Comanche Station (1960) User Reviews

Typical material handled in an exceptional way

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 4 July 2009]

This is the final film that was directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. Like their previous collaborations, they both work together to produce Westerns that manage to rise above the mediocre norm. In this film, a fairly typical plot idea is executed very well--with a grace and style that make the film well worth seeing.

Randolph Scott, as usual, plays a nice but tough guy. He's brave enough to come into a Comanche stronghold in order to negotiate for the release of a White woman kidnapped by the tribe. However, trouble is in store when three drifters come upon Scott and the woman. It seems that the leader of this group (Claude Akins) is a real rogue and plans with his men to kill Scott and the woman. It seems that the woman's husband has offered a reward for her--and it can be collected dead or alive! So what did I like about the film? First, as usual, Randolph Scott is amazing. He plays the perfect cowboy hero--tough, slow to speak and anger but also a decent man through and through. Plus, he's much more believable than the bigger than life characters John Wayne usually played. I loved Wayne's films, but he was always too tough and too in command. Scott is much more like a very capable 'everyman' character. Second, as usual, Boetticher deliberately underplays the action--producing a muted but also quite believable film. Third, the film had a really nice ending--quite the twist.

You can't do a lot better than a Scott/Boetticher western. While this isn't their best, it certainly is quite good.

If I loved her, it wouldn't matter.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 21 December 2008]

Comanche Station is produced and directed by Budd Boetticher and stars Randolph Scott, Claude Akins, Nancy Gates, Skip Homeier & Richard Rust. It's written by Burt Kennedy with music and cinematography from Mischa Bakaleinikoff & Charles Lawton Jr. respectively.

Jefferson Cody has for many years been looking for his wife who was kidnapped by Indians. Taking time out from his futile search, he trades with the Comanches to get a woman, Nancy Gates, released. During the journey back to reunite Nancy with her husband, they run into an outlaw and his two protégés. Stating that the Comanches are on their trail and speaking about a reward being offered for Nancy, relations start to disintegrate by the hour.

This was to be the last of seven collaborations between director Budd Boetticher and Western legend Randolph Scott, and it's a most fitting sign off from the duo. Between them they managed to make Westerns with an almost haunting cloud hanging over them, themes of loneliness, complex characters and scenarios segue throughout their output. Here in this fine picture we find Scott's Cody in a complete state of loneliness, but outside of the pain the character clearly carries with him, Cody is a classic Western hero, courage and integrity are fortitude's by which he lives his life.

As this tale unfolds it's evident that Boetticher isn't prepared to offer up conventional Western standards, this, like many of Boetticher's other Westerns, is not a standard Oater, a good versus evil fable, it's a cunningly intelligent picture that's both sad in texture, and also in heart. The film is boosted by Charles Lawton Jr's camera work as he captures some stunning outdoor scenery, the rugged rocks and dusky land creates some striking compositions around the troubled characters.

See this if you are one of those people who thinks Westerns were merely an excuse for Cowboys and Indians high jinx. Boetticher and Scott, leading lights in the sub genre that featured the Ranown Westerns. 8/10

Gallant Knight of the Plains

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 24 May 2006]

Comanche Station is the last of several films Randolph Scott made for Budd Boetticher with Columbia pictures. This would have been his last film, but for being lured to do just one more, the immortal Ride the High Country.

The film combines elements of The Naked Spur and Two Rode Together and blends them successfully. Scott is a man with one obsession, to get his wife back from the Comanches who kidnapped here ten years earlier. Whenever he hears of a white woman being put up for trade by the Indians he heads out with trade goods and buys her in the hopes of finding his beloved.

On this trip he ransoms Nancy Gates away from the Comanches. Later on he runs into an old enemy Claude Akins traveling with two young guns, Richard Rust and Skip Homeier. It seems as though Nancy's husband has put up a ten thousand dollar reward for her.

Akins is a truly malevolent figure, a scalphunter who kills Indians and sells their scalps for bounty. Unfortunately the two have need of each other in hostile Indian territory.

Randolph Scott's western heroes usually have an edge to them, they are not pure heroes as Joel McCrea's are. But in this film he's poaching on McCrea's territory in gallantry. His behavior towards Nancy Gates is at all times chivalrous. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a medieval origin to the plot of Comanche Territory.

Had Scott not come back to do Ride the High Country, Comanche Station would have been a good film to go out on.

Scott dukes it out with Claude Akins

[westerner357 · 7/10 · 1 September 2003]

The last of the seven Scott/Boetticher collaborations and although it's not one of my favorites {THE TALL T (1957) and RIDE LONESOME (1959) come out ahead}, it's still worth owning on DVD if Columbia/Tristar ever sees fit to release it.

Randolph Scott plays a rancher named Jefferson Cody who's wife was kidnapped by the Comanches a few years before. When he hears that the Comanches are holding a white woman, he goes to them for a trade and winds up with another man's wife named Mrs. Lowe (Nancy Gates).

As they head back, they stop at Comanche Station in order to water their horses and get fresh supplies. When they arrive there, they see three men being chased by a bunch of Comanches on the warpath. Cody recognizes one of them as Ben Lane (Claude Akins), a soldier he had drummed out of the army for an atrocity against the Indians, many years before. He also suspects Lane is trafficking in scalps and that's why the Indians are after them.

They manage to fight them off and when the coast is clear, Lane informs Mrs. Lowe that she has a $5,000 reward put up for her by her husband. Mrs. Lowe then suspects Cody of his intentions but it's apparent from the beginning that Cody isn't interested in any reward money. He just wants to find out what happened to his wife.

Also Lane has a habit of saying "Ha-lo.." every time he's being addressed. A nice script touch put in there by Burt Kennedy who wrote the script. It gives Lane something to distinguish him by.

It now becomes a battle of wills between Cody and Lane with Mrs. Lowe and Lane's two dimwitted sidemen (played by Skip Homeier and Richard Rust) looking on. When Frank (Homeier) is sent up the creek to see if the Comanches have cut off their trail, he comes floating back down, dead with an arrow in his back. And later when Dobie (Rust) has a change of heart and wants to throw in with Cody, he gets shot in the back by Lane for his efforts.

That shot warns Cody that Lane is nearby and the inevitable showdown takes place in the Lone Pine rocks. We all know who wins that one, right? Cody finally brings Mrs. Lowe back to her husband only to learn that he is blind and really doesn't care what's happened to her. He just wants her back.

Beautiful widescreen print that was remastered in the late 1990s, this one would be a welcome addition to any western library. It needs a DVD release.

7 out of 10

Your basic solid western with a twist ending

[jhawk-2 · 7/10 · 20 June 1999]

A magazine article recently cited this movie as an underrated western. I certainly agree. Randolph Scott made his best westerns in the latter part of his career, and this is one of those. The movie examines the old west moral code of right v. wrong and raps up with a surprising twist ending that gives cynicism a kick in the rear end. Not a big splashy western, but a solid little one.

Short T

[jcohen1 · 7/10 · 15 September 2006]

Saw this film again tonite via the DVD, mainly because it's Scott's penultimate film. Immediately thought of similarity to Scott's The Tall T, later to Ride Lonesome and Seven Men from Now. Difference is I'd give that Elmore Leonard story a few notches on this. Claude Akins is better than just Movin On but doesn't have the menace of Richard Boone or Lee Marvin. Scenery is favored over dialogue. Lots of cutting from scene to scene to indicate time has passed. Skip Hoemeier reprises his role as number 2 gun hand to the villain (Billy Jack to Boone ). Scott is great trading with the Comanche or getting the drop on the bad guys. Lots of good but familiar dialogue- "Seemed like a good idea". He is the archetype noble cowboy true to his values and keeping his dignity, yet always practical. I like this film very much and will watch it again; I'm sure.

The Western, Distilled to its Essence...

[ttbird2000 · 9/10 · 27 July 2007]

Howard Hawks was once asked about his recipe for making a great film. His reply: "Three good scenes, no bad scenes". I would humbly add two other rules: A great film is one where no additional scene is needed, and no existing scene could have been cut. Few competent directors violate the first rule. The mark of a great director is the ability to follow the second. Many inferior directors are too shallow or too vain to understand this - they constantly strive to include superfluous or redundant scenes - Just To Make Sure You Got The Point - when it is wiser to let the audience decide what is important. John Ford was the master at this. Hawks, Wilder, Eastwood, also come to mind. With Commanche Station, Budd Boetticher showed that he knew how to distill a great story (with many elements of a Greek tragedy) to its most basic human elements - Obsession, Greed, Loyalty, Irony, and above all, Honor.

Not only did Boetticher direct a great film, Burt Kennedy (later to become a fair director himself) constructed a great script.

Some good scenes: A conversation between a woman who was taken captive by Commanches (and held for a time) and the stranger who has just paid her ransom... Nancy Lowe: If-if you had a woman taken by the Comanche and-and you got her back... how would you feel knowing? Jefferson Cody: If I loved her, it wouldn't matter. Nancy Lowe: Wouldn't it? Jefferson Cody: No ma'am, it wouldn't matter at all.

Or two friends, hired guns both, contemplating the need to commit a horrible crime for money: Frank: You want to go to work, do you? Dobie: Work? Frank: Making an honest living? Dobie: Oh, no, I don't think I could do that. I could cowboy some. Frank: Well, what will that get you? You work yourself to death for somebody and likely they will have to take up a collection to bury you.

Or a conversation between an honorable man and a young man trying to decide whether he will try to become one: Dobie: A saddle and a shirt, that's all Frank had. It sure ain't much. Jefferson Cody: Sure ain't. Dobie: It wasn't his fault, though. Jefferson Cody: No? Dobie: No, he never knew anything but the wild side. Jefferson Cody: A man can cross over anytime he has the mind.

As for the performances, they are uniformly good. Nancy Gates, Skip Homier, Richard Rust, and Claude Akins hit the right tone - never going too far for a laugh or a tear.

And Randolph Scott was perfect - A word I do not use lightly. Roger Ebert once said that Marlon Brando and Paul Newman started out on the same path: Both came on the scene in the early 1950s, both studied the Method, both looked good in an undershirt. But Brando went on to see what else he could throw in to his performances while Newman went on to see what he could leave out (Newman once said that he was dissatisfied with many of his early performances because "you could see the acting"). In Commanche Station, Randolph Scott provided the inspiration for such an approach. This is what makes a performance (indeed, a film) memorable - by distilling your performance to only that which is necessary, you allow the viewer to remember what is important to them, not what they are told should be important to them.

If I were held to only half a dozen westerns to be labeled as essential, this would be one of them (The others: My Darling Clementine (1946), Shane (1953), The Searchers (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Unforgiven (1992)).

Orpheus riding...

[poe426 · 7/10 · 22 May 2009]

COMANCHE STATION begins and ends with the same shot (reversed for the ending) and the trick Randolph Scott's character uses against Claude Akins (having a woman distract him by firing a six-shooter until it's empty, while Scott gets into position) is a rehash from an earlier Boetticher film, but it's the subtle and sometimes downright striking cinematography that makes this one worth watching. The camera carefully eases into position several times during the proceedings without calling attention to itself- and, if anyone ever framed a shot of "a western landscape" better than Boetticher, he slipped right past me. There's nary a misfire here and the opening wordless sequence (the kind of film-making Alfred Hitchcock referred to as "Pure Cinema") calls to mind the famous opening sequence of TOUCH OF EVIL (in COMANCHE STATION, it's done in a series of short shots that add up to an unforgettable whole; see the comments by OldAle1, who lays it all out in detail). Not a bad way at all to spend an evening.

Good Boetticher/Scott Western.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 18 October 2004]

Something seemed to come together on the half dozen or so cheap Westerns that Oscar "Bud" Boetticher made with Randolph Scott and writer Burt Kennedy, and shot mostly among the stucco crags at Movie Flats, California. It all seemed to work out pretty well.

I think this may have been their last joint effort and it's one of the better examples. The scripts seemed to fall into two general types -- town stories and journeys. This is a story about a journey, not too different from the one Scott took in "Ride Lonesome," I think it was. The one with Pernell Roberts.

There is always an interesting villain, not entirely unsympathetic, who has a code of his own. In this case it's Claude Akins, accompanied by two younger men who have known each other for a long time. The two youngsters provide a good deal of the humor. The two stand before a couple of posters nailed on a wall and one of them reads aloud an announcement about the stagecoach route, stumbling over the words. The other stares at him open-mouthed and exclaims in genuine wonder, "Why, I didn't know you could READ."

In fact a lot of the humor comes from Kennedy's script, wittingly or otherwise. He's given to phrases that enjoy a colorful twist.

"Ma'am, if you was mine, I'd of come for you even if I'd of died in the doin' of it."

"He rides a little on the gentle side. Maybe too gentle."

"A man can break with the wild life."

And Kennedy gives us a Scott who is a man of few words and doesn't use them over and over again. He has a tendency to answer a declaratory sentence with a doubtful question. "It wasn't MY fault." Scott: "It wasn't?"

But the humor is in the acting as well. Claude Akins, admittedly, is no barrel of laughs. He's played too many scoundrels for us to accept his jokes. But the two youngsters are likably ingenuous. Planning to kill their woman hostage, one tells the other, "It's a waste. It ain't like if she was all ugly. It's a shame to do a woman as pretty as that."

And Scott is the most amusing character of all. He's funny because he plays it all absolutely straight. He smiles only grimly, and then only once or twice. He understates outrageously. Akins: "If the Comanche cut our track, we'll be between a rock and a hard place." Scott: "You CAN say."

By the way, if they're a day's ride from Lordsberg, New Mexico, they shouldn't have to worry about Comanches, who were living in Texas, but they might have to worry about Mimbrenos Apaches.

The Indians are treated in an entirely uncomplicated manner. They are wild animals who butcher whites, including the women and children. ("Surprising what a buck will do for a piece of calico.") Well -- okay -- there IS a reference to Akins having murdered a village full of "tame Indians," which one imagines are kind of like "tame black panthers" or something.

The score is generic, as in all the Boetticher/Scott films, but that's okay because it fits in with the other constituents. It's tawdry and simple. There is a "major theme" which plays while this merry group ride their horses around the rocks. During chases, the same theme shows up but up tempo. As I say, it all works out.

Anyway, it's a fun movie, an interesting way to spend an hour and a half.

"I'm not talking about right, I'm talking about stayin' alive."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 25 November 2007]

I watched "Blazing Saddles" a few weeks ago and had completely forgotten about that quick melodic tribute to Randolph Scott sung by the townspeople in a reverent tone. It was the Randolph Scott of "Comanche Station" they were memorializing, the stoic Western cowboy trying to do the right thing in a lawless land. Once again events conspire to avert him from the primary mission of finding his wife, kidnapped ten years earlier and presumably dead. Cody's (Scott) response to Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates) when she questions him about her fate with the Comanches show him to be a man of principle and integrity, well before we learn of his true quest.

Even the film's outlaws maintain a certain respect for Cody, with Ben Lane (Claude Akins) sharing a tarnished past with his former military officer. The stage is set early for their eventual show down, and then it's a matter of time until one or the other suffers a misstep. The story deals with Lane's two young gun companions first, portrayed by Skip Homeier and Richard Rust. The movie's best serious conversations involve Frank and Dobie talking about 'amountin' to somethin' and 'honest work'.

The movie is gorgeously rendered amid the rugged beauty of California's Lone Pine country, at times I felt caught up in the scenery at the expense of the story. Attention is brought back quickly though by Indian attacks and Ben Lane's impending confrontation with Cody. Although you never doubt the success of Cody's mission, the unexpected twist at the finale leaves one slightly disoriented. What's not to be questioned is why Cody never brought up the issue of a reward for the return of Mrs. Lowe. It's just understood that in the end, Cody amounts to something.

Dead or alive

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 28 July 2018]

While the western genre is not my favourite one of all film genres (not sure which one is my favourite due to trying to appreciate them all the same), there is a lot of appreciation for it by me. There are a lot of very good to great films, with the best work of John Ford being notable examples.

'Comanche Station' is the final collaboration of the seven films director Budd Boetticher and lead actor Randolph Scott did together in the late 50s. By all means 'Comanche Station' is not their best pairing (perhaps towards the lesser end, which is not a knock as this merely means it's only because the best of them are so great), but one can totally see the appeal of their collaborations and both Boetticher and Scott are well served, the film being a good representation of both. It is a very good note to go out on and of their films it is perhaps the most overlooked. Which is a shame because it's a very good film with many excellent elements.

By all means not perfect. Nancy Gates is rather bland in a role that is rather underwritten. The film loses momentum on occasions.

However, Scott is as stoic and charismatic as ever with an appealingly craggy edge, being both likeable and tough. Every bit as good is a truly menacing Claude Akins, relishing his quite meaty villainous character. The two work very effectively together and their final confrontation is one of 'Comanche Station's' high points. Boetticher's direction is efficient and lean.

A big shout has to go to the production values. While there is grandeur and atmosphere to the settings it's the photography that's the star, especially in the unforgettable wordless opening sequence, one of my favourite openings of Boetticher's/Scott's films together. The music is rousing yet never intrusive and the more eventful parts blister.

There is thankfully no fat or ramble to the thought-probing, tight and sharply focused script and the storytelling is brutally bleak and movingly elegiac, mostly nicely paced too. 'Comanche Station' may not have the same depth of characterisation as other Boetticher/Scott outings or character complexity, but the two lead characters are interesting and the character interaction is a major plus point numerous times. Notably with Scott and Akins in their final confrontation, which positively blisters.

On the whole, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

One of the great side-lined Westerns

[paulmoran99 · 18 October 2011]

Story details by other reviewers of Commanche Station are well written; I would like to look at details of this side-lined Western.

To fully understand the nature of Randolph Scott Westerns you have to think the 1950's; I can because I was there, watching every ' cowboy film ' that came out. Westerns then were part of a boys everyday life. I remember at the age of 8-10 riding around my home town on an imaginary horse; we even formed imaginary posses!.....and Westerns were being shown at local cinemas every week.

Randolph Scott played other parts in his long career but achieved a curious fame as a man-of-few-words cowboy. What was it that drew audiences to him despite his limited acting ability?

It is simply this. He was tall and lean, epitomising the rangy, half-starved loner who is doomed, like the Flying Dutchmen to roam the western badlands fruitlessly. He was stoic, thin- lipped, stern-looking, brooding, with sad eyes, forever looking to the next horizon, as he does in this film. If you look into Scott's face there's faint suggestion of longing, a faint wistfulness, hidden by a determined effort to hide any weakness. It's a face that no other western hero has, making Scott a magnet on screen......in the light of this,his acting ability was not in question.

Comanche Station also has a surprisingly good performance from Claude Akins; in fact, stealing a few scenes from Scott. He epitomized malevolency and cold cunning, but smiled easily, perversely emphasising points he made in the character. One long observation his character made concerning Nancy's return to her husband was loaded with cynicism and spite....perfect.In the action scenes he showed himself also to be a fine horseman.....if that really was him firing a rifle on horseback!

Nancy Gates cruised thru her role with little impact; but what western girl didn't?......in the hard, troubled world of the 1950's clearly defined male cowboy, there was little room for strong females.

Commanche Station is a great Western because of it's love affair with the very nature of the genre; tall enigmatic men, the outback, the wide open spaces, the tumbled rocks that threaten to hide hoards of Indians, and the ever-present but unloved horses, surely the most unsung animal of all time.

You'll remember this film because of these things; but mostly because here, encapsulated in 70 minutes, are all of the elements and nuances that all great westerns have or should have.

What more do you want?!

Above average Western by the magnificent duo , Randolph Scott , Budd Boetticher , and nicely written by Burt Kennedy

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 26 October 2019]

Nice film regarded in certain Western lover circles as a cult classic. She was not the white woman he'd bought , but she was the white woman he was going go keep. She was worth 5000 dollars alive or dead but she was easier to bring in dead . Here Randolph Scott is the loner Jefferson Cole, an obsessive, stubborn man hunting the last ten years for his wife abducted by the Comanches, who rescues instead another kidnapped woman, she is a pretty heroíne, Nancy Gates: an attractive and no mean actress, only yo find himself up against three reward-hungry outlaws : the leader : Claude Akins , and his hoodlum sidekicks : Skip Homeier , Richard Rust, all of them insist on accompanying them back to the spouse homestead, saying they need additional protection. However, Cody soon realizes that this nasty trio are after the reward money and are scheming an ambush .Then Cole ferries the kidnapped woman back to civilisation throughout dangerous ways chased by the violent Comanches .

Tipically tough Randolph Scott western from his later years in films made by Budd Boetticher with whom he played a lot of Western in the Fifties and early Sixties. Magnificently and splendidly written by Burt Kennedy with roles doomed from the start . It results to be a bleakly pesimist movie that gains warmth from moving pursuits , Indian attacks , a discreetly elegiac tone and gently ironical humour .It deals with a simple, and plain plot , a hero achieves rescue a woman and they fall in with three villains , in the capable hands of a trío of awesome uglies , excellently played by Claude Akins , Skip Homeier and Richard Rust.

A Ranown production by Harry Joe Brown and Randolph Scott, delivered by Columbia Pictures , Budd Boetticher made it in medium budget and being finely starred by a solid cast as well as competent filmmaking . It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor by Charles Lawton Jr, showing barren, stark outdoors and rocky landscapes. As well as atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Mischa Bakaleinikoff. The motion picture was compellingly directed by Budd Boetticher . His first Western was the low budgeted The Wolf Hunters 1949 produced by Monogram. With Universal International Pictures Budd made The Cimarron Kid , Bronco Buster, Horizons West , Seminole , The Man from Alamo. In 1956 he directed Seven Men From Now , a Batjac production , it began a long collaboration with Scott . Following Tall T in 1957 , produced by Harry Joe Brown and Boetticher , Decision at sundown 1957 , Buchanan Rides Alone 1958 , Ride lonesome 1959 , Westbound 1959. Most of them written by Burt Kennedy and Charles Lang Jr and cameramen William Clothier and Charles Lawton Jr . Finally, Boetticher wrote Two mules for the sister Sara by Don Siegel and his ending Western : Dying proud produced by Audie Murphy. Rating 7/10. Better than Average. Well Worth Watching .

Too familiar to stand out

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 5/10 · 27 December 2021]

I watched a decent but certainly not great b-grade western a couple of months ago called Ride Lonesome. This film, Comanche Station, came out one year later, and had the same director plus star.

I could swear it is the same movie.

A sense of déjà vu came over me within minutes and I couldn't shake the feeling the whole time. The colours, setting, characters, and central plot - men with a shaky alliance escort damsel in distress through treacherous territory - are all the same. The conflicts and tensions are the same. The runtime is just about the same. The action scenes are all very similar.

I know these things got churned out in a conveyor belt style fashion, and they needed to me made quickly to be profitable, but this is just too similar. For the minor differences and the fact that it's still competent for a film of its scale, I can't call it terrible, but it's amazing how similar it is to Ride Lonesome.

And this is coming from someone who can tolerate a formula, having watched all 26 Zatoichi movies, all 30-something Godzilla films, and all 50 Tora-san films (all in a fairly short space of time at that)

Not the Best Ranown, but It'll Sure Do

[dougdoepke · 29 August 2011]

Comanche Station is the last of the brilliant Boetticher-Scott-Kennedy (Ranown) collaboration, and it's probably just as well. Judging from the results here, the material is wearing a little thin. The familiar figure of a loner (Scott) rescues a married woman (Gates) from Indians, but must get past bounty hunter (Aikens), his two youthful gunmen, and the now hostile Comanche.

Again writer Kennedy gets a lot of mileage out of shades of gray. Scott may be polite as heck but he's none too likable, while Aiken's good-bad guy has his principles but likes money even more. There's an uneasy truce between them, but that will last only so long as the Indians do. Meanwhile, the two young henchmen ponder their future as outlaws in a couple of well-scripted scenes. They're basically a likable pair, but can't seem to figure out what else to do, which lends poignancy to a genre that seldom trades in softer emotions.

Naturally, most of this plays out against the neolithic Alabama Hills with the brooding southern Sierras in the background. What a perfect backdrop for the majority of the Ranown series, including this entry. There was always something basic about the conflicts that needed a primitive landscape as a reflection. In my little book, Boetticher did for those rocky spires what John Ford did for the majestic mesas of Monument Valley.

All in all, this may not be the best of the Ranown bunch, but it's sure as heck worth catching up with, including the highly appropriate ending.

a fine old-fashioned Western with great character performance

[TheUnknown837-1 · 7/10 · 30 November 2007]

This was one of the last Western films that Randolph Scott ever made in his long career in the genre. He'd made some pretty good ones, and some that weren't as compelling. But "Comanche Station" is quite a compelling 60s Western film that takes together all the elements you want to see: gunfights, Indian attacks, villains, and a dispute over money, a very valuable thing in the Old West. Like in many Westerns, the villains tend to decide that some cash is more important than the life of another person. It's all been done before and was done after "Comanche Station", but here, it works out excellently.

Aside from Randolph Scott, the film stars Nancy Gates in her last screen performance before she retired from acting to spend more time with her family. Here, she portrayed the traditional woman's role in a Western: a damsel in a distress who is caught up in something she would rather not be involved with. Claude Akins plays the villain, who for a while, doesn't seem very much like a villain, but more like a likable character who just likes to laugh and even has a few good deeds up his sleeves. Yet, his good side isn't overpowering the other side that makes it okay for his fate to unravel as it always does to villains in Westerns.

"Comanche Station" is short, which is appropriate seeing as how it's not developed or characterized enough to keep the audience interested for any longer. It was meant to be a short, fun Western and it does just that. To summarize it all up quickly, I'll just say I was satisfied with it and wouldn't mind watching it again. Recommended to any Western fan.

"A man sort of gets used to a thing"

[boscofl · 6/10 · 25 April 2021]

For the casual viewer Comanche Station will likely be appreciated as a worthwhile Randolph Scott Western that delivers adult entertainment, a solid script, and good character development. However, to those familiar with the Ranown films, this endeavor will likely come off as a derivative mishmash of previous Burt Kennedy scripts that repeats scenes, characters, and even dialogue from earlier works. When watching the film through this lens it's quite surprising how much Kennedy plagiarized from himself in this comparatively lazy effort. At least he ripped off good material.

The movie begins ominously with Cody (Randolph Scott) wandering around the barren wilderness toting a pack mule before being surrounded by Comanches (they don't look like Comanches which is another criticism that can be imposed on this film). We soon discover he is looking for a captive white woman that turns out to be Mrs. Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates). Their trek back to civilization is soon hampered by a trio of outlaws - Ben (Claude Aikens), Frank (Skip Homeier) and Doby (Richard Rust) - who may or may not have been involved in stirring up the Comanches. Cody now has two problems: evading the Comanches and thwarting Ben who wants to take Mrs. Lowe for the $5000 reward posted by her husband that Cody didn't know about.

For the uninitiated there are echoes of Seven Men From Now, The Tall T, and Ride Lonesome that resonate throughout the film. Cody has an ulterior motive for rescuing Mrs Lowe that isn't revealed until later much like in those films. Dialogue, situations, characters, and locations are recycled; perhaps the most striking copy is the appearance of the hanging tree from Ride Lonesome although this time it is surrounded by shallow water. Even the opening credits music is lifted from Ride Lonesome. Again, with no knowledge of the previous movies these things are fine but for those of us hoping for a fresh tale it is disappointing.

The performances are competent although not to the level of previous Ranown efforts. Scott almost phones it in which is good enough; he could play the strong silent type in his sleep by this point. Nancy Gates is refreshingly believable as a conflicted woman who isn't sure her husband will want her back after being violated by the Comanches during her captivity. As the villain of the piece Claude Aikens does what he can but his role isn't developed enough and he comes off more like a thug than anything else (Check out Lee Marvin in Seven Men From Now, Richard Boone in The Tall T, and Pernell Roberts in Ride Lonesome to get a better understanding of how underwritten this role is). Where it really gets interesting is with his two young sidekicks, Skip Homeier and Richard Rust, who seem to be pretty close to one another in a relationship that could be interpreted through modern eyes as borderline homosexual. It seems unlikely this was the original intention but with Rust's character alluded to as "running on the soft side" one could easily make this assumption.

In the final analysis Comanche Station is a mixed bag that is the final roundup for the Ranown series of films that achieved much critical acclaim. Perhaps the creative minds were running out of gas by this point; for Randolph Scott this is his penultimate film. While by no means a failure this movie is the runt of the Ranown litter. However, taken on its own merits and without comparisons, Comanche Station is a worthwhile use of 74 minutes.

Dangerous companions

[tomsview · 7/10 · 17 June 2016]

"Comanche Station" rides into "The Searchers" territory, but also feels a little like the funky television westerns of the 1960's such as Steve McQueen's "Wanted Dead or Alive" or Nick Adams "The Rebel".

When Jefferson Cody (Randolph Scott) rescues Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates) from the Comanche their troubles are just starting when they meet up with a trio of outlaws led by Ben Lane (Claude Atkins). The journey back to civilisation is a tense one, as Cody now has to protect Nancy from their saddle companions as well as the Indians. There is the inevitable showdown, but the ending does have a surprise.

Director Bud Boetticher's westerns with Randolph Scott have been reappraised over the last couple of decades, especially this one, the last they made together.

The film looks terrific. Boetticher had an eye for country. He gets as much out of the rocky setting as Ford got out of Monument Valley.

It's also a fascinating collision of acting styles. Randolph Scott by this stage of his career looked positively granite-hued, and represented the rugged individuals who had forged a place for themselves in the American West – a man of few words, but sure of himself. Scott played this sort of role throughout most of his career, but I always felt that he walked the walk, and talked the talk with a bit more authority than John Wayne. During WW1 Scott had enlisted in the U.S. Army and dodged sniper bullets and shellfire in France as an artillery observer, all detailed in Robert Nott's book "The Films of Randolph Scott".

The opposite of Scott's stoicism comes from the input of Skip Homier and Richard Rust as Frank and Dobie, Ben Lane's two sidekicks. Both brought a touch of method to the saddle and their troubled teens could just as easily have been stalking the sidewalks of late 1950s New York – James Dean would have felt right at home riding with this party. Even the Indians with their identical hairdos look more like a gang than a tribe.

Ford and others had probably given us enough of the way The West really was. Not so worried about authenticity, Boetticher gave this western a contemporary edge that still works today.

No reviewer rates this 10 ???

[wmjahn · 10/10 · 7 June 2007]

This is the kind of movie, which is usually called "low key" ... below-average movie-critic Leonard Maltin calls this the usual interesting Boettcher/Scott-collaboration and gives it a 2,5 points out of possible 4 ... come on ! This movie's a little gem, a gem !!

OK, it was made fast and with little money, but does it show ...? No! The story is simple, but is it simple-minded? No!

This is a classic story in the "modern" setting of the wild west. This is a Greek tragedy in modern clothes. Awesome!

Let's talk details:

1.) Randolph Scott is just great, the perfect guy for the role! He doesn't talk much (I bet there also was not much talk needed between Boettcher and Scott, since this was unfortunately their last collaboration and each one must have known the other inside out), he does acting minimal style (perfect for the role), he IS the American western loner in search for his wife (like Wayne in THE SEACHERS, which is admittedly the better of the 2, but THE SEARCHES is more existentialistic, at which COMANCHE STATION is not aiming). I would even go so far as to say SCOTT is - in his acting style - the Charles BRONSON of the 50ies! He is never over-acting, as many actors from the Lee Strasberg school are, Scott just is. And what a presence!

2.) The story unfolds lovely, there is no black-white, no good-bad, all characters have their dark and their bright sides, all show emotion, but all are tough when toughness is needed.

3.) The dialog is sparse, but always on the spot. There are no forced funny lines, but the characters are not without humor, even if it's a bleak one or cynicism.

4.) The scenery, where this little gem was shot, is just breathtaking! What a countryside (that goes for all Boettcher/Scott-western)! And it's so superbly photographed, it's one of the few movies, were I would really love to see this countryside (thanx for the info on the discussion board!).

5.) It's just 70-something minutes "long", but there is more happening than in lot longer movies and still there is no hectic in this one, it's so lovely leisurely paced, which shows real craftsmanship. There are no scenes just a few seconds long and heavy cutting to get suspense out of short, hectic scenes, most scenes are long shots, lovingly choreographed, beautifully shot, in short: this is the kinda movie like an old armchair: you sit down and it just feels GREAT !

I have now seen this 4 or 5 times and always enjoyed it a lot. Although there are some better western, these aren't many. I give this one a hearty 10 out of 10 and in a list of the all-time best western ever made, I'd put it around number 10 (after classics as GOOD, BAD UGLY, OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, C'ERA UN VOLTA IL WEST, UNFORGIVEN, SEARCHERS and a couple more).

Prime stuff !

Good Little Western

[sterlingwritesit · 7/10 · 13 June 2015]

Comanche Station is a modest movie. It lacks the scope of the big Hollywood Westerns of its time and the splashy zaniness of the Spaghetti Westerns that were to burst onto the scene later in the decade. What it does have is mostly solid performances (Scott in particular does good work here), a lean, economical script and a few stand-out sequences.

For instance, I particularly liked the film's opening, a nearly wordless sequence in which Scott's character interacts with a tribe of Indians. A ransomed or kidnapped wife is a recurring element in Boetticher/Scott Westerns, but this movie brings some freshness to that old storyline.

Bottom Line: A better-than-average Western. Worth your time.

Randolph Scott's never-ending search for wife taken by Comanches

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 15 October 2017]

After Comanches took his wife away years ago, Randolph Scott's character spends his time tracking down stories of white women abducted by Comanches in hopes of rescuing his wife from captivity. How many white women under Comanche captivity he has come across is unknown, but the one he barters for in Comanche Station (Nancy Gates) also turns out not to be his wife. Even though he strikes out again in his own search, the fact that he is going to return Gates to her family forms a compelling storyline. Scott and Gates travel to a stage coach stop known as Comanche Station where Claude Akins and two young associates, Richard Rust and Skip Homier, await the stage coach's arrival to rob it. Needless to say the coach doesn't get there, but Akins knows Gates's husband has promised to pay $5,000 for her return, a detail of which Scott apparently was unaware. Thus the five ride off on the journey to return Gates, Akins intent on killing Scott, whom he knew before, in order to collect the reward for Gates, who is very beautiful. There is excellent acting along the journey, thanks to a stand out script by Burt Kennedy and direction by Scott's famous partner in westerns Budd Boetticher.

Looking for Mrs Loew

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 1 November 2023]

Randolph Scott's last journeyman piece for Columbia for producer Harry Joe Brown and scripted by Burt Kennedy was also Bud Boetticher's final mainstream outing before he left Hollywood to make the disastrous 'Arruza' is this good-looking quickie shot entirely outdoors.

Once again Randy plays a cowpoke of dubious morals while Nancy Gates is allowed to be rather more robust than your usual leading lady and proves herself quite a horsewoman (although that doesn't save her from being dunked in a horsetrough).

As the heavies Claude Akins, Skip Homier and Richard Rust are permitted rather more nuanced characterisations than your average baddies.

The Last of a Great Series!

[bsmith5552 · 8/10 · 14 November 2017]

"Comanche Station" was the seventh and final collaboration between Producer/Director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott.

Again, Scott is a loner searching for something or somebody. As Jefferson Cody he riding to negotiate the freedom of a white woman from the Comanche. The woman turns out to be Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates) who was taken during a stagecoach holdup. We learn much later that Cody has been searching for his wife who had been similarly taken ten years before.

Cody plans to take the woman back to her husband in Lordsburg. They arrive at Comanche Station, a relay station and find it deserted. Just then three men are fleeing a hostile Comanche war party. They join Cody and manage to drive the Indians away.

Ben Lane (Claude Akins) is the leader and he and Cody immediately recognize each other. It seems they have a past. The other two are simple uneducated drifters, Frank (Skip Homier) and Dobie (Richard Rust). The station agent (Rand Brooks) rides in with an arrow in his chest and warns of the warring Comanche bands all over the area before he dies.

Cody decides that he better move on. Lane decides to go along since there is a $5,000 reward for the return of Mrs. Lowe to her husband. Both Cody and Lane wonder out loud why the husband did not come after his wife himself. Lane tells Cody that he is after the reward and will do anything necessary, including killing Cody, to get it.

Lane sends Frank ahead to scout the Comanche only to find him floating down the stream dead. Cody is attacked by the Comanche while searching for a safe crossing across an open area. In a curious move, Lane rides to his rescue and saves Cody's life. In an earlier moving scene between Frank an Dobie, they discuss their lives and life choices. Frank is satisfied with his life as is, while Dobie longs for something better.

Finally, Lane decides to make his move to kill Cody. Dobie tries to leave not wanting to be a part of the killing but is shot down by Lane. Cody then goes after Lane and......................................

This being the last film in the series, one can look back and see many similarities in the plots of the various films. For example. Scott's characters are all loners for one reason or another searching for something. He and whomever he is "bringing in" always seemed to arrive at a relay station where the main characters hook up. They all ride out in a group to escape either the Indians or a pursuing gang across open country and the same bushed in areas. (I'm sure I spotted that hanging tree from "Ride Lonesome" (1958) in this film. Scott never actually gets to the town he is headed for, I suppose due to budget restrictions.

Nevertheless It was a great series of beautifully photographed little westerns. Randolph Scott decided to "hang 'em up" after this film only to be lured out of retirement for one last film in 1962's "Ride the Hugh Country"

Man of Stone

[seveb-25179 · 7/10 · 6 October 2018]

Randolph Scott at his stone-like best, as usual the colour is provided by the supporting actors. Claude Akins is very good in the main role, as the villainous protagonist who does most of the talking in counterpoint to Scott's man of few words. Here he comes across like a poor mans Robert Mitchum, with the deep voice and deceptively relaxed demeanour that Mitchum brought to his own occasional ventures into villainy. Scott has rescued a white woman by trade from the Indians, he meets up with Akins and his two young acolytes at Comanche Station, where they learn that scalp hunters have been at work nearby and set the Indians on the warpath. Thrown together they must try to survive, with the added knowledge that the woman's husband has offered a large reward for her return... dead or alive Much character development and plot twisting ensues. The Indians here favour the Mohawk hairstyle, which has always been one of my favourites and IMO we don't see enough of it outside of the last of the Mohicans. Although the Indians are mainly here to represent a plot device for immanent danger, both sides of the larger sociological coin are presented indirectly during the exchanges between the characters, with Scott vehemently opposed to scalp hunters and respectful in his dealings with the Indians. In the end the mystery of the husband and the reward are ingeniously explained and Randolph rides off alone to continue his own forlorn search.

If this is one of Randolph Scott's best westerns then I would hate to see his worst.

[alexmantid · 1/10 · 6 November 2012]

This film is one of the worst westerns I have ever seen.First of all,commanches with Mohawk haircuts!This film is very racist to the commanche,it contains almost every single stereotype I have seen in western films.I have seen bad westerns before but at least the mistakes they make in them are funny,this film is just boring all the way through. What ever you do do NOT buy this if you want to buy a good Technicolor western buy broken arrow,I will fight no more forever,Tomahawk/the battle at Powder river,the searchers,Run of the arrow and centennial is a great western TV series.The only good thing about this film is the setting but you don't normally watch a film just for the setting.If you can find this film on the internet for free watch it if your really bored and have nothing else to do.