Review of Soldier Blue

This movie is based on an actual event known now as the Sandy Creek Massacre. While the bulk of the movie is a growing 'romance' between a soldier and a woman 'rescued' from indians its the end of the film that made it noteworthy. The movie starts with a paymaster who has been obliged to transport a white woman who was 'rescued' from captivity by a local tribe of 'hostile' indians. The wagon train is promptly set upon by indians and wiped out but for our two love birds (Peter Strauss and Candice Bergen). Instead of retreating back to where they left from they decide to push on to their original destination. For the next 60 minutes or so the pair sort of stumble in and out of various situations each one ending with them making eyes at one another. After escaping an encounter with a white trader smuggling guns for naughty tribes, the pair separately reach a large encampment of soldiers. She steals a horse and goes back to the indians she was supposedly rescued from at the beginning of the movie while he rejoins the soldiers as a somewhat conflicted and reluctant participant. Okay now the part of the movie that made all the noise, the infamous massacre at Sand Creek. The troops form up for an artillery barrage as the chief rides out under a flag of truce to treat with them. The commander ignores this and commences the attack. Then comes the massacre itself that would make some indie slasher movies proud and finishing up with soldiers dancing around holding up various body parts including heads atop their banners. Then a solemn narrator comes on to 'share the facts' in which he claims 500 indians were slaughtered (actual number 186) followed by a script from Winter Soldier. You will notice they seem to use bright red paint for blood instead of the regular stage blood throughout the film. Okay I get it, 1970 the summer of love just happened, vietnam, ect., the 'man' is a pos, at times it felt like another Billy Jack movie. It's unfortunate the makers of the film didn't consider what actually happened as being horrific enough without sprucing it up. Overall the production value is good although the script suffers in a few places. Other than some nice wide shots of the countryside it's fairly par for the course for 70's exploitation films.