brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I have really enjoyed Randolph Scott's presence in films at both both bookends of his career, having previously seen him in the pre-Code 'Hot Saturday' (1932) and his last film, Sam Peckinpah's first great film, 'Ride the High Country' (1962), as well as a few in between ('Pittsburgh', 'Virginia City' and 'My Favorite Wife' most readily come to mind), so I thought it was high time to visit some of his most influential films, the Western collaborations with Budd Boetticher.Scott has a really unique presence in these films. So far, I have seen three of the seven they made together, and he doesn't romance, he seems a tortured, troubled soul, even in the almost comedic, 'Buchanan Rides Alone'. This was another excellent script by Burt Kennedy, finely scored and photographed. It was clear that this was a well-run filmic organization, that really knew what in tarnations they were doing. Rare is the film that is short but sweet. I consider this a 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' kind of movie, in that it's not too long, not too short, but just right. Though not quite as good as its predecessor, 'Ride Lonesome', I still didn't have the heart to give it a lower rating.I know the Western genre as a whole tends to get short shrift these days, but when you see the great ones, it makes you really glad somebody made them--and that Boetticher and Scott made a lot more than simply seven together.

"Comanche Station" was just one of a handful of truly great westerns that Randolph Scott made with director Budd Boetticher over a five year period between 1956 and 1960. It may be the best; these short, lean, psychologically astute and hugely exciting pictures defined the West without romanticizing it in any way. Often they dealt with the themes of revenge and retribution with Scott's character seldom lily-white. There was usually a journey involved and a woman, more often than not in need of Scott's protection, and several villains, so beautifully drawn in the scripts of Burt Kennedy that they usually transcended the caricatured villainy of western bad guys to emerge as altogether more complex characters.In "Comanche Station" Scott finds himself rescuing white woman Nancy Gates from the Comanches and escorting her back to her husband. They are joined on the way by Claude Akins and his gang whose motives in wanting to keep Gates alive are, shall we say, somewhat less noble. The younger members of Akins' gang are played by Skip Homeier and Richard Rust and there is an almost homo-erotic element to their relationship. You could always rely on Kennedy and Boetticher to dig deeper than the surface. It was also magnificently photographed in Cinemascope by Charles Lawton Jr. Essential viewing.

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.

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?!