Kid Blue (1973)

Bickford Waner, an apparently naive young man from Fort Worth, arrives in the tiny Texas town of Dime Box and takes on a variety of menial jobs. He's befriended by Reese Ford and his wife ... See full summary »

Director:

James Frawley

Writer:

Bud Shrake

Stars:

Dennis Hopper, Warren Oates, Peter Boyle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis Hopper	...	Bickford Waner
Warren Oates	...	Reese Ford
Peter Boyle	...	Preacher Bob
Ben Johnson	...	Sheriff 'Mean John' Simpson
Lee Purcell	...	Molly Ford
Janice Rule	...	Janet Conforto
Ralph Waite	...	Drummer
Clifton James	...	Mr. Hendricks
José Torvay	...	Old Coyote (as Jose Torvay)
Mary Jackson	...	Mrs. Evans
Jay Varela	...	Mendoza
Jack Starrett	...	Tough Guy (as Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.)
Warren Finnerty	...	Wills
Owen Orr	...	Train Robber #1
Richard Rust	...	Train Robber #2

Storyline

Bickford Waner, an apparently naive young man from Fort Worth, arrives in the tiny Texas town of Dime Box and takes on a variety of menial jobs. He's befriended by Reese Ford and his wife Molly, but before long Molly has seduced Bickford. Only with the arrival of Bickford's former girlfriend Janet Conforto is it revealed that Bickford is actually the notorious train robber Kid Blue. Humiliated by a scandal arising from his affair with his friend's wife, Bickford gives up on going straight and plots a crime.

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Plot Keywords:

train | horse | cowboys and indians | airplane | robbery | 

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Taglines:

He was a good kid, but a rotten bandit.

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 May 1974 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Dime Box

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Reese Ford: Money don't make no difference. You can live a whole beautiful life inside your head. A lot of these folks, they can't do that.

User Reviews

cult comedy/western

This very pointed satire on the end of the "old west" and the concurrent growth of capitalism is set in Dime Box, Texas at the beginning of the 20th century. Dime Box is a real town in central Texas but here it is set on the Mexican border, where the new industry in town is a factory manufacturing ashtrays with a Mexican flag and an American flag stuck into them, symbolizing hands across the border (when a buck is concerned.) One of the funny bits I remember is Dennis Hopper asking what an ashtray is for, and he is told for putting cigarette and cigar ashes in, and he replies that people smoke outdoors, why do they need something to put the ashes in?

So he is something of an innocent, even though a former outlaw who has decided to go straight, move to town, and join the 20th century. He gets many lessons in capitalism, Native American spirituality vs Christianity, modern sexuality, and, since this was made in the early 70s, the attitude of law enforcement toward young, long-haired males. I haven't seen this in over 30 years but saw it several times in theater then and laughed every time.

It has such a great cast, particularly the males, Hopper, Boyle, Oates, Ben Johnson, all as adept at comedy as drama. Sure would like to see this get a DVD release!