I really didn’t think this would stand up so well to a second viewing since the only thing that ever sticks strongly in my mind is, of course, the bloody climax, and that alone doesn’t make a movie great. But it’s really the mid-section, as I said in my last review, that I love the most. Candice Bergen is brilliant. I’m still unsure as to whether I’ve seen the uncut version or not, though: someday I’ll get around to ordering the German edition to be absolutely sure.

23rd November 2004:

I keep stumbling across movies like this this year: ones I’m sure I’ve seen but end up being surprised by. Like the original Dawn of the Dead, I’m sure that this viewing of Soldier Blue was just another case of, I have seen it, but in a heavily cut version, plus perhaps I’ve changed a lot in myself as far as my reaction to the film is concerned.

In any case, I absolutely loved the movie. It has great music, incredible performances: it was released in the same year as one of my all-time favourites The Strawberry Statement and I found it to be very similar in tone, not to mention that they both feature songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie, whose work I should really seek out more of.

It begins with violence, then settles into a kind of cross-country jaunt, with the main character Honus (“Soldier Blue”) resisting the horny charms of Cresta, a relationship that reminded me a lot of the main relationship in Cabaret, Honus acting almost like he’s gay or something when Cresta so much as touches him.

The middle section is what I loved the most about the movie, just a light-hearted romance developing, and the insanity of Donald Pleasance’s performance.

The ending is apparently infamous, and it’s here I’m sure all the cuts occured if I ever saw it before. It’s pretty nasty to watch, and it should have been a great way to end the movie. There’s just a little something missing though: following all the slaughter, the movie seems to kind of fizzle out, a small let down. Still one of the best movies of the Seventies, though, and in such a decade, that’s saying a lot.

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