Soldier Blue **** (1970, Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, Donald Pleasence) – Classic Movie Review 6,458

‘Raze the village! Burn this pestilence!’ Ralph Nelson’s intelligent 1970 Western film Soldier Blue has real quality – if you can stomach the strong violence. It stars Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss and Donald Pleasence.

‘Raze the village! Burn this pestilence!’ Director Ralph Nelson’s intelligent 1970 Western film Soldier Blue has real quality – if you can stomach the strong violence and rape. It stars Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss and Donald Pleasence.

Soldier Blue was made in a particularly violent period in American film-making. But it was also a time when films tackled serious themes – here the white man’s inhumanity to Native Americans, which is linked to the Vietnam War, giving it timely relevance.

In the story based on Theodore V Olsen’s Arrow in the Sun, which draws on the Sand Creek Massacre of the Cheyenne, there is a violent attack by Indians on the US Cavalry, followed by a romance between the two survivors, ‘Cresta’ Lee and soldier Honus Gent (Bergen and Strauss), who must try to trek to the safety of the nearest fort. For much of the way the film focuses solely on the two characters.

Then there is the incredibly violent revenge attack by the Cavalry on an Indian village, for which the film is most famous, or infamous.

Also in the cast are John Anderson as Colonel Iverson, Dana Elcar as Captain Battles, Jorge Rivero as Spotted Wolf, Bob Carraway, Martin West, Jorge Russek, Ron Fletche, Barbara Turner, James Hamilton, Mort Mills and Ralph Nelson (who plays Agent Long, billed as Alf Elson).

Soldier Blue is written by John Gay, shot in Technicolor by Robert Hauser, produced by Gabriel Katzka and Harold Loeb, and scored by Roy Budd.

John Gay, known for writing quality movie scripts, including Run Silent, Run Deep, Separate Tables, The Hallelujah Trail and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, died on 4 February 2017, aged 92.

Buffy Saint Marie’s rendition of the film’s theme song became a top ten hit.

The original cut of 135 minutes was test-screened to an audience, who reacted angrily, the only time that the full uncut version was shown. The studio then decided it was unreleasable unless massive cuts were made to the film’s violent scenes. The release cut is 112 minutes.

Oscar nominee Candice Bergen.

Candice Bergen, Oscar nominee for Starting Over, was born on 9 May 1946.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,458

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