Soldier Blue (1970)

Taglines: The most savage film in history!

Soldier Blue movie storyline. While riding through the Cheyenne territory transporting a safe to Fort Reunion and protecting the white woman Cresta Marybelle Lee, who had lived in a Cheyenne village for two years and sympathize with them, the twenty-two men of the cavalry are attacked by the Indians. Only Cresta and the naive, idealistic and clumsy private Honus Gent survive, and together they walk to Fort Reunion, where Cresta is supposed to meet her fiancé Lieutenant McNair.

Along their journey, Honus protects Cresta against Kiowa Indians, destroys the shipment of a trader of weapons and falls in love for Cresta, but he does not believe in Cresta words that the Cheyenne village is peaceful. When the cavalry attacks, he witnesses the hideous massacre of five hundred peaceful Cheyenne, more than half composed of women and children, and realizes that Cresta was telling the truth.

Soldier Blue is a 1970 American Revisionist Western film directed by Ralph Nelson and starring Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, and Donald Pleasence. Adapted by John Gay from the novel Arrow in the Sun by T.V. Olsen, it is inspired by events of the 1864 Sand Creek massacre in the Colorado Territory. Nelson and Gay intended to utilize the narrative surrounding the Sand Creek massacre as an allegory for the contemporary Vietnam War.

Released in August 1970, the film drew attention for its frank depictions of violence, specifically its graphic final sequence. Some film scholars have cited Soldier Blue as a critique of America’s “archetypal art form [the Western],” with other interpretations ranging from it being an anti-war picture to an exploitation film.

The film was the third-most popular film at the British box office in 1971. It brought $1.2 million from the U.S./ Canada rentals. The title song, written and performed by Buffy Sainte-Marie, was released as a single and became a top ten hit in the UK as well as other countries in Europe and Japan during the summer of 1971.

Directed by: Ralph Nelson
Starring: Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, Donald Pleasence, John Anderson, Jorge Rivero, Dana Elcar, Martin West, Aurora Clavel, Ralph Nelson, James Hampton, Bob Carraway, Barbara Turner
Screenplay by: John Gay
Cinematography by: Robert B. Hauser
Film Editing by: Alex Beaton
Set Decoration by: Carlos Grandjean
Art Direction by: Frank Arrigo
Music by: Roy Budd
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence including a rape, and some nudity.
Distributed by: Avco Embassy Pictures
Release Date: August 12, 1970