Sur la piste des Comanches

Fugitive Gar Davis (Walker) flees from posse across hostile Comanche territory with woman and small boy (Mayo & Eyer), and encounters old foe, the gun-running Clett (Keith).

Fine eyeful of parched southwestern scenery—I counted only one interior (the "hospital" scene) for the entire movie. Sure, Big Clint (not Eastwood) has only one "Yes, ma'm, No, ma'm" demeanor for every scene, but that's okay, even if he didn't get to be the next Gary Cooper.

Putting old-pro Gordon Douglas in charge was a shrewd move. Note the stages the awakening Mayo goes through in discovering that, yes, Walker has stripped off her wet clothes. Note too how Douglas gets that infernal glint in Mayo's eyes when she first suspects Clint of murdering her husband—it's almost scary. I also like the way the Indians are credited with some military sense when overturning the wagons to make shooters' barricades. Most important, Douglas knows how to integrate the picturesque terrain into the storyline—catch that great framing of the Walker-Keith shoot-out.

Fortunately, Warners got Burt Kennedy to do the script— and on the eve of his outstanding work with the Boetticher-Scott ,(Ranown), cycle of Westerns. I suspect Bryan Keith's charming villain was Kennedy's inspiration since likable baddies was a standard Ranown feature. Yes indeed, Keith steals the show with his easy-going charm—a real contrast to the uptight Walker. At this early stage, Keith was an interesting actor, best at squinty-eyed cowpokes as Sam Peckinpah knew when casting him as lead in Peckinpah's brilliant but short-lived TV series The Westerner (1960).

The movie itself may have been a hurry-up job—probably that's why there's no Technicolor despite the great scenery, and probably why we get a recycled plot line from Hondo (1953). I guess the hurry-up was to take advantage of Walker's TV popularity. Still, the movie's a very watchable action-filled adventure. What's more, I don't care if the luscious Mayo was pushing 40, she could put her saddle on my horse any day.

In the late 1950's, Warner Brothers was the studio responsible for more westerns on television than any other production company in town (the town being Hollywood, of course!) They made stars out Clint Walker, Ty Hardin, James Garner, Jack Kelly and a host of others who appeared in their half hour and then one hour western dramas, which later became parodies of themselves, as the long running Maverick will prove.

Here, they rework the "Hondo" plot (lone gunman rescues a woman and her son after finding her husband dead) and spend two thirds of the movie getting themselves to Fort Dobbs. I'll stop there, because actually, under the considered hand of director Gordon Douglas, this is actually an okay film. Walker gives a very quiet performance but it's his character, so you buy it. Virginia Mayo and Richard Eyer give better performances, one scene with the kid especially cool-- and the standard cowboys vs. Indians plot is made a bit more edgy by the presence of Brian Keith as the bad guy. He doesn't show up until the 30 minute mark, but he steals the show and has a great time playing the bad guy.

The final scene is laughable ( not in a good way, sorry to say) but prior to that, the action is okay, inter cut with some out takes from "The Searchers", which don't match the Fort Dobbs footage at all.

Contains all the usual Warner Brothers sound effects, gun shots and bodies hitting the ground you've heard hundreds of times. Also, the music was by Max Steiner, which notched it up to a 7 for me.

If you get a chance, give it a look. VERY LITTLE studio work, a whole lot out OUT DOOR SHOOTING, another high point.

A fairly standard western tale is uplifted by the calm, towering presence of Walker. He plays a man on the run from a posse who throws them off his trail and winds up at the ranch of a woman and her son who are waiting for her husband to return. They hardly have time to exchange hellos when a Comanche war party shows up outside. It is now Walker's duty to get the woman (Mayo) and her boy to the title fort despite the fact that she blames him for her husband's failure to return and he risks arrest once he gets there. There are a couple of minor twists and turns in the story to hold interest (along with a lot of now-cliched dialogue....occasionally one can put words in the characters' mouths and like clockwork, out if comes!) Keith shows up in a stock role of friend/foe, but adds a spark of creativity to it through some effective character work. Mayo doesn't get a lot to do besides scowl and get into trouble, but does have one amusing moment when she realizes that Walker has seen her naked. Walker is his usual gorgeous self. His soothing, dulcet voice and his monumental frame add much to the film. He plays a sort of mysterious "yep/nope" character along the lines of something Gary Cooper would have done. He's believed to be a killer, but the audience knows that there's more to the story. His willingness to allow himself to be hunted and disdained is in order to protect the honor, even if undeserved, of others. Walker, a true western star, appears to have done most (if not all) of his own riding and stunts. Also, after one particularly wet scene, he is seen shirtless polishing his rifle....quite a visual treat. Anyone should have felt safe in his care. Indians in the film are nothing but savage, faceless plot devices with no discernible reason given for their behavior. This is pretty typical for the time this film was made. The film is nothing amazing, but is pleasantly brief, has some nice scenery, a Max Steiner score and has its share of action and drama to make it watchable.

This western follows a familiar genre theme of a loner who comes to the aid of a woman and her son and guides them to safety through Indian country. The plot is spare with a twist of mistaken identity thrown in as an innocent man on the run scrambles to escape a hanging posse hot on his trail. Clint Walker is the reformed gunfighter whose reputation places him on the sheriff's wanted poster as fate takes him to a woman's ranch in the midst of an Indian uprising. Virginia Mayo is the widow and reluctant trail companion of Walker along with her son as they make their way to Fort Dobbs. Brian Keith steals the film as an unsavory gun runner whose rifles play a large part in the Indian attack on the fort. The film is not a polished feature but is a straightforward, no-frills drama and is worth watching.

Pretty good saddle-burner with Clint Walker as Gar Davis, a man on the run for the murder of one of the local townsfolk. With a posse on his tail Davis uses some trickery to shake the posse but finds himself on foot in Comanche Country. Desperate for a horse he crosses paths with a mother and her young son (Virginia Mayo, Richard Eyer) when he is caught trying to steal one of their horses. Unable to go back to town because of the murder he agrees to take them to the safety of Fort Dobbs. To get there Davis must avoid a Comanche War Party and deal with a former acquaintance (Brian Keith) a fellow of dubious character.

After three years of the Cheyenne television series Walker got his first shot at a leading role on the big screen. This is the first of three Warner Brothers films that teams Walker with director Gordon Douglas. Walker known more his for screen presence than his thespian skills does a more than an adequate job in the role. The script by Burt Kennedy is a tailor fit for Walker. The dialogue is kept compact and lets the action carry the story. We find Walker alternately eluding a posse, crossing hostile tribal lands and looking back over his shoulder to ward off an old nemesis, all the while trying to help a mother, who is already distrustful of Walker, and her son reach Fort Dobbs. Talk about an exhausting day..

For a modestly produced western programmer the Fort Dobbs story line has quite a bit going on. That can often result in plot holes and sub plots that seem to go nowhere. Fortunately no such problem here as it all ties up quite nicely and even provides a twist or two in the end. Good action western.