Soldier Blue (1970)

Director:

Ralph Nelson

Writers:

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

Release Date:

30 October 1970 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | 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:

Village | Attack | Fort | Private | Love

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marco Antonio Arzate	...	Kiowa warrior (uncredited)
Ron Fletcher	...	Lt. Mitchell (uncredited)
Conrad Hool	...	Lieutenant (uncredited)
Lance Hool	...	Guard (uncredited)
Barbara Turner	...	Mrs. Long (uncredited)

Directed by
Ralph Nelson

Writing credits
Theodore V. Olsen		(novel "Arrow in the Sun")
John Gay		(screenplay)

Produced by
William S. Gilmore	....	associate producer (as William S. Gilmore Jr)
Gabriel Katzka	....	producer
Joseph E. Levine	....	executive producer
Harold Loeb	....	producer

Original Music by
Roy Budd

Cinematography by
Robert B. Hauser		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Alex Beaton

Casting by
Leonard Murphy

Art Direction by
Frank Arrigo

Set Decoration by
Carlos Grandjean

Makeup Department
Del Armstrong	....	makeup supervisor
Ellis Burman Jr.	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mario Cisneros	....	assistant director
Everett Creach	....	second unit director
Terry Morse Jr.	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ray Mercer Jr.	....	property master

Sound Department
John Poyner	....	dubbing editor
Barry Thomas	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Herman E. Townsley	....	special effects (as Herman Townsley)

Stunts
Everett Creach	....	stunt coordinator
Jerry Brutsche	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary Combs	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bennie E. Dobbins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Leonard	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Lerner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Glenn Randall Jr.	....	stunts (uncredited)
Greg Walker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rodd Wolff	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles W. Short	....	camera operator
Frank Shugrue	....	still photographer
Jim Songer	....	video supervisor

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Theodore R. Parvin	....	costume supervisor (as Ted Parvin)

Music Department
Roy Budd	....	conductor
Roy Budd	....	music arranger
Buffy Sainte-Marie	....	composer: title song "Soldier Blue"

Other crew
Bob Forrest	....	script supervisor
Rhonda Grogan	....	production secretary
Don Halswell	....	technical advisor
Joseph E. Levine	....	presenter
Eddie Little Sky	....	technical advisor
Corky Randall	....	livestock supervisor
'Chema' Hernandez	....	head wrangler (uncredited)

Production Companies

• AVCO Embassy Pictures
• Katzka-Loeb

Distributors

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (1970) (USA) (theatrical)
• Astro Distribution (1998) (Germany) (VHS)
• Gold Western (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Magnetic Video (1979) (USA) (VHS)
• Nelson Entertainment (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (Canada only)
• Universal Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)

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:

In order to recreate the gory Sand Creek massacre of Cheyenne Indians, director Ralph Nelson sought the services of orphaned amputees. Various prosthetic limbs were affixed to missing body parts of these amputees, and then, in one of the most blood-and-guts sequences in film history, these "limbs" were mercilessly hacked off as the cameras rolled.

Quotes:

Honus Gent: I'm going to sleep.
Kathy Maribel Lee, 'Cresta': You do that, soldier. And you try to keep your mind off me.
Honus Gent: Ms. Lee, I certainly have at no...
Kathy Maribel Lee, 'Cresta': Oh, I know. If you get too all-fired horny during the night, just go soak your head in the stream over there.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Grindhouse (2007)

Soundtrack:

Soldier Blue

I look out and I see a land...

Don't miss the beginning at any cost.Or else you would not hear Buffy Sainte-Marie's eponymous anthemic song (Yes this is my country,young and growing free and flowing from sea to sea...).The version of the song as performed here features a string arrangement not present in the original version (which is to be found on BSM's "she used to wanna be a ballerina",vanguard).This song is as moving today as it was 30 years ago,and when the singer implores "can't you see there's another way to love her?" it gains an universal meaning(not only American natives or Vietnamese as it was mooted at the time for the movie)

The movie is famous for the slaughter which ends it.Terribly realistic ,it remains impressive today and may repel some viewers.There's a very strong use of the score during these scenes.But most of the movie deals with the initiatory journey of a young naive soldier,"educated " by a woman who was captured by the Indians and had to live with them for a while.Candice Bergen's performance came aside as a shock at the time because she used to play frail young maids (Robert Wise's "the sand pebbles";Claude Lelouch's "vivre pour vivre" ) before.But there's a problem:her character is not really believable;just compare her with the heroines with a similar fate in Ford's movies :"the searchers" ,1956;"two rode together",1961..They are far from Crista 's outspoken and politically aware character.Actually ,it seems that this woman is a contemporary woman,with Joan Baez's, Buffy Sainte-Marie's or Jane Fonda's mind (in the late sixties)..

For all that,"soldier blue " is worth watching and superbly uses wide screen :the landscapes match Sainte-Marie's song.Primarily an intimate movie,for most of the time there are only two people on the screen.Hence the contrast with the violent finale.