They just don't make 'em like White Comanche any more, and that's both a lament and a relief. William Shatner, on a shooting break between the first and second seasons of Star Trek, stars as twin brothers Notah and Johnny Moon in this 1968 Spaghetti Western; both men are half-white, half Comanche, and don't appear to gel with either culture. Notah is an infamous thief and murderer with an addiction to peyote, known throughout the surrounding area as a force of nature that leads Comanche war parties with reckless abandon. Johnny, more passive on the surface, is a skilled gunslinger constantly blamed for his brother's crimes. Rather than pack up and leave the area for good, Johnny gives Notah an ultimatum: stop all the foolishness and settle down...or fight it out, brother vs. brother.

Four days separate the ultimatum and the inevitable showdown, which takes place in nearby Rio Hondo. Johnny arrives immediately to wait for his brother's eventual decision, much to the dismay of peace-keeping Sheriff Logan (Joseph Cotten...who was in Citizen Kane, for God's sake). The lovely Kelly (Rosanna Yanni, in her film debut) is also horrified to see Johnny: she was the lone survivor of a stagecoach attack by Notah's tribe and, naturally, blames him for the murders. Eventually, the truth comes out...after a wild saloon brawl which destroys almost every table and chair in less than three minutes. Between the occasional cases of mistaken identity, Johnny's unlikely seduction of Kelly, the attempted murder of our hero by a bounty hunter, a few head shots, and perhaps the most accurate knife throw in film history, White Comanche is a cat-and-mouse game between two opposite sides of the same coin. And more often than not, it's a pretty durned entertaining way to spend 96 minutes.

I'm only a passive fan of so-bad-they're-good movies, and White Comanche toes the line carefully between "amusing weekend matinee" and "complete train wreck", leaning towards the former by a substantial margin. Shot in Spain on a shoestring budget and full of flat compositions, awkward reaction shots, hammy supporting performances, and twice the Shatner, there's a definite audience for movies like White Comanche and you should know right away if you're part of it. Even so, the unlikely but accessible story is aided by a decent amount of suspense as it unfolds: we see Notah early on and then it's all Johnny until their showdown, giving this lightweight production enough breathing room without feeling too drawn-out. Believe it or not, there's kind of a half-decent movie under all that goofiness.

Still, the main draw is "Shatner vs. Shatner", and whoever is responsible for the package design at Warner Archives is fully aware of this: it's advertised as such on the back of this new release, which aims to replace a countless number of public domain releases and multi-disc collections during the past 15 years or so. On the A/V front, this burn-on-demand disc can't help but succeed: White Comanche is finally presented in widescreen and, though it looks pretty rough, it's clearly better than the old VHS-grade efforts by Mill Creek and the like. So even without the benefit of extras, this is still an enjoyable disc that Spaghetti Western and Shatner fans will enjoy with like-minded friends.

White Comanche's rescue from public domain DVD collections---which reportedly all used the same worn out, pan-and-scan transfer---should at least yield passable results, right? Pretty much. But make no mistake about it: this 480p, 1.66:1 transfer was taken from extremely limited source material and there obviously wasn't much restoration done. Image detail, color, textures, black levels, and contrast are all very inconsistent---sometimes from shot to shot, not just between film reels---and a moderate amount of dirt, debris, scratches, and vertical lines also get in the way at one time or another. But it's obvious that many of these problems are due to the original elements: in some cases, reaction and establishing shots were captured during different times or weather conditions, and at least one or two obvious "day-for-night" shots don't help matters either. Despite these distractions, White Comanche shows occasional moments of excellence and die-hard fans will simply be glad to have it in decent condition.

The audio is presented in its original Dolby Digital mono format and defaults to a two-channel spread, but this is very much a thin presentation that reflects the era in which White Comanche was made. Dialogue and music are clear but not especially dynamic, and the almost complete lack of low end doesn't give the action a great deal of punch. Still, it sounds exactly like a 47 year-old Western ought to, and I'd rather have a flat mono mix than a faux-surround "upgrade". Defects are minimal, though I did notice an odd fluctuation with the dialogue during a word or two just before the 30-minute mark. Unfortunately, no optional subtitles or Closed Captions are included on this release.

White Comanche is as lightweight and campy as you'd expect, and that's exactly why it still works perfectly well as a weekend matinee...especially for Shatner fans, of course. The performances are solid (or at least committed in their absurdity), the action is great, and even the film's pacing builds a solid amount of tension for our brothers' eventual showdown. Warner Bros.' Archive Collection disc rescues this obscure Spaghetti Western from public domain hell, but just barely: it's presented on a single-layered DVD-R with passable audio and video, and the lack of extras doesn't help either. Still, it's a fun time at the movies...so anyone halfway interested in the genre---or just seeing Shatner play "Cowboys and Indians" by himself---will get their money's worth here. Recommended.