Page 29: In scene 45, the figure of the woman in the painting should not be nude. She should be decently covered.
Page 31: The Spanish epithet spoken by the one-armed man should not be obscene or vulgar if it is to be heard by the audience.
Page 32: The fight between Burns and One-Arm seems excessively brutal and prolonged as written. We ask that you shorten the fight, and avoid any sadistic type brutality. Also, the business of the Old Man kicking Burns in the ribs should be omitted.
"We have read the revised second draft screenplay for your production, THE LAST HERO, and wish to advise you that this script contains material which could not be approved in the finished picture."
In six warnings to Universal executives with copies to the director, MPAA Production Code administrators in 1961 deemed impermissible pagefuls of actions and phrases in Dalton Trumbo's script for The Last Hero. After four months, administrators eventually exhausted every objection. Epithet and fight both remained in the script, albeit reduced by MPPA rasps. The movie premiered May 24, 1962, retitled Lonely Are the Brave. Read the entire correspondence here.
