Comanche Station | |
---|---|
Directed by | Budd Boetticher |
Written by | Burt Kennedy |
Produced by | Budd Boetticher |
Starring | Randolph Scott |
Cinematography | Charles Lawton Jr. |
Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant |
Music by | Mischa Bakaleinikoff (uncredited) |
Color process | Eastman Color |
Production company | Ranown Pictures Corp. |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 73 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Comanche Station is a 1960 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. 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. [1]
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. 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.
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 , Decision at Sundown , Ride Lonesome , and The Tall T . [2]
The Tall T is a 1957 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, and Maureen O'Sullivan. Adapted by Burt Kennedy from the 1955 short story "The Captives" by Elmore Leonard, the film is about an independent former ranch foreman who is kidnapped along with an heiress, who is being held for ransom by three ruthless outlaws. In 2000, The Tall T was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
George Randolph Scott was an American film actor, whose Hollywood career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in dramas, comedies, musicals, adventures, war, horror and fantasy films, and Westerns. Out of his more than 100 film appearances, more than 60 of them were Westerns.
Two Mules for Sister Sara is a 1970 American-Mexican Western film in Panavision directed by Don Siegel and starring Shirley MacLaine and Clint Eastwood set during the French intervention in Mexico (1861–1867). The film was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal Pictures and Sanen Productions of Mexico. It was the second of five collaborations between Siegel and Eastwood, following Coogan's Bluff (1968). The collaboration continued with The Beguiled and Dirty Harry and finally Escape from Alcatraz (1979).
Behind Locked Doors is a 1948 film noir directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Lucille Bremer, Richard Carlson and Tor Johnson.
Jesse James is a 1939 American Western film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly and Randolph Scott. Written by Nunnally Johnson, the film is loosely based on the life of Jesse James, the outlaw from whom the film derives its name. The supporting cast includes Henry Hull, John Carradine, Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell and Lon Chaney, Jr.
Oscar Boetticher Jr., known as Budd Boetticher, 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.
Seven Men from Now is a 1956 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell and Lee Marvin. The film was written by Burt Kennedy and produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions.
Burton Raphael Kennedy was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever."
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's so-called "Ranown cycle" of westerns, made with Randolph Scott, executive producer Harry Joe Brown and screenwriter Burt Kennedy, beginning with Seven Men from Now.
Harry Joe Brown was an American film producer, and earlier a theatre and film director.
The Train Robbers is a 1973 American Western film written and directed by Burt Kennedy and starring John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson, and Ricardo Montalbán. Filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico. Two brief scenes take place in the square that was used for the final shootout in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The Killer Is Loose is a 1956 American crime film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming and Wendell Corey. An independent production, it was released by United Artists.
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 returning home with enough money to start his own ranch. When he stops in the crooked town of Agry, he is robbed and framed for murder.
Decision at Sundown is a 1957 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. It is one of seven Boetticher/Scott western collaborations, including Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Buchanan Rides Alone, Westbound, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station.
The Desperadoes is a 1943 American Western film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes and Edgar Buchanan. Based on a story by Max Brand, the film is about a wanted outlaw who arrives in town to rob a bank that has already been held up. His past and his friendship with the sheriff land them both in trouble. The Desperadoes was the first Columbia Pictures production to be released in Technicolor.
Westbound is a 1959 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Virginia Mayo and Karen Steele.
The Man Who Walked Alone is a 1945 American B film romantic comedy film produced by PRC Pictures, Inc., directed by Christy Cabanne, with top-billed Dave O'Brien and Kay Aldridge, along with Walter Catlett and Guinn Williams.
One Mysterious Night is a 1944 crime film, the seventh in a Columbia Pictures series of fourteen starring Chester Morris as reformed crook Boston Blackie. It was preceded by The Chance of a Lifetime and followed by Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion. Blackie is called upon to recover a stolen diamond.
Wings of the Hawk is a 1953 3-D American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Van Heflin and Julie Adams. It is set during the Mexican Revolution.
Bronco Buster is a 1952 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring John Lund, Scott Brady and Joyce Holden. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.