By 1962, Kirk Douglas had already appeared in "Young Man With a Horn", "The Bad and the Beautiful", "Ace in the Hole", "Lust For Life", and "Spartacus." It was hard to be a bigger Hollywood star. But Douglas, with that granite dimpled chin never thought like a star, he thought like an actor. He never made the kinds of safe choices that would guarantee that he'd stay on top. Take 1962's largely forgotten "Lonely Are The Brave."

Just out on DVD as part of Universal's Backlot series, the unsung black and white film feels like the blueprint for "The Fugitive." Douglas plays a cowboy in an age when the notion of a cowboy has largely faded into the past.

As the film opens, we see the dusty loner laying on his back looking at the sky, somewhere out west, with his horse, Whiskey, nearby. But just when you think you're about to settle into a classic tale of the Old West, a jet plane buzzes through the sky. Douglas is the last cowboy, working outside of 20th century rules and progress. So when he hears from Gena Rowlands that her husband -- an old pal has been locked up for no good reason. Douglas happily gets drunk and gets into a bar fight with a one-armed man so he'll be thrown in the slammer, too, so he can break his buddy out. Of course, it doesn't work out that way. Douglas busts out alone and the local sheriff played by a young-but-still-hangdog Walter Matthau stirs up a manhunt to find him.

Like Tommy Lee Jones in "The Fugitive", Matthau knows what he has to do, but also has sympathy for the man he's chasing. And even though the two never share the screen until the final scene, there's a touching bond between them. On the extras, Steven Spielberg talks about the impact the film has had on him and a proud Douglas says that it may be his favorite film of his. Do yourself a favor and see why.

Now for a look at what else is new on DVD: in "Knowing", Nicolas Cage decodes a message about a future disaster; in "Jonas Brothers: the Concert Experience", Disney's boy band trio delivers a live show in 3D; and in "Che", Benicio del Toro stars in a two-part biopic of the iconic revolutionary, Che Guevara.