Cashing in on this trend was "Soldier Blue", notorious for its "massacre sequence" in which boys are shot, children are trampled by horses, squaws are beheaded, men are impaled, women are stripped, breasts are cut, civilians are mutilated and all manners of sadistic evil and re-enacted, all in the name of "keeping the country clean". It's nauseating. Without exception, the characters are one-dimensional. We have a strong woman, who has seen horrors done in the name of America. Her travelling companion is a simple soldier, who thinks his country is great. Her fiance (Dana Elcar) is a captain in the army. An old colonel (John Anderson) plans a raid on a Cheyenne village and a Cheyenne warrior (Jorge Rivero) believes he can make peace with the Americans, but will be betrayed. The least said about Donald Pleasence and his comedy teeth the better. He plays a calico salesman by the name of Isaac Q. Cumber (cucumber, geddit?). Waymark, Peter (December 30, 1971). "Richard Burton top draw in British cinemas". The Times. London.

Shaun - it's the final 20 minutes of the movie, that give the film its "18" certificate, and also the problems with censorship in most parts of the world. (Even the US still doesn't have an uncut version legally available!) I'm just saying that it's easy to be pro-Native sitting on the comfort of your sofa, but not so much when you and your loved ones are threatened with torture & slaughter. In this Vietnam-era Western there are noisy action , shootouts , fights , a love story , extraordinary landscapes and a big deal of gratuitous violence . The film is based on real deeds regarding ¨Sand Creek massacre¨ and there are some remembrance about Vietnam killings and hardship on racial themes by that time . The highlight of the movie , of course , is the Cheyenne massacre with lots of blood and guts , it results to be an authentic butchery and was censured , prohibited , cut , and severely trimmed in some countries . The motion picture is classified ¨R¨ for the cruel murders and isn't apt for little boys, neither squeamish . The violence of its Indian slaughters , in which seemingly every part of the bodies were slice off and blood fountained all over the screen , brought worldwide queues and much criticism in the newspapers . The picture achieved too much success , in spite of violence and crude theme and excessive final brutality . The ending confrontation amongst the cavalry and the hapless Cheyennes is breathtaking and overwhelming. Almost every two minutes Cresta scornfully calls Honus "Soldier Blue." It doesn't take a genius to work out that she'll be talking in a different tone quite soon, such as, "Oh Soldier Blue, you're so dreamy", or "Well, what do you think of your country now, Soldier Blue?"

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Curious to know what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty, and Cresta, a young woman who had lived with the Cheyenne two years and whose sympathies lie more with them than with the US government. Together, they must try to reach the cavalry's main base camp. As they travel onward, Honus is torn between his growing affection for Cresta." Frayling, Christopher (2006). Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-845-11207-3.

I saw Soldier Blue several times at the cinema when it first came out, covered in notoriety, and have watched it a number of times since. UK release is the original uncut version at 114 minutes, excludes all 'toned down' material from USA "PG-rated" version and includes all director's material in climatic scene, except for 36 seconds cut from a scene showing the rape of an Indian woman during the massacre of the village." 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)Video (26th January 1990) - Rated "18", still cut, some previous cuts now included, but now running to 109m 28s. Soldier Blue" often gets touted as a "revisionist western", but its actually got more in common with exploitation cinema, of which it's one of the genre's best. Hurst, P.B. "The Most Savage Film: Reliving Soldier Blue". Cinema Retro . Retrieved December 27, 2017. Soldier Blue premiered in New York City on August 12, 1970, and opened in Los Angeles two days later on August 14, 1970. [1] Box office [ edit ] An allegory to Vietnam specifically? More than that, an allegory of what the United States was born to be, where it was that it gave birth to itself, what it is supposed to do and what it actually does. America is a dream. When we wake up we are forced to deal with reality and the deeds of imperfect people, or remain sleeping -but, sometimes, reality catches-up with us whether we like it or not.