''Comanche Station'' is a 1960 American
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
* Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
film directed by
Budd Boetticher
Oscar "Budd" Boetticher Jr. ( ; July 29, 1916 – November 29, 2001) was an American film director. He is best remembered for a series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.
Early life
Boetticher was born in ...
and starring
Randolph Scott
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...
. The film was the last of Boetticher's late 1950s ''Ranown Cycle''. It was filmed in the Eastern Sierra area of Central California near
Lone Pine, California, not far from the foot of
Mount Whitney. The towering granitic boulders known as the
Alabama Hills served as the backdrop for the film's opening and closing scenes.
Plot
Jefferson Cody, whose wife was captured by
Comanches, frees another man's wife and is taking her home. Three outlaws, led by the charming but malevolent Ben Lane, reveal that the woman's husband has offered a $5,000 reward, making the woman, Lordsburg resident Mrs. Lowe, suspicious of Cody's motives in coming to her rescue.
Lane is known to Cody, who helped court-martial him from the army for killing "tame" Indians. The Comanche are on the warpath due to recent scalpings. (An oddity, as the “Comanches” were inexplicably made up by the filmmakers to resemble
Pawnee and thus have very little hair to scalp.) They kill Frank, one of Lane's men, and make repeated attempts to kill the rest of the party. Lane attaches himself to Cody, intending to make it look like the Comanches/Mohawks killed Cody and to take the reward for himself.
Although her husband did not try to find her himself, the reward for the return of Mrs. Lowe is "dead or alive," so Lane prefers dead so she won't be able to testify against him. He tries to ambush her and Cody, and when partner Dobie refuses to help, Lane shoots him.
In a showdown in the hills, Cody gets the better of Lane. He escorts the woman back home, discovering that her husband is blind. Before he can be paid the $5,000, Cody rides away.
Cast
Home media
In 2008 a DVD box set of five Budd Boetticher films starring Randolph Scott was released. Along with ''Comanche Station'' the set includes ''
Buchanan Rides Alone
''Buchanan Rides Alone'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, and Barry Kelley. Based on the 1956 novel ''The Name's Buchanan'' by Jonas Ward, the film is about a Texan return ...
'', ''
Decision at Sundown'', ''
Ride Lonesome
''Ride Lonesome'' is a 1959 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, and James Coburn in his film debut. This Eastmancolor film is one of Boetticher ...
'', and ''
The Tall T''.
See also
*
List of American films of 1960
References
External links
*
*
*
*
1960 films
1960 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
Revisionist Western (genre) films
*
Films shot in Lone Pine, California
Films directed by Budd Boetticher
Columbia Pictures films
1960s English-language films
1960s American films
{{1960s-Western-film-stub