User Reviews

The period is 1875. The War Between The States had ended. But South of the Rio Grande, another more ancient and cruel war continued. Peaceful Mexican villages were tragic victims...

Comanche is directed by George Sherman and stars Dana Andrews as frontier scout Jim Read, who is sent to hopefully broker peace between Mexicans and the Comanche. As usual conflict exists within the tribe {Quanah Parker and Black Cloud}, as it does within the cavalry. Thus peace will be very hard to establish after years of mistreatment and mistrust.

Filmed entirely in Durango, Old Mexico for authenticity and shot in deluxe colour for a Cinemascope production, Comanche is a very tidy B Western offering. The action scenes are well constructed, with the Blanco Canyon scenes particularly eye catching; as the cavalry and divided Comanche armies form. While the acting, although far from being great, is competent and never at any time hinders the movie. Some misplaced jauntiness and a shoe-horned in romantic arc {Linda Cristal} threaten to derail the piece, and no doubt about it the film has over familiarity issues with Delmer Daves' far better Broken Arrow from 1950. But it's an interesting story that offers up something different within the genre. And since we may never get a great film that deals with the Quanah Parker {played by Kent Smith here} story, Comanche at least made the effort, and made the effort to watch it worthwhile.

Solid, interesting and enjoyable. 6.5/10

This colorful western has plenty of action and the beautiful landscapes of Durango, Mexico as the setting for a story of war and peace on the Texas plains between the U.S. cavalry and the Comanches. The Indians also attack Mexican villages and take horses and captives and rampage on both sides of the Rio Grande. Dana Andrews is the scout whose task it is to convince Quanah Parker to stop raids into Mexico and talk peace with the American soldiers. Of course, the quest for peace is threatened by white scalp hunters and renegade Indians. There are several good cavalry-Indian battles in this film which was the American debut of Mexican movie star Linda Cristal, who is Andrews' love interest. The music score is decent but the warbling by Alfred Perry and company is out of place in this kind of western. It is also worth noting that several lines of dialogue in this film were lifted verbatim from Elliott Arnold's excellent work, "Blood Brother", which details the Apache wars and the friendship between Cochise and Tom Jeffords. Many of Quanah Parker's ideas of war and peace were taken word-for-word from Arnold's novel and attributed to the Comanche chief to portray him as the sage leader of "the lords of the south plains". One wonders if Arnold ever received credit or acknowledgment for the screenplay in this movie.

A powerful Comanche chief agrees to take part in peace talks with Washington after an encounter with a sympathetic scout. However, a group of renegade warriors are unwilling to surrender their arms and their actions prompt a bigoted government official to use brutal methods.

A decent western that might on the surface look routine with its cavalry vs Comanche story, however, there are some fresh touches such as when after the Indian attack on the Mexican village a curve ball is thrown when it's revealed that the Comanches are somewhat justified in their attack, plus Dana's character is the cousin of Quannah Parker. And though the action is lacking, the ending is quite tense when Quannah and his natives appear on the mountain, their vocalisation sounding eerie. Of course, what follows is a well structured action sequence.

The performances from the actors are good, but it's Harry Brandon as Black Cloud who steals the scene with his snarl. The dialogue is also intelligent, especially between Dana's character and Quannah.

Had this movie starred a lesser name than Dana Andrews, I probably never would have watched it or else turned it off after a while, as this was a rather dull but competently made picture. Aside from more modern sensibilities about the American Indians (they aren't savage or bad and there is an attempt to understand their motivations), there really isn't anything different to set this apart from hundreds, if not thousands of mediocre Westerns from the 40s and 50s.

Part of the problem was in casting Kent Smith as the Indian chief. He was a good journeyman actor, but here he was all wrong. While his character was supposed to have SOME White blood, Smith looked and sounded about as much like an Indian as Shirley Temple! It's odd that although the script is quite sensitive and "politically correct" by today's standards, they still used a lot of White actors in makeup as the Indians (if you look, you'll also notice Mike Mazurki as an Indian as well).

Another part of the problem is that while I like Dana Andrews a lot, I've got to admit he was pretty bland in the part--a part which would have been more convincing had it featured Randolph Scott or Jimmy Stewart. Andrews just wasn't believable as a cavalry scout in the old West. Andrews forte was in contemporary stories--placing him in a horse and Indian film just seemed unnatural and his performance reflects this.

Aside from these complaints, I am not recommending you avoid the film--it is fairly entertaining and won't rot your brain. However, it really is nothing more than a time-passer and it SHOULD have been much better given the decent script.

Dana Andrews is called in to negotiate a peace treaty with the Comanches raiding across the border into Mexico. There are elements on both sides who don't want peace including the Indian-hating scalphunters on the one hand, and the breakaway Comanches (led by Black Cloud) on the other.

I hate to say it but Kent Smith isn't convincing as Quanah Parker. If they were going to have this kind of robotic dialog, then they should have at least gotten Charles Bronson or Steven McNally to do it since they look more Indian-like than the blue-eyed, fair-haired Smith does. Yeah, I know Parker was half-white and all that, but still...

Plus you have Dana Andrews and the rest of the cast looking like they are sleepwalking through the whole thing. It's as if everyone is just going through the motions with little or no effort. Were they bored with it, or was it only what the script demanded?

The only character who was remotely interesting was Andrews' sidekick Puffer, played by Nestor Paiva. He looked sufficiently grizzled for the part without resorting to too much of the silliness that say, Gabby Hayes would have done if he had played the role. It's too bad his part wasn't bigger.

The battle scenes look lame even by 50s standards with the whole thing having a rushed look to it, despite the widescreen technicolor cinematography by George Stahl. This use of color was a rarity on United Artists part since they mostly shot their westerns in b/w.

And with the title music sung by The Lancers sounding all hokey and Disney-like, all it does is bring it down a couple of more notches for me.

3 out of 10

Western frontiersman and Cavalry scout (Dana Andrews) travels Comanche territorry to save a fragile peace usually sabotaged from a rebel Indian (Henry Brandon) and by the short-sighted Indian Commissioner (Lowell Gilmore) as well as free a Mexican woman kidnapped by Apaches led by Quana Parker (Kent Smith) . As a rebel Indian leads his followers on a wild chase across the plains in this saga of the Old west . At the end , an Indian Brave squares off cavalry in an impresive battle . Ultimately and perhaps predictability , the bad guy (Brandon) and the good guy (Andrews) face each other in hand-to-hand combat and peace prevails . They killed more white than any tribe in history ¡The Never-Before Told Epic Of The Last Great Indian Battle! Filmed In The All-The-Earth-Spanning Power of Cinemascope

A routine and standard oater but passable Indian/Cavalry western with two Comanche tribe leaders , one good- Kent Smith- , and the other evil -Henry Brandon- clashing each other and a scout -Dana Andrews- attempting to keep peace and order . Decent , gleaming Western with noisy action , go riding , pursuits , Indians attacks , Cavalry charges , and shootouts . This glittering picture results to be an ordinary oater but containing some novelties , as the historical remarks about Quana Parker and General Miles . Stars the prolific Dana Andrews who had a long career and played a lot of Westerns . He first worked in Metro Goldwyn Mayer , it was two years before Goldwyn and 20th Century-Fox , to whom Goldwyn had sold half of Andrews' contract, put him in a film, but the roles, though secondary, were mostly in top-quality pictures such as The Westener (1940) and Ox-Bow incident (1942). A starring role in the hit Laura (1944), followed by one in The best years of our lives (1946), made him a star, but no later film quite lived up to the quality of these. During his career, he had worked with with such directors as Otto Preminger, Fritz Lang, William Wyler, William A. Wellman, Jean Renoir, and Elia Kazan. Andrews is well accompanied by a good main and support cast such as : Kent Smith , Henry Brandon ,Stacy Harris , Lowell Gilmore , Nestor Paiva , Mike Mazurki and the beautiful Mexican Linda Crystal in her film debut.

It contains a rousing and moving musical score by Herschel Burke Gilbert with catching songs by The Lancers . As well as glimmer Cinematography in shining Technicolor by Jorge Sthal Jr. shot in Mexico . The motion picture was competently made by George Sherman in B-style , though has some flaws and gaps . Entertainment , atmosphere , action and excitement surge along with the tale under the hand of filmmaker George Sherman , who is clearly more at home with the thrilling scenes than somewhat talking scenes. Sherman made reliable low-budget fares for Columbia between 1945-48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another eight years . Sherman specialized almost exclusively in "B" westerns there , including the "Three Musketeers" series, which featured a young John Wayne. George directed lots of Westerns as ¨The Last of the Fast Guns¨ , ¨The Lone Hand¨, ¨Santa Fe stampede¨ , ¨Red skin¨ , ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ ¨Calamity Jane¨, ¨Relentless¨ , ¨Comanche Territory¨ , ¨Dawn at Socorro¨, ¨Border River¨ and many others . He also made occasional forays into action and horror themes, often achieving a sense of style over substance . The only "A"-grade films to his credit were two westerns starring John Wayne: ¨Comancheros¨ (1961) (as producer) and ¨The big Jack¨ (1971) . His last films were realized in Spain as "Find That Girl" , ¨The new Cinderella¨ and ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨. Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable . Well worth watching.



The film is partially based on the notorious Indian figure Quanah Parker (Comanche kwana, "smell, odor") , he was a war leader of the Quahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band, the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, an Anglo-American who had been kidnapped as a child and assimilated into the tribe. Following the apprehension of several Kiowa chiefs in 1871, Quanah emerged as a dominant figure in the Red River War, clashing repeatedly with Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie. With European-Americans deliberately hunting American bison, the Comanches' primary sustenance, into extinction, Quanah eventually surrendered and peaceably led the Quahadi to the reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was never elected chief by his people but was appointed by the federal government as principal chief of the entire Comanche Nation, and became a primary emissary of southwest indigenous Americans to the United States legislature. In civilian life, he gained wealth as a rancher, settling near Cache, Oklahoma. Though he encouraged Christianization of Comanche people, he also advocated the syncretic Native American Church alternative, and passionately fought for the legal use of peyote in the movement's religious practices. He was elected deputy sheriff of Lawton in 1902. After his death in 1911, the leadership title of Chief was replaced with Chairman; Quanah is thereby described as the "Last Chief of the Comanche," a term also applied to Horseback. He is buried at Chief's Knoll on Fort Sill. Many cities and highway systems in southwest Oklahoma and north Texas, once southern Comancheria, bear references to his name.

Blasé outdoor yarn set in 1875 is based loosely on real events, with peaceful villagers near Durango, Mexico pitted against the Comanches. Linda Cristal plays the daughter of a Spanish aristocrat who's been kidnapped; frontier scout Dana Andrews (looking weary) is working with the Calvary to bring peace between the white man and the Indians until he and his partner are also captured. There's an amusingly upbeat theme song by The Lancers ("A man is as good as his word/as good as his word is he/and if he is as good as his word/he's good enough for me"), and the outdoor cinematography is inspiring, but this plot is so old it creaks. John Ford's "The Searchers", also from 1956, covered similar territory; "Comanche" isn't as pumped up with machismo as "The Searchers" is--but neither is it especially memorable. ** from ****

It's 1875. The Comanche attacks a Mexican village and kidnaps many of the women including the daughter of an aristocrat as the latest in a back and forth battle between the two peoples. They escape into American territory. American scout Jim Read (Dana Andrews) tries to peacefully settle the centuries old feud. The new Mexican government agrees to stop buying Comanche scalps. Comanche chief Quanah agrees to negotiate while renegade Black Cloud leads his warriors to force a fight against the US Calvary.

The shooting location Durango, Mexico has the desert qualities although the Mexican filming looks a little inferior. This is a B-movie Western but it's a pretty good one. It tries to deal the complex relationships of the people in the area. It's interesting that the Comanche chief is so astute right away. I don't like the red-faced actors but it's not unusual for its time. The quality is second tier but it's at the top of that second tier.

There are so many aspects of this film that are bad, it is difficult to decide where to begin. Filmed in Technicolor, this was NOT a B-grade movie. Yet I have seen many B-grade westerns that are superior to this utterly pedestrian effort at film-making. In fact, the color film is the only thing about this movie that is decent. The cinematography, itself, is unremarkable. The scenery, shown once would have been unremarkable, too. The same location shown repeatedly, however, is laughable.

Worst of all is the soundtrack. The Lancers' upbeat, ersatz-folk sound is hopelessly out of sync with the story, giving the film a kind of schizophrenic quality. The songs, with a change of lyrics, would be better suited to a Frankie and Annette film of the same era - or an upbeat Disney movie.

Then there's the acting - or better stated as a question - where's the acting? In particular, I have never been able to understand how Dana Andrews ever had a career in film. He is absolutely the most wooden actor ever seen in Hollywood. His delivery is the same whether he is portraying a film noir tough guy or an Indian scout. His face always has the exact same expression - utterly impassive. Whether his character is experiencing joy or sorrow, his face looks exactly the same. Who told this guy he could act? He must have had the dope on a lot of Hollywood big-wigs to have been cast in films - even as an extra! The rest of the cast is apparently mimicking other actors - the Gabby Hayes wannabe, the Stewart Granger wannabe, the Dolores Del Rio wannabe. They are all pretty much on autopilot - delivering caricatures rather than portraying characters.

The question I have whenever I subject myself to an abomination such as this is: Who is most to blame - the actors or the director? Did the director actually want these actors to act as they did, or was he simply incapable of getting anything else out of them? What would Ed Wood have accomplished with a budget such as this director had at his disposal?

I remember almost every film I ever saw ( good, bad or indifferent), but Comanche was an exception. I saw it years ago, forgot about it and the only thing that I remembered were a couple of scenes with a beautiful girl. I just saw it again, and the only reason to watch Comanche is the scenery. It was filmed in Durango, Mexico instead of a Hollywood sound stage and getting to look at that same beautiful girl:,the always lovely Linda Cristal ( Margarita), and two scenes with Linda reminded me I saw it before. The problems with the movie was. 1: That stupid song by The Lancers which reminded me of "Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away." 2: It was honestly boring and predictable. Dana Andrews ( Jim Read) works well as a tough guy ( see Laura) but NOT an action hero ( unlike say Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd or Errol Flynn all of whom can do both), and he has to play both here. 3: Not enough Linda Cristal.

This movie was dreadful from start to finish. From the score to the hokey storyline to the AWFUL acting and portrayals of everyone in the film. The only way my husband and I could watch this film was to give it the MST3000 treatment. And we had lots of fun, but at the movie's expense.

We laughed out loud at the ridiculous singing that underscores several points in the film.

We guffawed at the fact that they kept passing the same bit of scenery over and over.

We could not understand why the Indian chief spoke English with no accent, but couldn't seem to put his words in the right order.

But our favorite part was waiting for the Scalper guy to repeat what someone had just said, but rephrase it as a question. "Wanna know what I think about (insert previous line here)?"

Dreadful.

Many Westerns, started around this time, the mid-to-late 1950's, will have a white character more compassionate to the Indians and for Dana Andrews, as a scout named Jim Read, this was familiar territory since he'd recently played a similar character in SMOKE SIGNAL, which had enough action to make up for all the preaching...

And the latter is about all COMANCHE has within a series of meetings between the hilariously miscast blond-haired Kent Smith as, of all things, an Indian Chief of the titular tribe, about to do battle with... not white men this time but Mexicans who've been exploiting Indians and their scalps...

Of course, as Dana tells in one of many rambling peace-treaty sequences, it's all because of the evil white man and his everlasting treachery and omnipresent backstabbing... and while the COMANCHE plot synopsis promises a beautiful Spanish girl, played by first-time starlet Linda Cristal, being kidnapped by Indians until rescued by Dana himself, that aspect is not only unimportant, it's practically non-existent... blink or miss...

Instead going from one powwow to another within a long dreary stretch of open plain with a message that itself is never quite clear and, during Dana Andrews' alcoholic phase of forgettable fifties' programmers mixed with a few cult gems, COMANCHE is, by far, his worst yet: attempting the start of the Neo-Western while stuck with that corny-opening ballad continuing throughout a hybrid of outdated kitsch with melodramatically progressive drivel.

This has all the hallmarks of being what later became known as a revisionary Western . By this I mean Hollywood woke up to the fact that the indigenous Native Americans had a raw deal from history and Hollywood movies featuring whooping injuns portrayed as violent savages weren't helping matters much hence in the late 1960s and early 70s you'd get movies like SOLDIER BLUE and LITTLE BIG MAN and later still we had DANCES WITH WOLVES that showed the wild west through the eyes of the Indians . This 1956 film called COMANCHE pre-dates these revisionary Westerns where the poor noble misunderstood savage is set upon by the white man

Actually it doesn't because from the outset we're shown it's the Mexican/Hispanic community who are all to blame . We're given a short history lesson that when Spain conquered Mexico the Spanish held the Comanches at gunpoint and made them work down the mines gathering silver . Understandably the native population were a bit angry about this and revolted leading to the Spanish to stamp upon them . After Mexico gained its independence the slaughter continued with Mexicans putting a bounty on Indian scalps 100 dollars for a warrior , 50 dollars for a squaw and 25 dollars for a child

" Wow Theo that is so cruel and if anyone did that today they'd be getting arrested and tried for crimes against humanity at The Hague "

Undoubtedly and rightly but you have to ask yourself a rhetorical question that would the native population of the United States be getting a better deal ? No they wouldn't this film tends to ignore this and seems to portray the United States White Anglo-Saxon Protestant as being morally superior to that of their Hispanic neighbours who are portrayed as being as untrustworthy but are very good guitar players and it's left to an American WASP to save the day

This cultural arrogance is not so much offensive but a great pity because COMANCHE did have some potential to be a good Western that would have appealed to people who don't like the Western genre . It does try to push the boat out against the Hays Code by having a slightly sadistic streak but then sabotages it by including a couple of songs over the soundtrack

I just had to look--- KENT SMITH as Quanah Parker???? I mean, the guy was always wooden, but jeeze! Utterly unconvincing in every way. And big Mike Mazurki as his right-hand goon--whew. Henry Brandon's Black Cloud, with his ice-blue eyes and bad wig, is another howler. You can even see the wig coming loose when he's struggling with Dana Andrews, himself looking seriously out of place. Diehard fans may or may not care to see him in this role. But at least Iron Eyes Cody is in there, though his presence only points up how fake those redface 'red men' look.

The script is well-meant, and deserved better. But this was the 50s, and the production decisions were what they were. As the gratuitous Girl, Linda Cristal contributes exactly what was intended-- and in a cantilevered bra, too. If you like shoot-'em-ups and can overlook the casting limitations and other snags, you might find this acceptable entertainment.