Last of the Comanches

This movie is almost a carbon copy of the WWII, 1943 version of the movie Sahara which starred Humphrey Bogart as Sergeant Joe Gunn. Bogart and a ragtag group of soldiers cross the Sahara Desert and make an almost hopeless stand against terrible odds.

They and the Germans are greatly in need of water. The..."trade a rifle for a cup of water... two rifles, two cups of water" is the same in both.... still fun to watch. It's fun to match the characters and the similarities. Sahara (1943) is a very, very good WWI movie.... Last of the Comanches (1952) is a so-so Western.

An atmospheric, character-driven exercise in suspense shot mainly out in the open in brilliant sunlight, set shortly after the massacre at Little Big Horn. Handsomely mounted in Technicolor and grouped with a dramatic eye; the use of the singular being appropriate since the director himself famously had only the one eye.

A solid directorial effort by Andre De Toth (check out the scene in silhouette with Broderick Crawford & Lloyd Bridges), good story and acting plus decent dialogue make this a must see for any western or "drama classics" fan.

This is an old fashioned cowboys and Indians story with the cavalry literally saving the heroic band of Indian fighters at the last minute. It has some very good old fashioned character actors with the likes of Broderick Crawford, Martin Milner, Mickey Shaughnessy and a much younger Della Street in the guise of Barbara Hale. In this age of extreme anxiety, with bands of terrorists threatening we know not where or what, it was very nice to escape back in time to this kind of well produced, well acted 50's western. Though it is, perhaps, a movie for those of a certain generation.

This movie takes place in the southwestern part of the United States with the Comanche chief "Black Cloud" (John War Eagle) having left the reservation with a large number of warriors to wage war upon everyone in that area. And one of his first targets is the small town of Dry Buttes where a small cavalry regiment finds itself forced to fight against incredible odds. Eventually finding themselves unable to successfully defend the town, a few cavalry soldiers led by "Sergeant Matt Trainor" (Broderick Crawford) manage to escape into the desert but in their haste carry very little food or water with them. Not long after that they come upon a stage coach headed directly for Dry Buttes and after turning it around they realize that their only chance to survive depends on their making it safely to Fort Macklin which is over 100 miles away. But to do that they will not only have to evade the Comanches but also need to find a source of water somewhere in the very near future as well-and that is much more difficult than they realize. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a pretty good Western which captured the feel of the harsh conditions of the southwestern desert pretty well. Admittedly, a couple of the decisions made by Sergeant Trainor seemed rather odd but it made for good entertainment none-the-less. Be that as it may, while this film may not have been a great Western by any means it managed to pass the time fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.