ABSTRACT
Comanche Station, The Unforgiven, and Two Rode Together are interesting to consider as a trio because each takes a different though related tack in handling the post-rescue scenario. In Comanche Station, an underappreciated Western directed by Bud Boetticher, an Ethan-like frontier hero named Jefferson Cody, played by Randolph Scott, effortlessly rescues a beautiful woman from Indian captivity in the film's first scene by paying for her in a trade. Comanche Station changes the captivity narrative's conventions by beginning with a rescue and having the time between the captive's rescue and return create the problems that test the hero's mettle. In Comanche Station, the system of exchange, mediated by money, holds whites together. In Two Rode Together, Stewart and Widmark play "rescuers" assigned to redeem long-lost captives. Like The Unforgiven, Two Rode Together denounces racism against a beautiful "nearly white" woman but conveys no concern over institutional racism against non-white people in general.
