Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963)

Director:

Frank McDonald

Writer:

Edward Bernds (writer)

Release Date:

6 November 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

A Gunslinging Detective Smashes The Most Ruthless Outlaw Gang Of All Time! Masked marauders... rampaging raiders blasting a trail of terror and violence across the West... and the man who pledged to stop them rode at their side!

Plot:

Comanche Creek, Colorado, 1875: Prisoner Jack Mason is broken out of jail by a gang of strangers. They use him in a robbery...

Plot Keywords:

Outlaw | Beautiful Woman | Independent Film

Cast

Audie Murphy	...	Bob 'Gif' Gifford aka Judd Tanner
Ben Cooper	...	Bill 'Kid' Carter
Colleen Miller	...	Abbie Stevens (owner, Stevens House)
DeForest Kelley	...	Amos Troop
Jan Merlin	...	Nielson (National agent)
Adam Williams	...	Jed Hayden
Susan Seaforth Hayes	...	Janie (Winton's granddaughter)
Mort Mills	...	Jack Mason aka Jack Springer
John Hubbard	...	Marshal Dan Shearer
John Milford	...	Bill Peters (National agent)
Michael T. Mikler	...	Deputy
Thomas Browne Henry	...	Mike O'Brien (Chief, National Detective Agency)
William Wellman Jr.	...	Deputy
Laurie Mitchell	...	Tina Neville (the redhead)
Tim Graham	...	Buck

Also Known As:

Gun Fight at Comanche Creek (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Allied Artists Pictures

Quotes:

Mike O'Brien, Chief National Detective Agency: Now, let's go over what we know so far. We're faced with a shrewd and ruthless gang of outlaws. Their operation is clever and deadly. They wait until a man with a price on his head is jailed, then spring him and use him as a front man for a series of holdups...making sure he is the only one ever recognized. The reward keeps going up. When it reaches three or four thousand dollars, the man is killed. Somebody is hired to collect the reward.

Good vehicle for Audie and company, but a remake, none-the-less

I liked this film a lot, but then I love westerns. It's got Audie, Ben Cooper, Jan Merlin, and scores of others, so how can it go wrong? Well, for one thing, it's a blatant remake of the earlier western, Last Of The Badmen (1957). How the writers of that film could let writer Edward Bernds get by with taking full credit for writing this film is beyond me. Sure, the setting is different, the characters have different names, but the basic story is almost identical. Both films even feature an annoying narrator, who details facts that none of us need to hear voiced....all the way through the film. If you've seen both films, you'll know what I mean.

Which is the better version? It's hard to say. They are bot very good, with excellent casts and fine direction. Both would have benefited from losing the narrator.

Johnboy