Soldier Blue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Soldier Blues | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ralph Nelson |
| Produced by | Gabriel Katzka Harold Loeb |
| Written by | Theodore V. Olsen (novel Arrow in the Sun) John Gay (screenplay) |
| Starring | Candice Bergen Peter Strauss Donald Pleasence |
| Music by | Roy Budd |
| Cinematography | Robert B. Hauser |
| Distributed by | AVCO Embassy Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 12, 1970 (New York City) |
| Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Soldier Blue is an American Revisionist Western movie made in 1970 and directed by Ralph Nelson, telling a fictionalized account of the events surrounding the 1864 Sand Creek massacre in the Colorado Territory.
It was written by John Gay based on the novel Arrow in the Sun by Theodore V. Olsen, and starred Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, and Donald Pleasence. The title song was performed by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Released during the height of the Vietnam War against the backdrop of the courts martial stemming from the My Lai massacre, it provided the first motion picture account of one of the most infamous incidents in the history of the American frontier, in which Colorado state militia troops under Colonel John M. Chivington massacred an undefended village of Cheyenne and Arapaho on the Colorado eastern plains.
The account of the massacre is fictionalized in the context of a longer story involving the escape of white survivors from an earlier massacre of U.S. Cavalry troops by Indians. The names of all real person characters were also changed.
[edit] Controversy
The movie was controversial at the time not only for its subject matter as a revisionist western, but for its graphic depiction of violence. Nelson, who also appeared in the movie in a minor role, pushed the depiction of the violence to explicit levels, showing nudity during rape scenes, as well as "realistic" close-up shots of bullets ripping into flesh.
It also contains a mildly-risqué schene in which Bergen's character reveals that under her self-made red dress she wears no underwear.
[edit] Credits
- Producer - Harold Loeb and Gabriel Katzka
- Executive Producer - Joseph E. Levine
- Director - Ralph Nelson
- Screenplay - John Gay
- Music - Roy Budd
[edit] Cast
- Cresta Maribel Lee - Candice Bergen
- Honus Gantz - Peter Strauss
- Isaac Q. Cumber - Donald Pleasence
- Colonel Iverson - John Anderson
- Spotted Wolf - Jorge Rivero
- Captain Battles - Dana Elcar
- Lieutenant McNair - Bob Carraway
- Lieutenant Spingarn - Martin West
- Private Menzies - James Hampton
- Sergeant O'Hearn - Mort Mills
- Running Fox - Jorge Russek
- Indian Woman - Aurora Clavell
- Agent Long - Ralph Nelson
