Introduction

Last of the Comanches (released in the UK as The Sabre and the Arrow) is a 1953 American Western film directed by Andre DeToth and starring Broderick Crawford, Barbara Hale, Johnny Stewart and Lloyd Bridges.

The film is a remake of the 1943 World War II film Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart.

Lloyd Bridges appeared in both films.

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Outline

Sgt. Matt Trainor leads the survivors of a massacred cavalry troop from the ruins of the destroyed frontier town of Dry Buttes, along with a ragtag group of stagecoach passengers, in a fight for survival against fierce Comanches led by Black Cloud at a desert ruin.

Cast

• Broderick Crawford as Sgt. Matt Trainor.
• Barbara Hale as Julia Lanning.
• Johnny Stewart as Little Knife.
• Lloyd Bridges as Jim Starbuck.
• Mickey Shaughnessy as Rusty Potter.
• George Mathews as Romany O’Rattigan.
• Hugh Sanders as Denver Kinnaird.
• Ric Roman as Martinez.
• Chubby Johnson as Henry Ruppert.
• Martin Milner as Billy Creel.
• Milton Parsons as Satterlee the Prophet.
• Jack Woody as Cpl. Floyd.
• John War Eagle as Black Cloud.

Trivia

• The film shows the surrender of the Comanches in 1876, after a final violent struggle.
  • In reality, the Comanche surrender was peaceful and took place on 02 June 1875.
  • The last Comanche tribe to surrender was led by Quanah Parker – who was actually half-white but whom the Comanches nevertheless chose as their leader – and came into Fort Sill, Oklahoma, under a flag of truce.
  • Thereafter, they lived on the reservation.
• Battle footage from this film was used in director William Castle’s The Gun That Won the West (1955).

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Andre De Toth.
• Producer(s): Buddy Adler.
• Writer(s): Kenneth Garnet.
• Music: George Duning.
• Cinematography: Ray Cory and Charles Lawton Jr.
• Editor(s):
• Production: Columbia Pictures.
• Distributor(s): Columbia Pictures.
• Release Date: 28 January 1953 (Los Angeles) and 01 February 1953 (US general release).
• Running time: 85 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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