COMANCHE STATION (1960) C widescreen 74m dir: Budd Boetticher

w/Randolph Scott, Nancy Gates, Claude Akins, Skip Homeier, Richard Rust, Rand Brooks, Dyke Johnson, Foster Hood, Joe Molina, Vince St. Cyr

A lawman guides a woman and three desperadoes through hostile Indian territory. Well made and exciting western.

From The Movie Guide: "This fine, haunting western was the last of the Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher collaborations. Its predecessors were SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956), THE TALL T (1957), DECISION AT SUNDOWN (1957), BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958), RIDE LONESOME (1959), and WESTBOUND (1959). Together they encapsulate themes that made these films some of the most striking, intelligent, and complex westerns ever made. Boetticher, an often-underrated talent, created films that dealt with the sadness of independence, the questing impulse, the overpowering forces of nature, and the past's influence on the present. ...

"As in many of the Renown westerns, Scott is truly a loner in the film, a man whose personal code limits his ability to coexist with others. Adhering to the mythic type of the western hero, Scott remains true to the ideals of honesty, courage, and the responsibility to aid those in need. Boetticher's films are not happy, optimistic westerns in which evil is defeated before the final credits roll. They are sad films that focus on isolated men and the harsh world they exist in, men who strive for things they will probably never attain."