Brando Rides Alone

by Barry Gifford

Part critique, part witty polemic, this revisiting of one of the 1960s' most tortured and misunderstood productions finds a flawed masterpiece that survived multiple writers (including Stanley Kubrick), an egomaniacal star with no previous directing experience, and a virulent critical reaction to become, in retrospect, a crucial rethinking of the Western genre. Included is an excerpt from a screenplay cowritten by Barry Gifford and James Hamilton that retools Brando's characters into the hapless inhabitants of a noir Old West.

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2004

About the author

Barry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and film noir- and Beat Generation-influenced literary madness.

He is described by Patrick Beach as being "like if John Updike had an evil twin that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and wrote funny..."He is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two sex-driven, star-crossed protagonists on the road. The first of the series, Wild at Heart, was adapted by director David Lynch for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the screenplay for Lost Highway with Lynch. Much of Gifford's work is nonfiction.