Broderick Crawford is Sgt. Matt Trainor, left with the unenviable task of leading six survivors of his cavalry troop to safety after a massacre in a nearby town of Dry Buttes. Oh, and they have two horses between them.
When they come across a town-bound stage, their worries about a lack of water and food appear to be over.
Then a Comanche bullet pierces the water pouch carried on the back of the stage, and the tiny band is forced to take refuge in an abandoned mission, where an old well offers just enough water to stay alive.
There, the band is besieged by Black Cloud’s warriors, who need water, too, and Trainor makes a desperate decision.
He sends a young Kiowa boy named Little Knife to fetch help while he and the other troopers keep the braves away from water, hoping to end Black Cloud’s rein of terror … if help arrives in time.
Broderick Crawford as Sgt. Matt Trainor, trying to keep his small patrol alive in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Barbara Hale as Julia Lanning, her reunion with her brother delayed by an Indian attack in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Review:
The Indian attacks on the mission are pretty well mounted, but the film should be more suspenseful than it is, given the desperate plight of Trainor’s tiny band of cavalrymen. It would have helped if Crawford hadn’t been given lines straight out of a 1950s crime film.
Barbara Hale is Julia Lanning, one of the stage passengers; Lloyd Bridges is Jim Starbuck, the cynic among Trainor’s surviving troopers; and Hugh Sanders plays the gunrunner who takes refuge with the band of whites in a plot twist that will surprise no one.
And would the cavalry really ride to the rescue at the word of a young Indian boy?
A piece of trivia: The stage in which the small band travels has a name — Buttercup. A second piece of trivia: The film clip of the destroyed town of Dry Buttes is identical to the one used at the tail end of “Brave Warrior” (1952), to depict the destroyed town of Tippecanoe.
Three surviving troopers, Martin Milner as Billy Creel, Mickey Shaughnessy as Rusty Potter and Jack Woody as Cpl. Floyd in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Ric Roman as Martinez, enjoying a rare drink of water in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Directed by:
Andre de Toth
Cast:
Broderick Crawford … Sgt. Matt Trainor
Barbara Hale … Julia Lanning
Johnny Stewart … Little Knife
Lloyd Bridges … Jim Starbuck
Mickey Shaughnessy … Rusty Potter
George Mathews … O’Rattigan
Hugh Sanders … Denver Kinnaird
Ric Roman … Martinez
Chubby Johnson … Henry Ruppert
Martin Milner … Billy Creel
Milton Parsons … Satterlee
Jack Woody … Cpl. Floyd
John War Eagle … Black Cloud
Runtime: 85 min.
Lloyd Bridges as Jim Starbuck with Broderick Crawford as Sgt. Matt Tainor in Last of the Comanches (1952)
George Mathews as stage driver O’Rattigan, trying to fool the Indians in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Memorable lines:
Sgt. Trainor: “I’ll tell you what I told my men, you’ll drink when I tell you to.”
Rupert: “I’m a civilian. You have no jurisdiction over me.”
Sgt. Trainor: “I’ll tell you when to sleep, when to eat and when to breath. Now, unless you want to stay out here and sell your whiskey to the prairie dogs, get in the coach.”
Julie Lanning: “Yes, sergeant, your commander at Fort Macklin, I’m going there to visit for the summer, and I’d like to get there as soon as possible.”
Sgt. Trainor: “With or without your scalp.”
Black Cloud: “Black Cloud come to make peace talk.”
Sgt. Trainor: “I didn’t think you came to make jokes.”
Black Cloud: “Black Cloud mighty chief. Greatest of all. His warriors are many.”
Sg.t Trainor: “Soon as you get done patting yourself on the back, let’s get down to cases. What’s the deal?”
Johnny Stewart as Little Knife, a Kiowa boy willing to help the band of desperate whites in Last of the Comanches (1952)
John War Eagle (right) as Black Cloud, leader of the warring Indians in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Hugh Sanders as Denver Kinnaird, the stranger found in the desert by Sgt. Trainor and his men in Last of the Comanches (1952)
Milton Parsons as Prophet Satterlee, a former scout and one of the stage passengers in Last of the Comanches (1952)
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