Blue (1968 film)
| Blue | |
|---|---|
Stewart Linder | |
| Music by | Manos Hatzidakis |
Production companies | Kettledrum Production, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Blue is a 1968 American Western film directed by Silvio Narizzano and starring Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalbán, and Stathis Giallelis. The film was made in Panavision anamorphic and released by Paramount Pictures on May 10, 1968.[1]
Plot
The year is 1880. Mexican bandit and revolutionary Ortega (Ricardo Montalbán) has three sons, Xavier (Carlos East), Manuel (Stathis Giallelis) and Antonio (Robert Lipton), as well as one adopted son, Azul (Terence Stamp), which means "Blue." the color of the young man's eyes. While attacking Texas settlers, Antonio is fatally shot while Azul, feeling pity for one of the settler women, Joanne (Joanna Pettet), whom Manuel is about to rape, puts a deadly bullet into Manuel, as he is shot, himself, by one of the settlers.
Joanne tells her father, Doc (Karl Malden), that Azul saved her and they nurse him back to health in their home. Ortega finds Azul and asks him to come back, but when Azul refuses, threatens to come back and wipe out the settlers. Azul organizes the settlers into a defense force which manages to decimate the attackers, including Ortega and Xavier. Before dying, Ortega asks Azul to bury him in Mexico. Carrying out Ortega's dying wish, Azul is shot by the fatally wounded Carlos (Joe De Santis), Ortega's closest compatriot. Joanne brings Azul's body back for burial in Texas.
Cast
- Terence Stamp as Azul [Blue]
- Joanna Pettet as Joanne Morton
- Karl Malden as Doc Morton
- Ricardo Montalbán as Ortega
- Anthony Costello as Jess Parker
- Joe De Santis as Carlos
- James Westerfield as Abe Parker
- Stathis Giallelis as Manuel
- Carlos East as Xavier
- Sara Vardi as Inez
- Robert Lipton as Antonio
- Kevin Corcoran as Rory Calvin
- Ivalou Redd as Helen Buchanan
- Dorothy Conrad as Alma Wishoff
- Helen Kleeb as Elizabeth Parker
- Michael Bell as Jim Benton
- Wes Bishop as Settler
- Marian Mason as Mrs. Kramer
- Alma Beltran as Cantina Proprietress
- Sally Kirkland as Sara Lambert
- Peggy Lipton as Laurie Kramer
- Jerry Gatlin as Wes Lambert
- William Shannon as Police Chief
- Michael Nader as Mexican Assassin
Production
Parts of the film were shot at Professor Valley, Sevenmile Canyon, Long Valley, Kane Creek Road, the Sand Flats, La Sal Mountains, and the Klondike Flats in Utah.[2]
The production of the film in Utah was used for the 1968 film Fade In starring Burt Reynolds and Barbara Loden. Loden plays an assistant film editor who falls in love with a rancher played by Reynolds.
Evaluation in film guides
As in Maltin,
Two additional guides also rank Blue at or near bottom. Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever threw the film one bone (out of possible four), describing it as "[A] dull western", while Mick Martin's and Marsha Porter's DVD & Video Guide served its lowest rating, "Turkey", stating "God-awful, pretentious Western with Terence Stamp as a monosyllabic gunman."
Among British references,
References
- ^ Canby, Vincent (May 11, 1968). "The Screen: 'Blue' Opens at 2 Theaters:Terence Stamp Stars in 1850 Western; Joanna Pettet and Karl Malden Also in Film". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-4236-0587-4.
External links
- Blue at IMDb
- Blue at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Blue at the TCM Movie Database
- Blue at AllMovie
- Blue at Rotten Tomatoes
- Blue Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at TV Guide (revised form of this 1987 write-up was originally published in The Motion Picture Guide)
| Authority control databases: National |
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