Despite a few clinkers, the 1960s were a good decade for cinematic Westerns.  March of  ’60 saw the last Randolph Scott picture Bud Boetticher directed:  the 75-minute Comanche Station.  Ride the High Country or True Grit it ain’t—it’s minor—but still has a lot going for it.

An original screenplay by Burt Kennedy has Jefferson Cody (Scott) trading with Comanches for a captive white woman.  Indian aggression at a stagecoach station forces Cody to escort the woman (Nancy Gates) to her home, but they’re in the company of three crooks, interested in reward money for the damsel’s return.

A likable Western, Boetticher’s film tries to resist banality (up to a point).  It’s a pleasant-looking work with a truly lovely actress in Miss Gates and some veritable (because nudity-free) sensuality.  Further, it has an imaginative score by Mischa Bakaleinikoff.

English: Nancy Gates in Comanche Station (1960) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)