RanchoTuVu 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.

Bill Slocum It is perhaps appropriate that "Comanche Station" marks the end of the run of westerns Randolph Scott made with director Budd Boetticher. Lean and pure, it embodies the overarching thematic and moral concerns that make their films so lasting.We open on Jefferson Cody (Scott) riding alone through the grim dry hills of a western landscape. Suddenly surrounded by Comanche warriors, he wordlessly puts away his rifle and lays out a blanket full of goods. The Comanches offer horses; he shakes his head and makes sign he wants something else. Even when they brandish their spears, Cody is undeterred. Soon, he gets what he wants: A white woman (Nancy Gates) with a bounty being offered for her return.The scene unfolds with little dialogue. It is six minutes before even two words are spoken in English, two more minutes pass before anything else is said. By then, we are paying close attention, to the point where a sentence becomes like a soliloquy.The Scott-Boetticher films were always so; here it becomes almost natural. We have come to expect this sort of spartan scripting, and in Burt Kennedy we have a scripter able to make the most of very little. Sometimes it isn't what's being said, but what isn't said, that's important.Asked by the woman if he would still want a woman after what the Comanche have done to her, Cody's answer is simple: "I loved her, it wouldn't matter." The important word here, as we come to discover, is the word that's missing at the beginning of his reply: "If."Coming as it does at the dawn of a new decade, one to be defined by westerns of a decidedly different hue, "Comanche Station" determinedly belongs to the old camp of solid values, yet with an understanding such values aren't easy to come by. Take the main antagonist, Ben Lane (Claude Akins). Cody openly dislikes Lane, on account of a brutal attack Lane led against a village of peaceful Indians. But Lane has two companions with guns, and Cody must allow Lane to ride with him and the woman, even though Lane makes clear he has a hankering for the $5,000 bounty the woman's husband put on her return, dead or alive."You got a worth," Lane tells the woman with a nasty grin.So does "Comanche Station," a worth hard to explain. Lean as it is, it's as easy to take for granted as it is to watch. You have to view it a few times to pick up on the many subtleties, like how Cody quietly works the gaps he discovers between Lane and one of his subordinates, Dobie (Richard Rust), in order to work out a method for staying alive.Boetticher westerns often rely on the strength of its bad guys for dramatic interest; here it's Dobie that draws us in. As Cody is as taciturn as Scott usually was in westerns, you need Dobie to give us something to hold onto. But what? Dobie is stuck in a life he doesn't like, but as his partner tells him, "a man gets used to a thing." Rust sells the performance with gentle humor and an affectionate way we don't expect from a red-shirt henchman.The film does feel like a story that has been told before. Scott and Boetticher in fact did so before, in earlier westerns that, at their best, moved with a little more vigor and bend. The deterministic quality of the plot and its characters here can be a weight when you've seen the other films, most notably "Seven Men From Now," which had a similar plot, and "Ride Lonesome," which had the same ambiguities.But taken as a variation on a theme, and its culmination, "Comanche Station" is terrific entertainment, something to be savored as well as enjoyed. Scott would make only one more western after this, "Ride The High Country," setting up that director Sam Peckinpah on a trail entirely different from the one being rode here. But you watch close, and you can see there's a continuation between those later, darker westerns, and what you get here, an exploration of rugged individualism tested by adversity and found somehow ennobling, whatever the cost.

cosmerk I have read a number of the reviews for this movie and they generally display a good knowledge of the movie and its producer and writer.I like to keep it simple. I grew up during the fifties and sixties when the western was very popular. This particular western was entertaining with a good mix of drama, action, suspense, and emotion. All of the characters were multi-dimensional. The bad guy was understandable with a ruthless streak but with his own set of standards. His followers were loyal to him up to a point and stuck with him; one because he didn't like change, the other because his long time friend didn't want to break with the boss. Nancy Gates the lady in distress displayed courage and an imperturbable loyalty to her husband. Randolph Scott was the tall weathered hard man with a code of honour and a sad past. (Loved to see Stardust his magnificent palomino again). He is up for every challenge thrown at him. The end is a real eye opener. One criticism - Comanches with mohawks; in the sun on the plains? Some with really soft baby faces. Whoever cast these guys needs something mules do really well.

doug-balch This is the third Boetticher/Scott Western I've seen, "Ride Lonesome" and "The Tall T" are the others. So far, "Commanche Station" is the best, followed by "The Tall T", then "Ride Lonesome". What's remarkable is how similar they all are. Same leading man, same Sierra Nevada location.......same plot. I gave this movie 6 out of 10 in the IMDb rankings. It did well in my ranking system, accumulating 14 points, a very solid score. Here's what I found admirable in this movie: I don't consider Randolph Scott an "A" Western leading man, but I would put him at the top of my "B" list. Interesting and believable back story to his character also. This was filmed entirely on location. I couldn't identify a single sound stage scene. This 80 minute special was obviously filmed on a very low budget. I know of no director who has squeezed more movie out of so few resources. The scenery on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range in eerily beautiful and Boetticher uses it to maximum effect. The story has excellent dramatic tension. The characters are developed with mystery and subtlety. Unlike its earlier twin, "Ride Lonesome", there are no plot holes. Claude Akins does a tremendous job as the heavy. His character is devilishly likable. I'm going to go so far as to say I enjoyed his role more than Richard Boone's heavy in "The Tall T". There's some very good dialog, especially from Claude Akin's character. "Ma'am, if you was mine, I'd of come for you even if I'd of died in the doin' of it." A lot of stuff like that. Good Indian themes. Indians are presented multi-dimensionally i.e they actually have a reason for killing white people. Again an improvement over "Ride Lonesome". Some successfully executed subtle humor in the interplay between Aiken's two dimwitted henchmen. Another improvement over "RL". Interesting opening sequence with no dialog for five or ten minutes. Reminds me of the famed opening of "Rio Bravo", which was a Hawks tribute to silent films. "RB" was released a year before "CS". Did Boetticher copy Hawks? Now here's what kept the movie from being better: Generally I am willing to grant directors artistic license for inauthentic locations, but I don't see why they didn't just set this story in the Sierras where they were shooting it, instead of pretending they were in New Mexico. I'm not going to kill this for being a virtual remake of "Ride Lonesome", mostly because he cleaned up most of the obvious mistakes he made in the earlier film. I hate his Indian attacks. Indians did not ride around in circles and form perfect shooting galleries for well dug in white people. The soundtrack is awful.