The Brave - Johnny Depp's Misunderstood Directorially Debut

Canned at Cannes, is this pseudo-snuff film worth rediscovering?

With the news that Johnny Depp’s second feature film as director is due out later this summer, I feel there is some merit in revisiting the star’s first picture behind the camera, The Brave (1997).

Adapted by Depp, his brother Danny and Paul McCudden from a novel by Fletch creator Gregory McDonald, The Brave tells the story of Raphael, an alcoholic Native American in such a dire financial situation that, for the sum of $50,000, he agrees to be tortured to death by a gang of rednecks, on the condition that a Mr McCarthy be allowed to film the murder and market it as a snuff movie.

Depp plays Raphael, Marlon Brando - whom Johnny befriended during the making of Don Juan DeMarco - essays McCarthy. Other notable cast members include the inimitable Luis Guzmán, Frederic Forest who played the title role in Wim Wenders’ Hammett and was of course Chef in Apocalypse Now, and Marshall Bell, who’s excelled as a villain in everything from Twins and Total Recall to Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead.