Where’s he lookin’ off to?
South… Mexico I guess…
Well, I reckon he feels they’re more his people now.
He can’t go back now, he killed one of them, he’s
nowhere to go…
Terence Stamp has passed away and it’s the end of an era
with one of the faces of the sixties leaving us as well as one of our finest
character actors. You could still see Terry in the streets of Soho and, whilst
the last time I saw him he was looking his age, he was still so cool, still so
handsome. I saw him introduce films at the BFI and he was as urbane and
eloquent as you’d expect. His period post Zod was probably my favourite with
films like The Hit, The Limey, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of
the Desert but he was in some of the finest films of the ‘60s including Far
from the Madding Crowd to Poor Cow. For this post I wanted to watch
a film I hadn’t seen before and it turns out to be far from his finest although
it does feature cattle… so some continuity with the Ken Loach work!
Some might say that the Stepney lad playing a cowboy is an odd
choice in subject and tone with this film coming directly after Loach’s
social-realist Poor Cow (1967) and, before that, Far from the Madding
Crowd (1967) to be followed by two fine Italian arthouse efforts with
Fellini’s superb Toby Dammit – easily the most successful of the segments
of the Poe trilogy Spirits of the Dead (discussed elsewhere on here) – and Pasolini’s Teorema
(1968). The great film reviewer Roger Ebert certainly thought so but he found
many faults giving the film just one star, saying “Blue is not just a
bad movie, but a painfully inept one.”
 |
Joanna Pettet
|
The casting makes more sense when you understand that Canadian
director, Silvio Narizzano, was based in the UK and had directed Georgy Girl
one of the signature films of the Swinging London Terry was so much a part of.
The aim with Blue was to create something like and arthouse western with
Stamp’s great depth the anchor for the whole production. Now, circumspection
and all-action tend to be an ill fit and the film does struggle to meld everything
together into a satisfying whole with the action at the beginning and the end jarring
with the more cerebral middle section in which Doc Morton (Karl Malden) and his
daughter Joanne (Joanna Pettet) look after the badly injured Azul (Terence
Stamp) who was part of a Mexican incursion across the border.
The film is set in 1880 and starts with Mexican bandit and
revolutionary Ortega (Ricardo Montalbán, who is a charming as ever and certainly
has the range for the brief in hand) who is raging against the Americans on
principle as well as the restriction of his trade as a bandit. We see a troop
of soldiers riding into a small Mexican town following, one affixing a poster on
a wall offering a 2,000 Pesos reward for Ortega for “crimes political and civil
against the Republic of Mexico”. A lone figure with piercing blue eyes, watches
the soldier from under the brim of his hat as the others are greeted by the
women working at the local bar.
 |
Ricardo Montalbán and friend
|
Once inside, the figure springs up onto his horse and
summons Ortegas outlaws in to humiliate the soldiers. Ortega picks up one of
the women and they ride off but not before Azul picks up the troops’ commander
and kissing him full on the mouth shoots him leaving even the outlaws silenced
by his brutality.
Obviously we have serious questions about this behaviour but
before that from the outset you are left admiring the cinematography from DOC
Stanley Cortez who makes the most of Panavision anamorphic – this film would look
stunning in the cinema! There is a real feeling of place and Cortez captures the
terrifying beauty of the Nevada deserts, flats and valleys where most of the
film was made. A far cry from Carnaby Street for Narizzano.
The gang make their way back to Ortega’s lair and there’s a
daft party atmosphere mixing free loving with the kidnapped prostitute and
Ortega’s forgetfulness about which mother was which of his three sons – “who
can remember?” He counts the blue-eyed gringo as his son although his other sons
are less impressed and a fight breaks out between the American and Xavier (Carlos
East). Ortega stops the fight and goes outside for a deep conversation with his
right-hand man, Carlos (Joe De Santis) and resolves to take the fight to the
rich Yankees across the river in Texas although his revolutionary aims are not
so clear as his desire to rob and steal.
The next day Xavier and Azul lead the way as they compete
once again to be the first across the wide river that separates the countries
and we switch to the quite, civilized community they are on a course to meet.
Here we find the good Doctor, an urbane and educated man and his daughter, strong-willed,
modern and beautiful. Malden and Pettet are both very good in these roles, the
formers natural authority and steadfast morality and the latter’s intensity and
presence – she was such a feature of US 70s TV growing up – they both were –
but she is always an impressive actor.
Joanne leaves the town gathering to collect something from
home only just before the invaders arrive to disrupt, steal and, in one case
kill the locals. She has her own nightmare waiting at home as she is ambushed by
another of Ortega’s sons, Manuel (Stathis Giallelis) who chases her through her
homestead before attempting to rape her. A shot rings out and Joanne looks up
to see Azul… As the Americans get organised and fight back, another of Ortega’s
sons is killed and Azul is badly wounded. He makes his way the Morton’s
homestead and Joanne recognising him as her saviour, they decide to help him
recover.
 |
Karl Malden and Joanna Pettet
|
Now the film’s most philosophical and naturalistic section
takes place as the Mortons try to fix the mute and aggressive Azul who only
gradually is won over by the Doctor’s kindness and his daughter’s beauty and
steadfast good nature. All three do well in these moments and we have to
believe that Azul has been brought up too much of an outlaw and not so much “another
kind of Mexican” – he’s loyal to his adopted father and is a trained killer
who, as we saw at the start, relishes the kill.
There’s no love lost between the American setters and the
Mexican ones and whilst Blue stays to help the Mortons on their farm, he is
viewed with suspicion by parts of the local community. He’s challenged by one of
the locals but holds himself in… he might feel that he doesn’t belong but soon his
relationship with Joanne deepens and he reveals what happened to his family.
They settled in Mexico when he was five and lived together peaceably until the war
with USA and Mexico (after the former annexed Texas in 1895).
Soon Ortega discovers where his adopted Azul is and
challenges him only for Blue to overcome him… now there’s a bigger
confrontation promised as the bandit takes his men and vows to lay waste to the
settlers. It’s time to take sides and prepare for the true test…
Dusty Verdict: Blue doesn’t quite make sense
but it is a compelling watch having enough of the old western style to pull you
in along with enough of the romance and brotherly love to make you believe that
folk can just get on together in the end, despite all the history. As I’ve said
it looks fabulous and the score from Manos Hatzidakis is stirring indeed. The
film has scale, a cast of many hundreds especially during the film’s epic
finale when a battle for the soul of the land and the main participants is
joined and the river runs red.
Seeing Terry handling his horse far better than his accent
it must be said, he is a convincing leading man and action hero in ways his
very English subtleties might not always have suggested. One of the faces of
our time and one of the finest actors too, he shall be missed.
There’s an interesting addendum as the production of Blue
was used as background for the Film Fade In featuring Burt Reynolds and
Barbara Loden, which is co-produced by Narizzano. The two films were shot consecutively
although Fade In wasn’t released until 1973. It’s fascinating to see the scenes
featuring the scenes behind as it were and the cast and crew make guest
appearances with Joanna/Joanne all sixties hip stepping off a plane in bright
miniskirt and boots.
Mr Stamp is seen in a sleek e-Type driving towards the
location, he stops for some petrol and the pump assistant asks if John Wayne is
going to be in the movie, “nah, not this one…” Terry replies and no, it wouldn’t
have been a good idea anyway. This isn’t Duke’s kind of western.
Terry meets Joanna, down on the border and a dirty old river
runs right through it.
 |
Rio Grande Sunset
|
 |
Terry and Jo
|
 |
88 years later... Joanna steps off a plane
|
 |
... and Terry gets his car filled with petrol.
|
 |
Such a great looking film!
|
