Comanche Station (1960)
Tthe last of Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott's late 1950s Ranown Cycle. It was filmed completely on location in the Eastern Sierra area of Central California near Lone Pine and thanks to Powerhouse's Blu-ray it looks stunning. Every grain of sand is there for all to see, every ripple of the rivers, every leaf gently blowing in the wind and every desert plain beautifully photographed.
The film itself isn't perhaps as good as other Boetticher / Scott westerns but it rattles along and the action when it comes is well realised culminating in a quietly intense final showdown which is in stark contrast to the Comanche attacks which pepper proceedings.
I love Randolph Scott as an actor. He's no John Wayne when it comes to striding about his films but he is often understated but in a commanding way. In a truly laugh out loud scene Nancy Gates tends to Scott's ;leg wound, produces some sort of ointment or whisky and says "This may sting a little".
Whilst Wayne or Eastwood might have said "Ouch, you weren't kidding" Scott comes out with a kind of owl hoot and runs round rubbing his leg. It's not as silly as i've made it sound but it is amusing and a lovely scene for Scott. There's no wonder the town of Rock Ridge in a certain Mel Brooks film treat Scott as a God among men.
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