Blue (1968 film)

Blue is an American western film in Panavision anamorphic, released by Paramount Pictures on May 10, 1968. Directed by Silvio Narizzano, it stars Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalban and Stathis Giallelis.

The year is 1880. Mexican bandit and revolutionary Ortega (Ricardo Montalban) 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.

Steven H. Scheuer's Movies on TV gives Blue 1 star (out of 4), stating "[I]t took many celebrated names on both sides of the camera to botch up this western drama", continuing that "[T]he tale... should have been more fascinating than it turns out" and concluding with "[D]irector Silvio Narizzano was responsible for the lovely "Georgy Girl" so we can't blame him entirely for this no-color no-flavor western". Later editions retained the 1 star rating, but featured a shortened, rewritten review which called Blue a "[W]estern oddity" that exhibited "[A] peculiar blend of sagebrush and psychology". Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide did not have a much higher opinion, giving 1½ stars (out of 4) and denigrating it as an "[U]ndistinguished, poorly written Western". Later editions added the words "See also FADE-IN", which Maltin's review describes as an "[O]dd little film made concurrently with BLUE" and notes that "BLUE actors Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Ricardo Montalban and Sally Kirkland can be glimpsed here".