← Back to Reviews
in
Comanche Station, 1960
A man named Cody (Randolph Scott) arrives at a Comanche camp, where he trades a blanket full of goods for a woman named Nancy (Nancy Gates) who was taken in a raid. Their return to Nancy's home is complicated when the two come across another group of searchers, led by the immoral Ben Lane (Claude Akins). Lane, along with his much younger men Frank (Skip Homeier) and Dobie (Richard Rust), are interested in the award money offered for the return of Nancy.
This western is one of the many collaborations between Scott and director Budd Boetticher and writer Burt Kennedy.
Generally speaking, I thought that this was a pretty good entry in the Scott-Boetticher catalog. While not quite as compelling as my favorites, there were still enough interesting character dynamics and tense action set-pieces to more than hold my interest.
Scott plays his usual gruff-but-compassionate cowboy. In this case, he is a man whose motives for rescuing the kidnapped Nancy (along with many others he's rescued) are both personal and tragic. As with many of these Westerns, the characters are engaged in something of a "parallel romance"--Cody's emotions toward Nancy are grounded in a different relationship. It adds a lot more depth to what might typically be a "rescued damsel falls for rugged rescuer" dynamic.
The most interesting characters, though, are the villains. We learn very early that Lane intentionally led a massacre of a non-violent Native American village, slaughtering women and children along the way. Cody was one of those who advocated not only for Lane's court marshal, but openly expressed that he should be hanged for his crimes. (The fact that Lane was merely dismissed from the army for his slaughter of so many lives is its own commentary). There's a casual, almost charismatic aspect to Lane's sociopathy, and it's reflected in interesting ways in the characters of Frank and Dobie. Both men at first seem to be just simple, nice dudes, but when Lane notes that they could kill Cody and Nancy and still claim the reward, the two go along with it without much more than a remark from Frank that it seems a shame to "waste" a woman like Nancy. Dobie is maybe more reserved, but he still goes along with it.
There's an interesting discussion between Frank and Dobie, in which one of the men says that his father told him "No matter what you have to do, or who you have to do it to, make something of yourself." The idea of what it means to be a "great man" is something that is often explored in the Boetticher westerns. I always find it noteworthy that the hero--in this case Cody--is often a bit awkward, sometimes even kind of a bit of a goober. But he wouldn't kill unarmed people. In this universe, manliness is about intentions and deeds, not about being cool and unflappable in every moment.
The action scenes are also pretty thrilling and well-shot.
The only real negative for me was Nancy. The performance is fine, and the character herself is also fine, but most of the use of the character is to be stubborn at times and to serve essentially as a prize the men fight over. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except that the character feels a bit flat compared to the other characters. The film keeps a piece of information close to the chest until the last few minutes, and yet I felt this information would have been better served if it were revealed earlier.
Overall a good little Western.
Comanche Station, 1960
A man named Cody (Randolph Scott) arrives at a Comanche camp, where he trades a blanket full of goods for a woman named Nancy (Nancy Gates) who was taken in a raid. Their return to Nancy's home is complicated when the two come across another group of searchers, led by the immoral Ben Lane (Claude Akins). Lane, along with his much younger men Frank (Skip Homeier) and Dobie (Richard Rust), are interested in the award money offered for the return of Nancy.
This western is one of the many collaborations between Scott and director Budd Boetticher and writer Burt Kennedy.
Generally speaking, I thought that this was a pretty good entry in the Scott-Boetticher catalog. While not quite as compelling as my favorites, there were still enough interesting character dynamics and tense action set-pieces to more than hold my interest.
Scott plays his usual gruff-but-compassionate cowboy. In this case, he is a man whose motives for rescuing the kidnapped Nancy (along with many others he's rescued) are both personal and tragic. As with many of these Westerns, the characters are engaged in something of a "parallel romance"--Cody's emotions toward Nancy are grounded in a different relationship. It adds a lot more depth to what might typically be a "rescued damsel falls for rugged rescuer" dynamic.
The most interesting characters, though, are the villains. We learn very early that Lane intentionally led a massacre of a non-violent Native American village, slaughtering women and children along the way. Cody was one of those who advocated not only for Lane's court marshal, but openly expressed that he should be hanged for his crimes. (The fact that Lane was merely dismissed from the army for his slaughter of so many lives is its own commentary). There's a casual, almost charismatic aspect to Lane's sociopathy, and it's reflected in interesting ways in the characters of Frank and Dobie. Both men at first seem to be just simple, nice dudes, but when Lane notes that they could kill Cody and Nancy and still claim the reward, the two go along with it without much more than a remark from Frank that it seems a shame to "waste" a woman like Nancy. Dobie is maybe more reserved, but he still goes along with it.
There's an interesting discussion between Frank and Dobie, in which one of the men says that his father told him "No matter what you have to do, or who you have to do it to, make something of yourself." The idea of what it means to be a "great man" is something that is often explored in the Boetticher westerns. I always find it noteworthy that the hero--in this case Cody--is often a bit awkward, sometimes even kind of a bit of a goober. But he wouldn't kill unarmed people. In this universe, manliness is about intentions and deeds, not about being cool and unflappable in every moment.
The action scenes are also pretty thrilling and well-shot.
The only real negative for me was Nancy. The performance is fine, and the character herself is also fine, but most of the use of the character is to be stubborn at times and to serve essentially as a prize the men fight over. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except that the character feels a bit flat compared to the other characters. The film keeps a piece of information close to the chest until the last few minutes, and yet I felt this information would have been better served if it were revealed earlier.
Overall a good little Western.