Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

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Last updated: March 12, 2020

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Starring Kirk Douglas, based upon the novel The Brave Cowboy by Edward Abbey. Douglas stars as a fiercely independent cowboy rebelling against shrinking freedoms in the Southwest. Filming locations around Albuquerque, including the Sandia and Manzano Mountains and Tijeras Canyon.


Notes on Individual Scenes
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Kirk Douglas' favorite movie project!

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Several West Mesa points - all estimates are approximate!

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2014/12/02/lonely-are-the-brave-revisited-by-jim-stiles/
I basically agree with Jim Stiles. I'm thinking near Volcano Vista High School. The shallow soil there appears to be good for junipers. You can see a row of utility poles in the near background (when Burns prepares to give Whisky an apple), and I believe those poles are beside the old Pole Line Road, which Unser Blvd. basically supplanted. They can't be too far away from that road, because they had to get the film crew up there too. Approximately: (35.173472°, -106.736884°)

Near Rinconada Canyon in Petroglyphs National Monument (35.121599°, -106.740712°)

River View - Lonely Are The Brave (35.109965°, -106.694567°)
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Regarding the highway crossing by Jack and his horse, I'm certain that's where 2nd and 4th streets meet. There was a gas station at the corner of those streets until the late 70s. It would not be possible to get the foreground of modern images to align properly with the Sandias. The North Diversion Channel Sedimentation Basin behind the gas station had not been completed in 1962. The basin was completed later in the 60's. Every landmark in the middle distance was thus altered in the process, including the access road to I-25.

Cemetery - Aargh! Which one? I'm thinking maybe this cemetery. Every nearby landmark has been altered: (35.183518°, -106.602737°)

Bondi House - Thinking near Edith Blvd., much nearer Edith Blvd. than Jim Stiles thinks, maybe a little north of Osuna Blvd., where that big, old complex of buildings is (was) used to be.

Road scene - The Joplin Jackrabbit

Bar

Police station

Jail

Jailbreak/ Clark's Dept. Store

House

Train/Tulsa 7 miles - Truck driving scenes quite unclear - may not be NM at all.

Police office view - crenallated building top

Looks like La Luz cabin

Glorieta Brewery & Building on First St.

When Walter Matthau looks through bars, out of police headquarters, you can see the Historic Glorieta Brewery and the building at the NE corner of Marquette Ave. and 2nd St. NW. Both buildings are still there, and indicates the POV is from approximately the current location of the Albuquerque Convention Center.

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Sandias - Approximate Locations

Jack Burns Ponders on Horseback (35.192582°, -106.485121°)

Jack Burns Higher Up in Sandias (35.211712°, -106.453217°)

Jack Burns Comes Up Over Rim - Near Kiwanis Cabin ( 35.204595°, -106.444250°)

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Road scene