The song The Brave Cowboy by Dale Brittain is ostensibly inspired by Abbey's novel, with a protagonist that appears to share in the philosophy and predicament of Jack Burns, but whose name is never explicitly mentioned.

Bondi has been tried and is awaiting transport from county jail to federal prison but refuses to escape with Burns.

After a brief stop to say goodbye to Paul's wife, Jerry, and son, Seth, Jack heads into the Sandia Mountains, just east of Albuquerque, on horseback.

The police mount a manhunt and pull out all the stops to capture Burns, including helicopters on loan by the Air Force.

However, Burns's time on the ranch is well detailed in Brave Cowboy and the only characters the stories share are Vogelin and DeSalius.

Having written Fire On The Mountain after The Brave Cowboy, Abbey chose to write about the child "Billy" rejecting the option of using the novel to explain the past of Jack Burns.

"[3] The second Abbey adaptation was Fire on the Mountain, which was a made-for-TV movie that starred Ron Howard and Buddy Ebsen.