Pretty Good

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Bravados it's one those movies to never forget,so powerful and so compelling,Peck is sad laconic and cold guy pursuing remorseless revenge,but the persecution is long and without respite,along the way he became a judge,each bad man has your final day,but in the end he found the awful truth,the killer was nearby the fence,excellent casting as still unknown Lee Van Cleef,Henry Silva and Joe De Rita in weird role,noteworthy is also a beautiful Mexican landscape,atypical western and essential for those love the real cinema!! Resume: First watch: 2007 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

This Western from 1958 is surprisingly not dated. The locations are beautiful. The story is good, believable and well paced. No crazy Western antics and over heroic things. The cast is top notch which should make you want to tune in. No crazy heroics or silly dialog.Gregory Peck plays a farmer whose wife was killed. He has been chasing after a bunch of outlaws who are about to be hung. But they escape with a hostage and he goes after them. Joan Collins plays an old flame and she is not out of place at all. Stephen Boyd plays one of the outlaws.There is a modern twist and moral. Better than many Westerns that came after it.Worth watching.

"The Big Country," the second Western that Gregory Peck appeared in in 1958, was released in October of that year; a big, sprawling, almost-three-hour epic that is very well known today, despite its middling reputation (still, it remains one of this viewer's all-time personal faves). Peck's first Western of that year, however, June's "The Bravados," was a much smaller film, and one largely forgotten today by the general public. And that is a shame, as a recent viewing has served to remind me of what a high-quality picture this is, and one with a message that it would be well to remember.In the film, we first encounter Peck's Jim Douglas character as he rides into the small town of Rio Arriba, to witness the hanging of four outlaws. Though temperamentally disinclined to talk (indeed, Douglas may be one of the most dour characters that Peck ever essayed), he soon lets it slip that these bad men are in some way responsible for the recent rape and murder of his wife. When the four outlaws break jail and escape, with the help of a confederate posing as the hangman (and played, against type, by Joe De Rita, a year before he would become "Curly Joe" De Rita with The Three Stooges!), Douglas, grimmer than ever, vows to hunt them down and kill them one by one, and, leading the Rio Arriba posse, gallops off to do so. While Jim McKay, the Peck character in "The Big Country," was slow to get involved in community disputes, Jim Douglas is perhaps a little TOO eager to jump into the fray...."The Big Country" takes its time in letting us learn about its characters, its leisurely exposition only rarely punctuated by bursts of action (at least, until its awesome double duel in the film's final 20 minutes). "The Bravados," on the other hand, is a much more compact affair, and its final 2/3 are fairly relentless in the action department. The film also features a twist ending of sorts--one of fairly intense emotional impact, I must say--that goes far in making some kind of statement vis-a-vis violence; the larger film sent a similar message home, without the twist ending. Both films feature fairly spectacular scenery ("The Bravados" having been shot in Mexico; "The Big Country," in Arizona and California) and make excellent use of the wide screen; how impressive they must have looked in movie houses back when (I HAVE seen "The Big Country" in a theater and it WAS an awesome experience!). Peck, excellent as usual as Jim Douglas, was here directed for the fifth time by 40-year Hollywood veteran Henry King, who would only direct three more films after this one; he and Peck had previously collaborated on "Twelve O'Clock High," "The Gunfighter" (one of the Western genre's universally acknowledged champs), "David and Bathsheba" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (those last two costarring "The Brooklyn Bombshell," Susan Hayward), and would go on to make "Beloved Infidel" the following year. King, as usual, proves to be quite the craftsman here. The impressive lensing of Leon Shamroy, the renowned cinematographer whose filmography is just too lengthy to go into, adds immeasurably to the stunning look of the film, and the moody and effective score by Lionel Newman works wonders, too (although it is hardly in the same league as the truly classic score that Jerome Moross composed for "The Big Country").Like the bigger, splashier picture, "The Bravados" also sports a first-rate cast, and the four bad men of the film's title are played by Stephen Boyd (one year, of course, pre-"Ben-Hur"), Albert Salmi (a great character actor, here in one of his earliest roles), Lee Van Cleef (10th billed here!) and Puerto Rican Henry Silva (playing a Mexican Indian, and whose final scene with Peck is perhaps the finest in the film). And then there is Peck's "love interest" in the picture, Josefa, played by the 25-year-old Joan Collins, and looking absolutely smashing, of course. Viewers would have to wait a full 24 years, till the 1982 TV movie "The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch," to see Collins again in a Western context. And yes, she is quite good here, playing a woman who is almost like a Madonna (and I use that word with its original meaning, the film, incidentally, having a curious religious bent), and as far from the Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter, etc. super-bitch persona as can be imagined. How interesting it is to see Collins sip from a mug of beer, rather than from a champagne flute! Another element to admire in the film is its seeming realism. I love the scenes in which characters converse in Spanish, with no subtitles provided, while the non-Spanish-speaking viewer (such as myself) has no problem understanding what is being said. John Huston employed the same device 10 years earlier in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (still my all-time favorite film) and the effect is the same here: an engendering of realism and authenticity. The bottom line: As it turns out, in regard to "The Big Country," "The Bravados" can, after all these years, hold its head very high next to its bigger, younger and more popular brother!

Pleasant classic Western with magnificent Gregory Peck who steals the show as a merciless revenger gunfighter . He is relentless in his vengeance , deadly in his violence but he learns that he has become no better than those he hunts . A Hollywood production full of action , exaggerated characters , shootouts and lots of violence . For revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how ¡ ... . An errant Jim Douglas (Gregory Peck) sees the atrocity over his family and executes a single-handedly revenge, as he ravages and murders each person involved in his vendetta . Douglas has been relentlessly pursuing the four outlaws (Albert Salmi , Henry Silva , Stephen Boyd and Lee Van Cleef) who killed his wife, but finds them in prison about to be hanged . But the prisoners escape and villagers enlist Douglas' aid to capture them . The conflict is a simple one between avenger Douglas and oppressors, nasties bandits commanded by cruel Bill Zachary (Stephen Boyd) . Douglas along with a posse set out in pursuit the outlaws and he faces the vicious bandits.It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the protagonist Gregory Peck against four heartless bandits . In the film premiere attained success , nowadays is well valued and I think it turns out to be a good classic Western. The picture is fleshed out with a marvelous cast as Gregory Peck who is excellent as a good father turned revenger . Nice too is Henry Silva as the brash Mexican young gun and Andrew Duggan as the amiable Padre . Joan Collins gives a good performance as Jim's former girlfriend , she does a well measured portrayal of a woman who still loves her previous sweetheart and who promises to leave with him which ultimately can never be . Stephen Boyd as a cruelly baddie role also is terrific . The film packs violence , gun-play , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining. There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shootouts or stunts every few minutes . This is a dark downbeat story of an avenger gunfighter perfectly performed by Gregory Peck told with genuine realism and honesty . Stylishly written by prestigious by Philip Yordan-Johnny Guitar- , the screenplay was based on an original story by Frank O'Rourke. The movie was directed with a positive flair by Henry King . There are many fine technicians and nice assistants as Lyle Wheeler and Walter Scott in charge of Art Direction and Set Direction respectively . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors, dirty and rocky landscapes under a glimmer sun and a fine sets on the Mexican landscapes . The musician Lionel Newman composes a nice soundtrack and well conducted , being helped by the maestros Hugo Friedhofer and Alfred Newman , tough uncredited ; it's full of agreeable sounds, and a haunting musical leitmotif . Sharply photographed with striking cinematography by Leon Shamroy in Technicolor, Techniscope with negative well processed and outdoor sequences filmed in Jalisco, Mexico Morelia, Michoacán,St Jose Perua mountains, Mexico.Henry King 's direction is well crafted , here he's less thought-provoking and broody and more inclined toward violence and too much action , because he's a expert on compelling Adventure/Western genre . Henry King directed other classic Western as ¨ Jesse James(1939)¨and ¨The gunfighter(1950)¨ with Peck again . Koster was specialist on Adventure genre as proved in ¨Untamed , Captain King , Captain of Castilla , Black Swan , Stanley and Livingstone ¨and many others . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .