The setting is Comanche Creek, Colorado, 1875; a band of outlaws headed by Amos Troop (DeForest Kelley) breaks an unsuspecting jailbird out of the town lockup and kills the deputy. The gang then uses the outlaw as a front man for their other robberies. As the reward money on the bad guy escalates, the gang then shoots him and turns him in for the reward, all nice and legal like. Only trouble is, this time the victim was a member of the National Detective Agency gone undercover, and a close friend of Bob Gifford (Audie Murphy). Now the job of infiltrating the gang goes to "Gif", who insinuates himself into Comanche Creek society as a free spending high roller, as the agency creates a back story and wanted poster for "Judd Tanner".

The earlier Murphy Westerns usually cast him in the baby face role of a good guy; in 1959's "No Name on the Bullet", Murphy's character John Gant was a hired assassin, and even then his youngish countenance didn't seem to match his character. Here the older Murphy pulls off the outlaw gimmick a bit better, with wits quick enough to match the ever changing dynamics of his masquerade. When the cover is blown on the agency plant, Tanner maintains his cool, only revealing his identity to gang member Bill Carter, who's anxious to leave the outlaw life behind.

With a lesser known supporting cast, the gunfight of the title eventually sets things right and settles the score against the bad guys, who have been masterminded by the sheriff of Comanche Creek, Marshal Shearer (John Hubbard).

DeForest Kelley is so closely identified with his Star Trek role as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, it's easy to forget that he appeared in a fair share of Westerns, beginning with a 1949 Lone Ranger appearance. He also turned up in episodes of "Gunsmoke", "Trackdown", "Rawhide" and a host of others.

"Gunfight at Comanche Creek" winds up being a fairly intriguing Western, made so by the plot twists that keep Murphy's character on his toes. I found the background narrative a bit annoying though, as the story played itself out well enough without the commentary (by uncredited narrator Reed Hadley). Otherwise it's a generally worthwhile hour and a half of Audie Murphy entertainment.

Update - 7/22/2007 - Apparently, this movie was a remake of the 1957 film, "Last Of The Badmen", with Audie Murphy reprising the role of George Montgomery. Both movies were released by Allied Artists, even though the writers credited for each film are different. Check it out!