White Comanche
(1967)
review by Big McLargehuge

Okay, there are rare occasions when $3 spent for a DVD unearths a flick worth more than the cost of the medium upon which it’s printed. Gilbert L. Kay’s Shatneriffic “White Comanche” is one of those films.

I wholeheartedly expected 90 minutes of agony akin to my eon suffering through another early Shatner opus, “Incubus”, but almost from the first frame White Comanche hooked me not because it was awful, but because it was actually pretty good. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say in the pantheon of cheapy horseshit-and-gunpowder B-flicks, White Comanche is right about average. There are plenty of better westerns out there, but there are also more than plenty of crappier ones.

As the film spooled out, the hook sank deeper until, to my surprise, I was actually really enjoying the film, the characters, the dialogue, and the direction. Now, don’t get me wrong, White Comanche isn’t great, but it certainly isn’t as awful as most film-fans would have you believe. I think much of the derision heaped on this film is the fault of old William Shatner himself. People either love him as Kirk (even though he over acts to the point of lunacy) or hate him as Kirk (because he over acts to the point of lunacy), there really aren’t any other ways to take Shatner in his prime.

Or are there? I am pretty sure there is a silent majority who actually sort of like Shatner’s very Shakespearian acting style. I posit this because I am one of them. There is something sort of comforting when watching him effortlessly move through dialogue, even good dialogue (as this film has in abundance) with cocksure delivery and more than a hint of pathos.

Another problem is that Shatner plays two roles: Johnny Moon (a gunslinger) and Notah Moon (a charismatic Comanche warlord). Both Moon’s are half Comanche and half white, shunned by both societies and eventually driven apart when their mother is killed. Notah sinks back into the Comanche nation and rallies a group of followers in his war against the white man. Notah comes to the conclusion that he is the Comanche “chosen one” following a marathon Peyote eating session, and is mesmerizing enough to raise an army of about 20 followers. Johnny Moon, on the other hand, is a plain old gunslinger looking for work, but no matter where he goes the reputation of his twin brother tags along and ruins things because everyone thinks he is the White Comanche.

This “twins” gimmick, I thought, made for a creative little plot.

Johnny, we learn early in the film, is sick and tired of being shot at, nearly hung, and repeatedly arrested because people think he is his brother and decides it’s time for Notah and him to have a final showdown. Johnny rides into Notah’s camp and tells him to appear in the nearby town of Rio Hondo in four days. He also tells him to come alone. Johnny then sets off to wait.

Johnny stumbles on a man about to be hung, in the woods, by a gang of thugs, and rescues him. That puts him in the good graces of one local cattle baron and in the sights of another. Both barons live on the border of Rio Hondo.

What we get in White Comanche is sort of a two movies for one deal. There is the story of Johnny and Notah, and the story of Joseph Cotten the sheriff trying to keep a dispute over government markers from escalating into a full-scale range war. Johnny figures into the mix because his presence, and apparent employment under one of the cattle barons, tips the balance of power. Meanwhile the clock is ticking down for Notah’s arrival. And because Notah and his band of Comanche Commandos killed everyone on a stagecoach except for Miss Kelly (he raped her rather than kill her) the entire town is on edge because they all think Johnny and Notah is the same guy.

There is a lot going on in White Comanche, and for a film made on less than a shoestring, shot in Spain, while Shatner’s was on hiatus from his duties as swashbuckling Starfleet captain, with an almost entirely Spanish crew, the film manages to tackle a lot of material and mange to resolve most of it pretty well; especially the bit where Notah starts to lose control of his Comache warriors, who begin doubting his judgment following the massacre of a mining company.

There are certainly some minor gripes: the cattle baron part of the story was too short and didn’t weave well with the Johnny/Notah story, the final showdown between Johnny and Notah, while creative, was sort of silly, and finally at the end of the film the entire town decides to arm itself for a fight against the Comanche warriors that never happens.

Still, that said, these are nothing you wouldn’t find in any hundred Republic Pictures westerns from the 30’s – 60’s.

This DVD was released by “DVD Movie” and “Passion Productions” whoever the hell they are, I don’t know, but they need to spend just a little more on their presentation. I am going to guess that White Comanche was shot on widescreen as it was made in 1967, but the DVD is full screen and lacks the pan-and-scan necessary for visual coherence. Also, the print from which this DVD was struck is so washed out and grainy it might as well have been in black and white. The sound was hissy and in some places muffled. They also pack their DVD with an interactive menu offering “Play Movie” and “Scene select”; scene select offers 4 scenes.

Still, for three bucks, I can deal with the crappy presentation.

While Gristly McThornbody and I watched this we were continually surprised by our desire to see this cleaned up, in the right aspect ratio, and in a theater. Of course we made the hundreds of necessary Star Trek jokes as the film played on, but conceded that we both enjoyed the film as a B-western.