Soldier Blue (1970)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ralph Nelson

Writers:

Theodore V. Olsen (novel)
John Gay (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 October 1970 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

The most savage film in history!

Plot:

After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty...

Plot Keywords:

Massacre | Infanticide | Wilderness | Soldier | Color In Title

Cast

Candice Bergen	...	Kathy Maribel Lee, 'Cresta'
Peter Strauss	...	Honus Gent
Donald Pleasence	...	Isaac Q. Cumber
John Anderson	...	Col. Iverson
Jorge Rivero	...	Spotted Wolf
Dana Elcar	...	Capt. Battles
Bob Carraway	...	Lt. McNair
Martin West	...	Lt. Spingarn
James Hampton	...	Pvt. Menzies
Mort Mills	...	Sgt. O'Hearn
Jorge Russek	...	Running Fox
Aurora Clavel	...	Indian woman (as Aurora Clavell)
Ralph Nelson	...	Agent Long (as Alf Elson)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence including a rape, and some nudity.

Runtime:

Argentina:115 min | UK:114 min (cut version) | USA:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | USA:PG (edited for re-rating) (1974) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:18 | Australia:(Banned) (original rating) | Australia:M (censored) | Finland:K-18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:16 | UK:X (cut) | USA:R (original rating) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Trivia:

James Hampton's film debut.

Quotes:

Col. Iverson: [to Lt McNair] 'McNair! Raze the village! Burn this... pestilence!'

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Grindhouse (2007)

Soundtrack:

Soldier Blue

Great piece of work!

I had this film recommended to me by my mother. I started watching it, after I recorded it a while back from TV, and thought what the hell is this?! At first it looked like a romantic silly comedy and I was about to turn it off, well I wasn't far from.

As the movie went by however (believe the Swedish version was like 130 minutes or so) it became only better and better as Strauss (very underrated) and Bergen became more and more involved in the situation of the Indians and 'Spotted Wolf'.

The end of the movie was obviousley very very sad but in the same time I also think it was the ONLY POSSIBLE ending.

Strauss, as the naive soldier blue, was brilliant. He sort of grew up and matured during the movie as it went by and realised the opressment of the native aMERICAN people. Maybe it meant that the soldiers of yesterday (and today?) are sometimes very blind and do not know what they are really fighting for. Freedom? Money? Honour? It's a huge subject and I will not go into it more.

Overall this is a great piece of work which I can recommend wholeheartly to everyone.