a no-brainer as to why.

Writers, directors and stars who didn’t publicly denounce the Communist party – or name those who embraced it – risked jail time at the worst, and career suicide at best. We’re a nation that allows horrible entities like the KKK to exist, but during the Cold War Communist sympathizers in Hollywood weren’t allowed to practice their form of politics. So anyone in favor of truly free speech would be aghast at how the nation acted during that time.

Creative types are all about free speech, right? Right?

Some argue there’s an unofficial blacklist going on now regarding conservatives in Hollywood. But it’s not as defined as what Communist sympathizers faced in the ’40s and ’50s.

Still, it reveals a hypocrisy on modern Hollywood’s part that will never be the subject of its own film.

However, we do have a new documentary on perhaps the most infamous members of the Hollywood 10. “Trumbo” recalls the life of legendary screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of 10 Hollywood artists blacklisted during that era. He also served roughly a year in jail for contempt of Congress.

My Pajamas Media review of “Trumbo” explores the complexity behind the life and times of the Oscar-winning screenwriter, as well as a begrudging admiration for how the film lets the man’s considerable flaws bubble to the surface. I found “Trumbo” more damning than its creators may have realized.

** Welcome visitors from Ed Driscoll’s terrific blog. I’m a contributing film critic and entertainment reporter for The Washington Times and I blog both for this site as well as Movies in Toto, the washingtontimes.com’s movie community. Learn more about me here. And thanks for visiting!

(Photo: Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is the focus of “Trumbo,” a complicated but savvy new documentary)

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