A commentary on 1960s America disguised as a Western

Soldier Blue is a curiousity piece of a movie. It appears on the surface to be about the battles between the Cheyenne and the US Army. However, what it is really about is America and its war in Vietnam. No filmmaker in 1970 could openly attack the war, so the next best thing is to use another genre to highlight the cruelty and madness of a war in Asia.

The massacre at the end is clearly tipping its hat at the My Lai Massacre, and the overall policies carried out by the military. Military officers,with straight faces, did say that they had to "destroy the village in order to save it". We actually see soldiers burning the village to the ground during the attack. We also see soldiers mutilating and raping the women. By 1970, there were stories of American soldiers performing acts of cruelty to the Vietnamese. My Lai was not a one off incident.

The film makes a conscious effort to tap into the hippy movement. Honus and Cresta look like flower children. Honus's hairstyle looks very 1960s, even though the film is set in the 1860s! The commanding officer, Iverson, even makes a comment about young people and their attitudes. He sounds like a conservative/square who hates the hippy movement.

It is amusing that at end, Iverson believes that he has won a great victory, having destroyed a village and massacred the "savages".