Comanche Station (1960)

The last of Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher's "Ranown" series. This follows largely the same plot as the previous ones. Cody (Randolph Scott) spends his time trading kidnapped women from the Comanche, hoping to find his wife. He has just recovered Mrs. Lowe (Nancy Gates) whose husband has placed a $5000 reward for her return ("alive or dead"). He runs into three (sort of) outlaws, who are eager to get the reward for her. The most interesting of these outlaws is Dobie (Richard Rust) – the traditional young lad who has fallen in with the outlaws but who might possibly be redeemed that features in all of the series.

Like all of the series, this is an excellent film, and in many ways is very similar to all the others. Locations are re-used, the basic plot is pretty much the same, scenes (the villain using a story claiming to be about someone in a similar situation to plant ideas for the heroine) and lines ("I never could have enjoyed spending that $5000 if I'd have done you that way...") are all re-used, the final gunfight where the villain almost has the opportunity to back down but can't bring himself to take it also features again.

In many ways this is the most downbeat of the series. Cody knows he's engaged on a futile quest, and there's no real change for him – he returns Mrs. Lowe and presumably returns to trying to find his wife. Similarly, the young, redeemable outlaw (who is the focus for much of the film) actually does the right thing (for a change), but doesn't benefit from it. How it compares in quality to the other entries in the series is a little less clear. In reality, there isn't a lot to differentiate them (they're all excellent). There's a couple of minor plot holes in Comanche station that detract slightly: the question of where her husband got the money from, and the fact that the head villain's reason for saving Cody from the Comanche even though it would have made his life easier doesn't really stack up. I personally feel that it's the best Randolph Scott performance of the series, but perhaps the remainder is slightly too familiar. That said, it's still great.