“Of Kirk Douglas's seventy-five films, Lonely Are the Brave remains his favorite. It is not hard to see why. The hoary cowboy myth of the rugged individual versus straitjacket society calls forth one of Douglas's best performances as the irrepressible Jack Burns....Edward Abbey, the craggy Western novelist on whose book, The Brave Cowboy, the movie is based, conceded that Dalton Trumbo's screenplay improved his story, especially the dialogue. You can hear what Abbey was raving about when Douglas, stuck in jail, grouses: ‘I'm so hungry, every time I take a deep breath my stomach squeaks like a wet balloon.' The film draws on solid performances from Gena Rowlands and from Walter Matthau as the lawman torn between respect for his adversary and duty to the law....As worked-over as this myth has gotten, Douglas still manages to make his boots-and-leather existentialism achingly poignant" (Ben Pappas, Forbes).