Soldier Blue

Soldier Blue is a Western set in the American West of the 1860s. A cavalry column is attacked and wiped out by Cheyenne warriors, leaving just two survivors: Honus Gent, a young private wholly devoted to his duty, and Kathy Maribel Lee, known as Cresta, a woman who spent two years living with the Cheyenne and whose loyalties lie closer to them than to the army. The two set out across hostile country toward the cavalry's base, and their journey forces Honus to weigh his training and his hatred of the Cheyenne against what Cresta tells him about the army's conduct. Ralph Nelson directed, working from a screenplay by John Gay and Theodore V. Olsen; the film arrived in 1970, the tenth of the eleven features listed in his directing career, between Counterpoint and Flight of the Doves. Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss lead the cast as Cresta and Honus, with Donald Pleasence as the trader Isaac Q. Cumber, John Anderson as Col. Iverson and Jorge Rivero as the chief Spotted Wolf.

The production was mounted by AVCO Embassy Pictures with Katzka-Loeb, and the credited ensemble runs to 24 cast members and 42 crew. Audience response has been steady rather than rapturous: on IMDb the film holds 6.9/10 from around 7,200 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.8/10 from roughly 232 votes, a small sample by comparison. The two scores agree closely, suggesting a film that viewers regard as worthwhile without embracing it unanimously.