![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
CRUD Challenge: White Comanche
Jul. 20th, 2025 11:35 amWhite Comanche (1967) dir. Gilbert Kay
Johnny and Notah Moon (both William Shatner) are twin brothers, identical save for slightly different eye colors. Their father was white, and their mother of the Comanche nation. Early on, they were raised in both traditions, but their father died early, and when their mother died around the time that they were ten, the twins were forced to move to an Oklahoma reservation by U.S. soldiers. Their mixed heritage meant that they were not fully accepted by the Comanche, and the whites of the area...were not welcoming.
Johnny chose to aggressively assimilate to white culture, while Notah found solace in peyote consumption, using it even outside formal ceremonies. By the time they were adults, Johnny was able to move out into the wider world as a ranch hand, while Notah started having (or claimed to have) visions of himself being the next great leader of the Comanche people, overcoming the white oppressors and making them a great nation again. A charismatic fanatic, Notah was able to convince a small band of followers to join him in banditry. His excessive violence and cunning soon made him notorious as "the White Comanche."
As the movie opens, Johnny Moon is attacked by a lynch mob who have mistaken him for the White Comanche. This is apparently not the first time it's happened. But after he escapes, he decides that this is enough and tracks down his brother's current encampment. When Notah returns from another raid (more on that in a bit), Johnny challenges him to a showdown to take place in four days in the town of Rio Hondo. (The idea, apparently, is to have a bunch of white folks witness the fight so he can prove that he and the White Comanche are different people.)
Rio Hondo, meanwhile, has its own problems. Sheriff Logan (Joseph Cotten) is trying to prevent a lethal showdown between the competing gangs of General Garcia (Mariano Vidal Molina), a rancher, and Grimes (Luis Prendes), a saloon owner. On the way into town, Johnny saves one of Grimes' men from being lynched (he's not motivated by general goodness, but his own empathy towards lynching victims), which makes the two gangs think he's on Grimes' side.
But then the stagecoach arrives, with the driver dropping dead from his wounds on arrival, and the sole remaining passenger, Kelly (Rosanna Yanni) the saloon girl, who's been raped. This turns out to be the work of the White Comanche, and Kelly initially fingers Johnny as her attacker. (She is the first, and for quite a long time the only, person Johnny bothers to tell about the twin thing.)
Tensions are rising in Rio Hondo, and there may be corpses on the streets even before Notah's raiding party arrives!
This Spanish Western was offered to William Shatner during his summer break from filming Star Trek. He accepted, perhaps thinking that if it worked out and his current television series didn't, he could pivot to being a Western star. He was joined by veteran Joseph Cotten, who had cash flow problems and was accepting almost anything he could get.
Unfortunately, the script is hokey, and the shoestring budget shows. There is zero attempt made to make Johnny/Notah look mixed-race, but the script has everyone be able to tell at a glance. The dubbing for the Italian and Spanish actors is...dubious.
Cotten is better in his role than the movie deserves, and Shatner's...unique approach to the material is certainly something to watch. There's also a bit of his interesting combat style, and lots of him being shirtless.
There's a fairly interesting subplot about Notah's band becoming disaffected with his leadership because he's violating their customs in favor of his personal agenda. Only his wife White Fawn (Perla Cristal) remains faithful, but this does not end well for her.
Content note: Lots of gun, knife and fist violence, often lethal. This includes the deaths of a child and pregnant woman. The few wounds shown are neat red circles in the forehead. Rape, cutting away just before the actual deed. Racism. Drug abuse. None of the Native American characters are played by Native Americans.
While this is by no means a good movie, it's an interesting and watchable one. I think it would do well for "Bad Movie Night" with your friends. The print on my copy, from The Great American Western collection, was exceptionally poor, so you may want to seek out a cleaner one.
Johnny and Notah Moon (both William Shatner) are twin brothers, identical save for slightly different eye colors. Their father was white, and their mother of the Comanche nation. Early on, they were raised in both traditions, but their father died early, and when their mother died around the time that they were ten, the twins were forced to move to an Oklahoma reservation by U.S. soldiers. Their mixed heritage meant that they were not fully accepted by the Comanche, and the whites of the area...were not welcoming.
Johnny chose to aggressively assimilate to white culture, while Notah found solace in peyote consumption, using it even outside formal ceremonies. By the time they were adults, Johnny was able to move out into the wider world as a ranch hand, while Notah started having (or claimed to have) visions of himself being the next great leader of the Comanche people, overcoming the white oppressors and making them a great nation again. A charismatic fanatic, Notah was able to convince a small band of followers to join him in banditry. His excessive violence and cunning soon made him notorious as "the White Comanche."
As the movie opens, Johnny Moon is attacked by a lynch mob who have mistaken him for the White Comanche. This is apparently not the first time it's happened. But after he escapes, he decides that this is enough and tracks down his brother's current encampment. When Notah returns from another raid (more on that in a bit), Johnny challenges him to a showdown to take place in four days in the town of Rio Hondo. (The idea, apparently, is to have a bunch of white folks witness the fight so he can prove that he and the White Comanche are different people.)
Rio Hondo, meanwhile, has its own problems. Sheriff Logan (Joseph Cotten) is trying to prevent a lethal showdown between the competing gangs of General Garcia (Mariano Vidal Molina), a rancher, and Grimes (Luis Prendes), a saloon owner. On the way into town, Johnny saves one of Grimes' men from being lynched (he's not motivated by general goodness, but his own empathy towards lynching victims), which makes the two gangs think he's on Grimes' side.
But then the stagecoach arrives, with the driver dropping dead from his wounds on arrival, and the sole remaining passenger, Kelly (Rosanna Yanni) the saloon girl, who's been raped. This turns out to be the work of the White Comanche, and Kelly initially fingers Johnny as her attacker. (She is the first, and for quite a long time the only, person Johnny bothers to tell about the twin thing.)
Tensions are rising in Rio Hondo, and there may be corpses on the streets even before Notah's raiding party arrives!
This Spanish Western was offered to William Shatner during his summer break from filming Star Trek. He accepted, perhaps thinking that if it worked out and his current television series didn't, he could pivot to being a Western star. He was joined by veteran Joseph Cotten, who had cash flow problems and was accepting almost anything he could get.
Unfortunately, the script is hokey, and the shoestring budget shows. There is zero attempt made to make Johnny/Notah look mixed-race, but the script has everyone be able to tell at a glance. The dubbing for the Italian and Spanish actors is...dubious.
Cotten is better in his role than the movie deserves, and Shatner's...unique approach to the material is certainly something to watch. There's also a bit of his interesting combat style, and lots of him being shirtless.
There's a fairly interesting subplot about Notah's band becoming disaffected with his leadership because he's violating their customs in favor of his personal agenda. Only his wife White Fawn (Perla Cristal) remains faithful, but this does not end well for her.
Content note: Lots of gun, knife and fist violence, often lethal. This includes the deaths of a child and pregnant woman. The few wounds shown are neat red circles in the forehead. Rape, cutting away just before the actual deed. Racism. Drug abuse. None of the Native American characters are played by Native Americans.
While this is by no means a good movie, it's an interesting and watchable one. I think it would do well for "Bad Movie Night" with your friends. The print on my copy, from The Great American Western collection, was exceptionally poor, so you may want to seek out a cleaner one.
