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The Bravados (1958) More at IMDbPro »

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36 reviews in total

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21 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
This serious adult Western focuses on one man's fanatical pursuit of vengeance and played to near-perfection by Gregory Peck., 10 December 1999

Author: Tom Martin from Lansing, Michigan

Gregory Peck is the show in "The Bravados". His performance reminds me of John Wayne in "The Searchers". In both cases the eyes tell the story. Wayne's were full of hate for the Comanches that defiled his niece. Peck's intense eyes are equally important to this film. In the words of one character, Peck has the "eyes of the hunter".

Like Wayne in "The Searchers" Peck is a man with a quest. Jim Douglas is out for revenge against the murderers of his wife. This single-minded mission brings him to the town of Santa Rita, where the four men he has been chasing are scheduled to hang for another killing. The men escape with a hostage and the chase resumes. Nothing will stop Douglas this time. In his mind the four men deserve no pity and they get none. The law failed to hang them, and now it's his turn.

The casting in this film is interesting. The four low lifes pursued by Peck include three pretty good actors, Stephen Boyd, Henry Silva and Lee Van Cleef. Of the three, Henry Silva's character is the most interesting. He plays Lujan, an Indian. Lujan and Peck share something. They lock eyes at the beginning when Peck visits the four men in jail. It is he who sees the eyes of the hunter. He may not know why Peck hunts them, but he recognizes him as a hunter.

Ultimately, Peck becomes a hero to the citizens of Santa Rita, but heroism comes with a price. In this case Peck sacrifices his humanity. In their end there is potential salvation for Peck from a surprising source.

Except for Lujan, the film provides little reason to sympathize with the four badmen. They have been sentenced to be hanged for a murder in Santa Rita. Steven Boyd ruthlessly shoots an old prospector. Later, he rapes their hostage. Even Joan Collins' character who earlier in the film has urged Peck to give up his relentless quest now urges him to track the surviving killers down and kill them.

There is no question about the morality in this film. There is something incomplete in Peck's character. He is empty inside, because the chase seems to be over. The law has apparently done his job for him. He has little to say to anyone when he arrives in Santa Rita, including his old friend Josefa (Collins). His eyes are full of hate, but otherwise he is hardly alive. He tells Josefa that he loved his wife. "I still do," he says. He has left his little girl behind to chase the killers. Near the end when he sees the little girl she hides behind her nanny. She hardly knows her father. The jail break and the ensuing chase seem to temporarily energize him. He becomes the leader of the possee. Ultimately, he rides off alone to extract his revenge. The energy is misleading. Peck knows what he must do and he does it without emotion. He has sacrificed his humanity at the altar of revenge.

This film is not for everyone. It is a bit intense, and Peck's character isn't very warm and fuzzy. "The Bravados" is a humorless film about a serious subject. Revenge isn't pretty and the price is too high. Peck really delivers with a great performance and the plot is definitely creative. The often told story of the man seeking revenge has seldom been told so well.

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17 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
A dour Western with a downbeat ending..., 18 November 1999

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

"The Bravados" exposed a tragic violation of justice, and a confession of an error from a severe threatening widower (Gregory Peck) entirely blind in chasing four killers who, he believes, raped and murdered his wife... Peck is seen at one time the ruthless judge, jury and executioner...

The entertaining thing about the film is probably the manhunt of the accused men who escape from jail taking with them a female hostage Kathleen Gallant...

Gregory Peck's character as the blind seeker of justice is fit to be despised... With a downbeat climax this sour revenge Western remembered me the persistent Captain Ahab with his determination to finish with the killer whale, performed also by Peck...

Peck has continued to refine the identity of the avenging hero keeping his character alive through the good intervention of his heroic persona...

The four outlaws create a false impression in pretending indifference to misfortune...

"The Bravados" is a dour Western with a downbeat ending... The production is good, but the entertainment uneasy...

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12 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Losing A Moral Compass, 26 March 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

John Wayne's Ethan Edwards, Jimmy Stewart's Howard Kemp, or any number of roles Kirk Douglas has played have nothing of the intensity of Gregory Peck's Jim Douglas in The Bravados.

Peck is perfect casting for the part because he's playing against type. If Atticus Finch's wife had been a homicide victim, I think this is how we would see him. Totally lose a moral compass and become a relentless stalker. It's what makes The Bravados work, because we identify Gregory Peck with an innate decency.

Peck's house was robbed and his wife raped and murdered by intruders. Peck has a line on them, they're four killers who've been caught and scheduled to hang for a bank robbery in a town several miles away where a bank teller has been killed.

But they escape with the help of the hangman, Joe DeReda soon to become a stooge. These are a quartet of the nastiest villains ever, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Lee Van Cleef, and Henry Silva all of whom have played villains with relish on the big screen. One of them, Boyd, in fact is a rapist, they take young Kathleen Gallant the daughter of the town's dry goods merchant along as a hostage.

Charles Bronson never executed bad guys with as much relish as Peck did. They are convicted murderers who've escaped, there's no law to answer to.

Peck may be doing some public service homicides, but there's a higher law he must answer to for the preservation of his own soul. In fact the ending brings quite a twist to the tale.

The Bravados is one of six films directed by long time 20th Century Fox director Henry King who is most known for doing nine films there with Tyrone Power. In fact the first couple that Peck did were probably properties that were meant for Power, but Darryl Zanuck switched them for his new up and coming leading man.

This one however is all Gregory Peck's film, I'm not sure Power could have done a better job. Peck gets some able support from the villainous quartet and from Joan Collins as an old flame he finds that has settled in the town the four have savaged.

Special mention should go to Andrew Duggan as the priest in the town where apparently everyone is Catholic. Duggan does a good job as the padre who gives just the right spiritual advice and counsel to a troubled soul.

Themes like rape were not exactly subject matter for westerns before the Fifties. The Bravadoes succeeds both as Saturday matinée shooting and as serious adult drama. It shouldn't be missed when broadcast.

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12 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Catholic Western, 22 March 2006

Author: Edgar Soberón Torchia (estorchia@gmail.com) from Panama

After almost 50 years of first watching "The Bravados", I could not help thinking this time that this is a Catholic western. When I saw it as a kid, while studying at a Catholic school ruled by Augustine priests, I enjoyed it very much, maybe because it was a reflection of what we were taught in classrooms, as opposed to what we saw in the real world. I enjoyed the film today as much as I did the first time, although then I was unaware of a few realistic contradictory and intriguing elements of the story: the whole population of Río Arriba (except the sheriff, a hangman and four outlaws) attends piously to mass (at night?), as a sort of preliminary rite before hanging the outlaws, but turns, in seconds, into an angry mob; Joan Collins asks Gregory Peck to go into the church and have a talk with a "certain lady" (Virgin Mary), and then begs him to "kill, kill, kill" the outlaws (in a poorly staged dramatic moment, showing her limited acting range); or the priest tells Peck, after a little preaching, that people "think that prayer helps"... not him. On the other hand, it has moments of true honesty, as when Peck confesses his guilt to the priest, or the compassionate way the Mexican outlaw Luján treats Peck in his home. This makes the film more fascinating, while one follows Peck in an obsessive hunt for the four men who raped and killed his wife. Henry Silva shines as Luján, giving perhaps the finest performance in the film – one already knows Peck's style, so Silva stands out as a fresh face, and an original performer in his interpretation of the Mexican thief. It seems Henry King was aware of Silva's talent and features, because he only gives us close-ups of Silva and Stephen Boyd, when Peck visits the outlaws in jail. The movie was shot in México, and most of the times King portrays the Mexican characters as real human beings, especially the women: Luján's wife, played by Alicia del Lago, one of the stars of the Mexican classic "Raíces"; the talkative peasant showing Peck the way to San Cristóbal, very convincing in her descriptions, if you know Spanish; or Parral's mother, seen in a brief appearance played by a then young Ada Carrasco, who put the finishing touch to her career as Nacha, the old Indian passing the recipes of her gastronomic delights to the heroine of Laura Esquivel's "Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate.)" A very good film.

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8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Questioning your own judgements...., 2 October 2002
Author: (jjj1952@bellsouth.net) from Lawrenceburg, KY, USA

I think I saw this movie many years ago as a youngster ( I was born in 1952). I also, during the course of the movie on AMC, read a few reviews on IMBd and either due to one or two of the reviews or my previous viewing, I knew what was coming at the end. But it was still an emotional jolt. I agree with a couple of reviews, that the very end seemed sweetened up somewhat, but I went through a period in my 20's and 30's when I had grown overly cynical and didn't like 'unrealistic' endings. I have changed somewhat. I can enjoy both 'types' of movies and endings now, I believe. I am more discerningly cynical now, I hope. Where something really smells like manipulation for the wrong reasons or for greed, I trust my doubts and cynicism to kick in. 'The Bravados' deserves your trust simply because it shows a universal human weakness among terrible, heart-wrenching circumstances in a somewhat 'realistic' setting. Luck plays too big a part at times for the hero (Gregory Peck with great screen presence) during the chase. But if you disagree with his conclusions about his own actions at the end...think again.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Tremendous tale of revenge, 10 March 2007

Author: drystyx from United States

I'll try not write the big spoilers in this review. This is a tremendous story of revenge, and how it consumes a man, and how it can be hazardous. Peck plays a man who wants revenge for his wife's murder. He follows the trail of four bandits who are about to be hanged, and this is one stellar super star cast of bandits-the smirky handsome Stephen Boyd, the introverted Henry Silva, the gruff Albert Salmi, and later star Lee Van Cleef. They bandits escape, and Peck chases them, cheered on by nearly all of the people he meets. The four men commit evil upon evil, but most of it is done by Boyd. Silva is more or less their guide, and he exudes the most sympathy from the viewer. The movie is perfectly written and directed. It makes the viewer cheer each time Peck kills a bad man, just what the movie wants you to do. In the end, it turns out to be more of a thinking man's movie, and it makes you ask yourself some questions, and at the same time, entertain you. A great movie.

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
When Fury Beclouds Judgment, 1 April 2007

Author: theowinthrop from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Gregory Peck frequently picked westerns that were not the usual "shoot-'em-ups" for a Saturday matinée. He is Luke McCanless, the amoral anti-hero of DUEL IN THE SUN. He is the title character THE GUNFIGHTER, trying to settle down but finding his "fast draw" reputation a deadly one no matter what. He is eastern sea captain stuck in the midst of a ridiculous range war in THE BIG COUNTRY. He is the western trapper/hunter who is pursued by a revenge crazed Native American in THE STALKING MOON. Oddly enough the last role is a mirror image (of sorts) to his role in THE BRAVADOS.

Peck rides into a small border town in a southwestern territory of the west. He is quiet, laconic - and surly. This is not the normal Peck, second only to Henry Fonda or Jimmy Steward in playing "Joe Good Guy" characters. This is one of the roles that showed the real depths of Peck as an actor.

It turns out that he has been following four men (Steven Boyd, Albert Salmi, Lee Van Cleef, and Henry Silva - and I have chosen that listing order for a reason) who he was told raped and murdered his wife six months earlier. The four are in a jail awaiting hanging for a bank robbery and murder (of a teller). Due to their notoriety everyone in town is a little edgy and wants to see them dangling - but are suspicious of strangers. Peck's attitude does not sit well with them, although they soon learn he has come to see the hanging. His interest in seeing this, as well as a request to see the men in their prison cell, disgusts the local sheriff (Herbert Rudley).

Others in the town know Peck. The local padre (Andrew Duggan) does, as does a wealthy land owner (Joan Collins) who once was his girlfriend. But he remains quiet about his motives for being in the town.

Thanks to an ally (future Three Stooges member Joe DeRita in a nicely handled part) the gang nearly kills Rudley and escapes (shooting a deputy in the process). They also kidnap the daughter of the local general store owner. The townspeople form a posse, which Peck joins the following day (he insists on getting a good night sleep first). Soon he is leading the posse quite well. As one of the four desperadoes (the "Bravados" of the title), Henry Silva, says earlier - Peck looks like a hunter and is one to be feared.

None of the Bravados recognize Peck. But as he corners them one by one he reveals his motivation to kill them, and each denies knowing anything about what he is talking about. But the script is written to keep the viewers guessing until the conclusion about whether these men were guilty or not. The behavior of one of them (Boyd) certainly makes one feel Peck is on the right trail.

The four Bravados are of interest too. Boyd and Salmi are not very likable types (oddly enough they feel they could make a good duo once the gang splits up after a successful escape). Van Cleef is also deadly, but in his case there are certain circumstances that are never fully explained (he won't see his mother before the hanging, nor speak to Duggan, and later - under really tragic circumstances - he speaks of his own wife and child to an unrelenting Peck). But curiously all three speak disparagingly of Silva, a Mexican Indian (who one senses was their scout, and probably not responsible for the killings they've committed). Silva turns out not only to be the smartest of the four, but also (with the help of his wife) the only one to force Peck to rethink everything.

The conclusion is a hideous mental agony for Peck - which even Duggan and Collins may never totally erase for him. In the end he requests the prayers of the townspeople as he leaves the scene.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Justice cannot be made by a man alone, 5 September 2003

Author: esteban hernandez from Italy

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Excellent lesson of morale from this western starred by Gregory Peck, who is like a lone ranger trying to kill the supposedly four men who killed his wife. He came from far village to see the execution of these four men by the law, but these were able to get away from the justice. At this point skilled Jim Douglas (Peck) decided to go behind them to make justice by himself. He first killed merciless two of them organizing tricky ambushes, and the third one in the Mexican territory. In all cases Douglas showed the photo of his wife and the bandits always denied they knew her or did anything wrong against her. When these bandits were running away, they arrived in a house of a miner, who was the neighbor of Douglas. This miner tried to escape with his belongings (money) but was killed by one of the bandit. The money of the miner was taken by the fourth member of the gang, a Mexican Indian (Henry Sylva) who ran away to meet her wife and son. Douglas went behind him, but could not kill the Indian because of the help of the Indian's wife. When Douglas recovered the Indian once again told him that he did not know Douglas' wife, but in the meantime Douglas saw his bag (the one taken from the miner)with the money, and asked the Indian how he could deny all this when his bag of money was stolen at that night and was there. The Indian quietly replied that he took it from the miner killed by one of the bandits. Interesting that Douglas when he previously noticed that the miner was killed, he asserted that the miner never did anything wrong against anyone in his life. The film showed that nobody has right to make justice alone, one should know the facts before doing something against people that may not be really guilty. Douglas was ashamed of what he did and when he came back to the town, the first thing he did was to go to the church for praying and apologizing for killing people who never did what he thought they did.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
An unusual very good Western, well acted (well, mostly), 26 August 2001

Author: BBCattermole from Bedford, England

A Western with an interesting plot and an unusual ending. Well acted (except for Joan Collins who can't act for peanuts) and a treat for all those who like their Western heros to be laconic and single minded. Gregory Peck produces his usual sound performance and the four villains are excellent as well. Worth seeing - will you guess the ending?

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Not your typical western, 16 December 2000

Author: billdarcey from Boston MA

The first thing that let's you know this isn't what you expect in a western is Peck from the beginning seems more like his character in "Moby Dick" than "To Kill a Mockingbird" . Any movie with a twisted (and uncredited) performance by Joe DeRita ("Curly Joe") of the Stooges has to take off in strange directions . To give away too much of the plot would be cruel ("Sixth Sensish") . Ninety eight minutes well spent;still holds up after all these years (super cast of supporters);makes "The Searchers" seem normal.

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