Soldier Blue
Reviews
adorablepanic
The R-rated cut of SOLDIER BLUE (1970) contains 100 minutes of a G-rated romance, bookended by 15 minutes of graphic, blood-soaked atrocities. Director Ralph Nelson doesn't pull any punches; disfigurement, immolation, decapitation, and impalement (amongst other acts of barbarity) splash across the screen - often in Sam Peckinpah-style slow motion. These opening and closing scenes have power; the problem is the 100 minutes we have to spend with the one-dimensional survivors of the initial Indian assault. Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss are given generic, facile characters to interpret; one is naive, one is worldly (of course); one is prudish, the other permissive (surprise); they gradually develop feelings for one another (if you didn't see that coming...). Donald Pleasance eventually shows up for some much needed variety, but it's not enough. If you're a fan of violent western-style action, you'll enjoy some of this. If you're fond of budding romance pics, then the love story might engage you. Everyone else would probably be better served by watching LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) again.
Wuchak
**_Playful Western Romance sandwiched between two brutal massacres_** After a paymaster cavalry unit is slaughtered by the Cheyenne in 1877, a surviving soldier and Indian sympathizer team-up to get back to the nearest fort (Peter Strauss and Candice Bergen). The young man struggles with contempt for what he considers a treasonous attitude along with his growing affection for the brash woman. Then he sees the awful truth firsthand. "Soldier Blue" (1970) is an entertaining, but odd Western. At heart, it’s a fun romance between a patriotic military man and a profane “free-spirit” who is able to survive the challenges of the American wilderness precisely because she has shed Victorian inanities. This is bookended by a Cheyenne-led massacre on a non-threatening cavalry group and the military massacre of a peaceful Cheyenne camp, filled with women and children. The latter is obviously based on the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. I respect that the movie shows how massacres happened on both sides, but it stacks the deck against the Caucasian militants by showing them butchering women & children and not vice versa. The opening Indian attack ensures that the viewer's sympathies are with Honus (Strauss, the eponymous ‘Soldier Blue’), so you travel the same journey as him: At first, regarding the Indians as bloodthirsty savages who have no qualms about committing mass murder and abusing corpses if it’ll help them acquire firearms but, ultimately, ending up with the revelation that Honus’ ‘tribe’ can be just as barbaric when fitting, and even more so. Barbaric attacks applied to both uncivilized First Americans and more civilized New Americans, but more so with the former, which is documented. Since the 1960s-70s there has been an overemphasis on the injustices committed by the US military or militants/settlers and we get a handful of examples: Wounded Knee, Bear River and Sand Creek (the latter being what this is loosely based on). Yet we never hear the other side of what provoked these events, including the atrocities that First Americans committed against New Americans. We never hear of the Dakota "War" of 1862 where Santee Sioux went on the warpath murdering between 600-800 settlers, which constituted the largest death toll inflicted upon American civilians by an enemy force until 9/11 (civilians, not soldiers); The Ward Massacre; The Nez Perce uprising, which killed dozens of settlers in Idaho and Wyoming; and the Massacre at Fort Mims. We never hear of the countless innocent settlers (not soldiers) who were murdered by bands of young "warriors": While a chief was signing a peace treaty on the tribe's behalf, they were out robbing, raping and murdering. In short, it's easy to be pro-AmerIndian sitting on the comfort of your sofa, but not so much when you & your loved ones are threatened with gross torture, rape and slaughter in the wilderness. The Euro-settlers wanted the land and resources while the AmerIndians craved the valuable technology of the New Americans. Both sides used treaties for peaceable relations while still trying to get what they desired when war was too costly. Both opted for combat when deemed necessary. I should add that the real military leader who ordered the attack on the Sand Creek camp in southeast colorado, John Chivington, wasn’t even an Army officer, but rather a self-appointed head of militia in the Colorado Territory during the Civil War when most capable men were away fighting for the Union in the East (remember, the real Sand Creek Massacre happened during the Civil War, not in 1877). The atrocity Chivington & his men committed at Sand Creek was separate from the US Army and not typical of government policy. In the immediate aftermath, Captain Silas Soule, an officer of the First Colorado Cavalry, condemned it as an unjust and savage massacre executed on a peaceful camp. I’m part Abenaki and love American Indian culture, but the Leftist whitewashing of Indian atrocities and the corresponding revisionist history is deceitful and unbalanced. "Soldier Blue" is guilty of this to a degree, but features enough balance to make it worthwhile (as opposed to the grossly dishonest “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here” from 9-10 months earlier). It's entertaining and offers equilibrium concerning the Indian Wars even though its sympathies tend to be with the First Americans. The film runs 1 hour, 52 minutes, and was shot in Chihuahua and Sonora in northwest Mexico. GRADE: B
Movie Recommendation
Hannie Caulder1971-11-08After she's raped by the outlaw trio who murdered her husband, a frontierswoman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the ways of a gun in order to exact her revenge.More...
The Dead Girl2006-11-07The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated women begin to intersect.More...
One-Eyed Jacks1961-03-30Running from the law after a bank robbery in Mexico, Dad Longworth finds an opportunity to take the stolen gold and leave his partner Rio to be captured. Years later, Rio escapes from the prison where he has been since, and hunts down Dad for revenge. Dad is now a respectable sheriff in California, and has been living in fear of Rio's return.More...
More1969-08-04A German student, Stefan, now finished with his studies, hitchhikes to Paris. There he meets a free-spirited American girl, Estelle, who he follows to Ibiza. The two begin a sad and dark path into heroin addiction.More...
Apache1954-07-09Following the surrender of Geronimo, Massai, the last Apache warrior is captured and scheduled for transportation to a Florida reservation. On the way he manages to escape and heads for his homeland to win back his girl and settle down to grow crops. His pursuers have other ideas though.More...
Lonely are the Brave1962-05-24A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.More...
A Prairie Home Companion2006-06-01A look at what goes on backstage during the last broadcast of America's most celebrated radio show, where singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty, a country music siren, and a host of others hold court.More...
Bleeder1999-08-06Two stories for the price of one: a video store clerk tries to get acquainted with a waitress; a man beats his pregnant wife, unaware that her brother is a violent racist.More...
An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars2012-07-14A young girl struggles to maintain her school grades while competing as a gymnast.More...
Last of the Dogmen1995-09-08A Montana bounty hunter is sent into the wilderness to track three escaped prisoners. Instead he sees something that puzzles him. Later with a female Native Indian history professor, he returns to find some answers.More...
Garden of Evil1954-07-09A trio of American adventurers marooned in rural Mexico are recruited by a beautiful woman to rescue her husband from Apaches.More...
The Revengers1972-06-21The life of peaceful rancher John Benedict is torn apart when his family is massacred by a gang of marauding outlaws and his farm is destroyed. He assembles a team of mean, lawless convicts to act as his posse as he pursues the gang responsible for the deaths of his loved ones.More...
The Strawberry Statement1970-08-28A college student joins a group of revolutionaries to meet girls but ends up committed to their goals.More...
The MacKintosh Man1973-08-01A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate a spy organization and expose a traitor; only, someone finds him out and exposes him to the gang...More...
From Hell to Texas1958-04-29The naive cowboy Tod Lohman accidentally kills the son of the powerful land baron Hunter Boyd. Tod runs for his life, pursued by the dead man's vengeful brothers. Tod shelters on the ranch of Amos Bradley and he falls in love with his daughter Juanita. However, Tod is concerned that he'll eventually have to leave when his pursuers catch up with him.More...
Not Cinderella's Type2018-02-20Indy lives with her aunt and uncle and believes her life is fine until an accident brings a new guy into her life. Bryant Bailey is not Indy's type - she's never been into guys like him. But then again, she's never really known anyone so stubborn and caring that can also help her discover who she is and what she's worth. A modern telling of Cinderella, based on the novel by Jenni James.More...
American Outlaws2001-08-17When a Midwest town learns that a corrupt railroad baron has captured the deeds to their homesteads without their knowledge, a group of young ranchers join forces to take back what is rightfully theirs. They will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West and, as their fame grows, so will the legend of their leader, a young outlaw by the name of Jesse James.More...
The China Syndrome1979-03-16While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.More...
Lucky Luke2009-10-21Fearless gunslinger, Lucky Luke, is ordered by the President to bring peace to Daisy Town.More...
How to Marry a Millionaire1953-10-29Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.More...
Similar Movies
Butch Cassidy and the...
1969-09-23As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.Battleship Potemkin
1925-12-24A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.M*A*S*H
1970-02-18The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.The Tin Drum
1979-05-02In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.Ben-Hur
1959-11-18In 26 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accused by a Roman childhood friend-turned-overlord of trying to kill the Roman governor, he is put into slavery and his mother and sister are taken away as prisoners.Contact
1997-07-11A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.The Bridges of Madiso...
1995-06-02Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.Manhattan
1979-04-25Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.Finding Forrester
2000-12-21Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.Murder She Said
1961-09-26Miss Marple believes she's seen a murder in a passing-by train, yet when the police find no evidence she decides to investigate it on her own.Murder at the Gallop
1963-05-09Miss Marple and Mr. Stringer are witnesses to the death by heart attack of elderly, rich Mr. Enderby. Yet they have their doubts about what happened. The police don't believe them, thus leading Miss Marple to yet again investigate by herself.Murder Most Foul
1964-03-01A murderer is brought to court and only Miss Marple is unconvinced of his innocence. Once again she begins her own investigation.GoodFellas
1990-09-12The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.Gone with the Wind
1939-12-15The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.Stairway to Heaven
1967-02-06Under the USSR oppression a family breaks up and its members find themselves on opposite sides of the barricades. Based on the Mykolas Sluckis' novel, the film tells the story of a dramatic and painful reality of the post-war Lithuania.The Meanest Man in Te...
2019-05-17Convicted murderer Clyde Thompson receives the death penalty for shooting two men in Texas in 1928. When the governor spares his life, Thompson gains a reputation as the meanest man in the state while working hard labor in prison.Fight Club
1999-10-15A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.The Poseidon Adventur...
1972-12-01When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.The Experiment
2001-03-0820 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.The Wild Bunch
1969-06-19An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.