"Comanche Station" was the seventh and final collaboration between Producer/Director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott.Again, Scott is a loner searching for something or somebody. As Jefferson Cody he riding to negotiate the freedom of a white woman from the Comanche. The woman turns out to be Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates) who was taken during a stagecoach holdup. We learn much later that Cody has been searching for his wife who had been similarly taken ten years before.Cody plans to take the woman back to her husband in Lordsburg. They arrive at Comanche Station, a relay station and find it deserted. Just then three men are fleeing a hostile Comanche war party. They join Cody and manage to drive the Indians away.Ben Lane (Claude Akins) is the leader and he and Cody immediately recognize each other. It seems they have a past. The other two are simple uneducated drifters, Frank (Skip Homier) and Dobie (Richard Rust). The station agent (Rand Brooks) rides in with an arrow in his chest and warns of the warring Comanche bands all over the area before he dies.Cody decides that he better move on. Lane decides to go along since there is a $5,000 reward for the return of Mrs. Lowe to her husband. Both Cody and Lane wonder out loud why the husband did not come after his wife himself. Lane tells Cody that he is after the reward and will do anything necessary, including killing Cody, to get it.Lane sends Frank ahead to scout the Comanche only to find him floating down the stream dead. Cody is attacked by the Comanche while searching for a safe crossing across an open area. In a curious move, Lane rides to his rescue and saves Cody's life. In an earlier moving scene between Frank an Dobie, they discuss their lives and life choices. Frank is satisfied with his life as is, while Dobie longs for something better.Finally, Lane decides to make his move to kill Cody. Dobie tries to leave not wanting to be a part of the killing but is shot down by Lane. Cody then goes after Lane and......................................This being the last film in the series, one can look back and see many similarities in the plots of the various films. For example. Scott's characters are all loners for one reason or another searching for something. He and whomever he is "bringing in" always seemed to arrive at a relay station where the main characters hook up. They all ride out in a group to escape either the Indians or a pursuing gang across open country and the same bushed in areas. (I'm sure I spotted that hanging tree from "Ride Lonesome" (1958) in this film. Scott never actually gets to the town he is headed for, I suppose due to budget restrictions.Nevertheless It was a great series of beautifully photographed little westerns. Randolph Scott decided to "hang 'em up" after this film only to be lured out of retirement for one last film in 1962's "Ride the Hugh Country"

Budd Boetticher's "Comanche Station" isn't as entertaining as "Ride Lonesome." Randolph Scott's stalwart hero rescues the wife of a white man, Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates of "Hitler's Children"), abducted by Indians. Later, three mangy owl-hoots join him at the stagecoach swing station, Comanche Station, that gives the place its name. Later, Ben Lane (Claude Atkins of "Rio Bravo") and two younger gunslingers, Frank (Skip Homeier of "Day of the Badman") and Dobie (Richard Rust of "The Great Gundown"), ride along with Jefferson Cody (Randolph Scott) as he escorts the woman back to her husband. Burt Kennedy penned the "Ride Lonesome" screenplay and he seems to have recycled the basic elements for "Comanche Station." Like "Ride Lonesome," the Scott hero in "Comanche Station is taking somebody to a far-off destination, just as he was taking a captive outlaw to a noose in the former film. Predictably, the Native Americans are on the warpath, and they are determined to kill the protagonist Cody as is his old adversary, Ben Lane, who lets nothing stand in his way. Along the way, the Native Americans kill Frank with an arrow, while Ben Lane dreams up an idea that he can take Cody. The rugged scenery is a plus for this dusty horse opera. Claude Akins makes a great villain, while Scott is his usual, straightforward knight in denim armor. The characters aren't as interesting, and the narrative plods and is often predictable.

Solid, well done western, with an elegiac, muted, deliberately paced feel, despite the tense plot.A cowboy (Randolph Scott) 'buys back' a stolen white woman from the Comanche's. We quickly learn that other men are searching for her too – there's a reward of $5000 for her return. But Scott doesn't seem like a mercenary, unlike the three men he's forced into joining up with after an Native American ambush. Claude Akins plays Scott's opposite. A man with no heart, for whom money is everything. He has two young sidekicks, both little more than kids, who seem to have fallen in with Akins mostly for having little other choices in life. The film is always interesting, even if it feels pretty predictable about where it ends up. There are a couple of good, surprising twists however. This lacks the moral complexity of Boetticher's earlier 'Decision at Sundown', but it's better shot and acted

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.