Soldier Blue (1970)

After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty, and Cresta, a young woman who had lived with the Cheyenne two ... See full summary »

Director:

Ralph Nelson

Writers:

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

Stars:

Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, Donald Pleasence

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Candice Bergen	...	Kathy Maribel 'Cresta' Lee
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)

Storyline

After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty, and Cresta, a young woman who had lived with the Cheyenne two years and whose sympathies lie more with them than with the US government. Together, they must try to reach the cavalry's main base camp. As they travel onward, Honus is torn between his growing affection for Cresta, and his disgust for her anti-American beliefs. They reach the cavalry campsite on the eve of an attack on a Cheyenne village, where Honus will learn which side has really been telling him the truth.

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Plot Keywords:

cavalry | village | private | fort | attack | 

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Taglines:

The order was massacre, and good soldiers follow orders. These soldiers were the best.

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Genres:

Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 March 1971 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Cuando es preciso ser hombre

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

AVCO Embassy Pictures, Katzka-Loeb

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Original workprint of the movie was 135 minutes long. When it was test screened to the audience, they almost started a riot after watching this version. This was the only time that full uncut version was shown, and it caused for studio to decide that it was unreleasable unless massive cuts are made on the film's violent scenes. Some of these cut and never included in any official version scenes include; shots of Indian woman's breasts being sliced off and thrown around, children's limbs graphically severed (real amputees were employed for these shots), a little girls legs cut off by wagon wheels, soldier gleefully cutting an Indians arms off before shooting another Cheyenne in the eye and also the fate of Spotted Wolf who has his head separated from his torso and soldier hoisting his prize into the air before tossing it to another who then throws it off camera. Spotted Wolf's head attached to the stirrup of a cavalryman is still shown in the film, and there are stills showing his mutilated body laying on the ground without the head and four cavalry men running around with his severed head in their hands howling and laughing while blood is spurting from the neck stump.

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Goofs

Candice Bergen's character has shaved armpits. This was not a practice for Western women until the twentieth century.

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Quotes

Col. Iverson: When I see young people today behaving like that I just... I can't help wondering what this goddamn country's coming to.

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Connections

Referenced in Empire of the Censors (1995)

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Soundtracks

Fields Of Green And Skies Of Blue
Written by Roy Budd, Produced by Jack Fishman
Performed by Roy Budd And His Orchestra

User Reviews

A hushed up sad chapter in the American history

Well, nearly the whole film tells the love story of a woman who has grown up at the Indians and an American soldier as well as their survival in the wilderness. The last 15 minutes however have the same shocking effect other controversial films like "Cannibal Holocaust" or "I spit on your grave" have got: it is shown how the US-cavalry massacres/slaughters an innocent and peaceful Indian tribe, how children get killed or even beheaded, women get raped and tortured to death, how genocide was done in the name of freedom, democracy and liberality. Extremely graphic, shocking and disturbing!!! A positive aspect of "Soldier Blue" is, that this film doesn´t deal with the typical "good Americans/bad Indians"-cliché: in this movie you won´t see a glorious hero like John Wayne riding into the sunset at the end, because "Soldier Blue" shows the darkest side of the American glory..!