Albert Salmi, Andrew Duggan, Barry Coe

During his Twentieth Century Fox contract years, Gregory Peck looked to veteran director Henry King as something of a father figure and gave two of his best performances--in Twelve O'Clock High...( read more  read more... ) (1949) and The Gunfighter (1950)--for him. The Bravados (1958) isn't in that league, but it's a surprisingly tough film from the flabby CinemaScope years when the studio, director, and star all seemed to be floundering.

Peck plays Jim Douglass, a dark, haunted man who rides into a Southwest border town on the eve of a hanging. The bad men set for the drop (Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Lee Van Cleef, Henry Silva) are the same ones he's been pursuing for the rape and murder of his wife. Douglass isn't happy about leaving it to the law to carry out his vengeance--and so there's a certain bleak satisfaction when the quartet busts out of jail, and he becomes the best hope for hunting them down.

Perversity wasn't King's long suit, so Philip Yordan's screenplay about a hero turning more sinister than the outlaws he's chasing never acquires the demonic power or ironic flair that an Anthony Mann, Fritz Lang, or Robert Aldrich might have lent it. Yet the very foursquareness of King's style and approach--and Peck's earnest efforts to fight through his accustomed stolidity to hit the necessary notes of desperation and finally shame--make for a fascination all their own. Joan Collins hovers handsomely on the periphery as an old friend ready to redeem Douglass, and Joe (Curly Joe-to-be) De Rita makes an uncredited appearance as the hangman. --Richard T. Jameson

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59% liked it

1,256 ratings

Unrated, 98 min.

Directed by: Henry King

Release Date: January 1, 1958

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DVD Release Date: May 24, 2005

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Flixster Reviews (51)


  • April 22, 2007
    not a bad western. not especially good either. it's always entertaining to see gregory peck do his thing though
  • September 30, 2009
    Solid western with Peck as conflicted man who almost becomes amoral killer. Joan looks lovely and for the most part is good in a sketchy role.
  • November 7, 2008
    After "Duel in the Sun" and "The Gunfighter" this can be considered Gregory Peck's best western. He was one of the few actors that excelled in this genre. This is a film about revenge, Peck going after the men he thought raped and killed his wife. The film has a somber mood in di...( read more)rect contrast with the beautiful colors, Cinemascope, the pretty Joan Collins, everything looking great. I remember when I saw this film as a teenager and how much I liked it and how we were all impressed with the precise pace the story is told and how violent it was. But what did not reach me and still does not reach me today is Gregory Peck's wrongdoings. To me he was the hero until the film ends.
  • October 23, 2007
    i seen this a long time ago when i was a young girl it was good what i can remember
  • June 24, 2007
    I'm only seeing one "Bravado"...
  • May 24, 2007
    i bought this on a whim because Henry Silva and Lee Van Cleef were in the cast - plus westerns have been probably my favorite genre the past year or two.....review to come...
  • May 13, 2007
    Peck is great in this western.
  • January 13, 2007
    Gregory Peck plays Jim Douglass Once-upstanding rancher is relentless as he tracks the four men (Lee Van Cleef, Albert Salmi, Stephen Boyd and Henry Silva) who raped and murdered his wife.

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