ellenirishellen-62962 Not the greatest Western,but a nice enough effort.How anyone could say it's awful must be looking for FX.Dana Andrews not at his best,but makes an honest effort.Henry Brandon is as wooden here as Black Cloud as he was as one of Maximilian's soldiers/officers in Vera Cruz.Linda Cristal and Dana show their having gotten quite close during Mexican filming.Loved the wig.Didn't realize Lowell Gilmore,one of my favorites was in this as an agent for the U.S. Government.Kent Smith again co-stars with Dana Andrews,as Indian Chief trying to keep his nemesis Black Cloud from gumming up the peace with Washington,DC.Just thought it was a decent enough film.

madisonwisconsinite There's nothing like seeing close-ups of actors portraying Native Americas / American Indians, who have blue eyes. The huge "buck" who throws a man off a cliff (when he's actually at the top of a sloping hill) is somewhat familiar Austro-Hungarian actor Mike Mazurki. The movie is really lame, just another celebration of the story of European subjugation of a continent through complete lack of respect for other cultures. And we wonder why Muslims don't love us? Might be worth watching by film students who want to learn how NOT to make a movie. If you don't grasp my meaning by my summary, maybe you would like this film. Granted, the production values are high, but the overwhelming white-bias that the film typifies should not be lost on viewers. Quanah Parker in a headdress with bison horns is typical Hollywood fluff. The most ethnic of actors portraying characters of any significance in this film is Nestor Paiva, whose role include such distinguished native portrayals as a Po-Ho chief and a Native Guide, on the animated series, Jonny Quest. Comanche is worth watching if you are bored and have nothing else to do, but don't pay money to rent it! I will grant, for the sake of full disclosure, the following: (1) I am NOT an American Indian, and (2) I DO have a degree in American Indian Studies from the University of Wisconsin.

MartinHafer 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.

Michael O'Keefe COMANCHE is filmed in Durango, Mexico for a sense of authenticity. It is also one of the first Hollywood films to be sympathetic toward the Native American Indian. A Comanche attack on a Mexican village nets the capture of several woman and children including the lovely Margarita(Linda Cristal). Black Cloud(Henry Brandon)is a hotheaded brave that have no use for the white man, let alone Mexicans, whom he can also get the pleasure of scalping. Jim Read(Dana Andrews)is a strong willed frontier scout, who hopes to shield his Native American friends from a bigoted genocidal Gen. Miles(John Litel). It is Read and his friendship with Chief Quanah Parker(Kent Smith)that restores trust and peace between the Indians and the white man. This is Cristal's movie debut. Andrews, not out of the norm, is wooden. Others in the cast: Nestor Paiva, Tony Carbajal, Lowell Gilmore and Iron Eyes Cody.