Lonely Are the Brave was hailed as “the finest Western script since High Noon...a rarity of rarities: an honest tragedy that makes a bold comment on the plight of man in an overmechanized world....” (Saturday Review). One of a number of films which actor Kirk Douglas and producer Edward Lewis (Missing) made in the early '60s in a close artistic collaboration, the film is enhanced by a biting script by Dalton Trumbo. Douglas created a classic screen character in John W. Burns, a traditional cow-wrangler whose integrity and loyalty to nature make him a non-conformist in modern society. Walter Matthau had one of his best roles as the wily sheriff of the technological age.