The blue squadron

Movie
German title	The blue squadron
Original title	A distant trumpet
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1964
length	117 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Raoul Walsh
script	Albert Beich , Richard Fielder
production	Raoul Walsh / Warner Brothers
music	Max Steiner
camera	William H. Clothier
cut	David Wages
occupation
Troy Donahue : Lt. Matthew Hazard Suzanne Pleshette : Kitty Mainwarring Diane McBain : Laura Frelief James Gregory : General Alexander Upton Quait William Reynolds : 1st Lt. Teddy main warring Claude Akins : Seely Jones Kent Smith : Secretary of War Judson Pratt : Captain Cedric Gray MD Bartlett Robinson : Major Hiram Prescott Bobby Bare : Pvt. Cranshaw Larry Ward : Sgt. Kroger Richard X. Slattery : Sgt. Fry Mary Patton : Mrs. Jessica Prescott Russell Johnson : Captain Brinker

The blue squadron (original title: A Distant Trumpet ) is a cavalry western from 1964. The director Raoul Walsh was 76 years old when his last film was shot. The model was the novel A Distant Trumpet by Paul Horgan .

action

After completing his training at West Point Academy , the young Lieutenant Matthew Hazard is transferred to the Mexican border in harsh Arizona. There he works at a fort in the middle of the Apache region and falls in love with the wife of his superior, Teddy Mainwarring. A secret romance develops between the two.

After a while, General Alexander Quait takes command. This fails in the violent attempt to catch the chief of the Apaches. Thereupon he gives Hazard the order to bring the chief peacefully to a surrender of the Apache area. Hazard manages to convince the Indian chief with the promise that his people will be placed on a reservation .

However, by order of the government, the Indians should not be housed in Arizona but in Florida. Hazard and Quait set off on a trip to Washington, DC , to campaign for the housing of the Indians in Arizona.

Reviews

“The right-wing extremists in this country can cheer, they have once again received support from Hollywood. A fort in Arizona is spruced up by a brisk Westpoint graduate, and then it goes in cinemascope and color against the stinking Indians. (...) But none of that is the worst. Because in the end, Raoul Walsh lets the guns fall silent and in sentimentality, to get around the curve, what began brutally. The Indians who surrendered are betrayed by the government. So the blonde hero returns his medal until the captive chief is released from his exile in Florida and receives his promised reservation in Arizona. (...) The soldiers teach the civilians in Washington what correct politics is, so that the asterisk can be returned to the blue skirt. The cynicism with which a historical guilt is lying in its opposite is now by no means merely restorative, it is advised to use it for political purposes. The barely encrypted message of the master race and the subhumans ..., of the beautiful fight for a wonderful America, it is to be feared that it will not only find an open ear there, but also with us. "

- The time of October 30, 1964

"Standing still and moving, that's what defines the rhythm of this western, which seems to be the last western ever."

- Fritz Göttler, 2003.

"Excellent photographed, demanding last western by Raoul Walsh, which, however, glorifies the life of a soldier."

- Lexicon of international film

literature

• Fritz Göttler: The blue squadron. In: Bernd Kiefer, Norbert Grob with the collaboration of Marcus Stiglegger (Ed.): Filmgenres. Western film. (= RUB . No. 18402). Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 262-264 [with references].

Web links

• The blue squadron in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fritz Göttler: The blue squadron. In: Bernd Kiefer, Norbert Grob with the collaboration of Marcus Stiglegger (Ed.): Filmgenres. Western film. (= RUB . No. 18402). Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 262-264, here 263.
2. ↑ The Blue Squadron. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .