Kid Blue

This very pointed satire on the end of the "old west" and the concurrent growth of capitalism is set in Dime Box, Texas at the beginning of the 20th century. Dime Box is a real town in central Texas but here it is set on the Mexican border, where the new industry in town is a factory manufacturing ashtrays with a Mexican flag and an American flag stuck into them, symbolizing hands across the border (when a buck is concerned.) One of the funny bits I remember is Dennis Hopper asking what an ashtray is for, and he is told for putting cigarette and cigar ashes in, and he replies that people smoke outdoors, why do they need something to put the ashes in?

So he is something of an innocent, even though a former outlaw who has decided to go straight, move to town, and join the 20th century. He gets many lessons in capitalism, Native American spirituality vs Christianity, modern sexuality, and, since this was made in the early 70s, the attitude of law enforcement toward young, long-haired males. I haven't seen this in over 30 years but saw it several times in theater then and laughed every time.

It has such a great cast, particularly the males, Hopper, Boyle, Oates, Ben Johnson, all as adept at comedy as drama. Sure would like to see this get a DVD release!

I saw this movie when it first came out in the theater in 1973. Everyone I knew who saw it loved it. Then it disappeared. Vanished. Gone. Never available on VHS nor DVD, so your chances of ever seeing this great movie are nil. However, as I write this in November 2005, the movie is available on Comcast On-Demand Free Movies!

With a memorable supporting cast including Peter Boyle, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson and the beautiful, young Lee Purcell, Dennis Hopper turns in one of his best performances. You'll never forget Ben Johnson as Mean John Simpson. Nor Peter Boyle as the ascetic high-tech, high-flying Preacher. Although it is set in Texas around the turn of the century, the social commentary that is critical of religion, racial prejudice, the establishment's compulsion to force conformity on everyone, the inequality in the workplace, and the hypocrisy of the elite ruling class and their control of law enforcement, is still relevant today. Perhaps even more so than when it was released in 1973. With comedic undertones, the movie manages to combine action/violence, drama and an implied steamy sex scene without ever becoming too serious. It pits the individual against the mores and values of the group (in this case the town of Dimebox, Texas and it's biggest employer, the All American Western Novelty Company). And guess who wins?

Don't miss this movie if you have Comcast Digital. It's available until March 2006.

I saw this movie in the mid-70s at the People's Theater in a small town in Kansas (shortly before it burned down (the theater, not the town) & I've been wanting to see it ever since, although I'm almost afraid to now for fear of spoiling my memory of it..

The way I remember it, it was set in a Colorado town at the turn of the century (19th to 20th) & it was about capitalism & modernity & the end of the frontier. The classic scene in my memory is Dennis Hopper walking down Main Street with the owner of the new factory, which makes little gewgaws of some sort. The factory owner explains to Dennis Hopper that he needs to get a job in the factory so he can earn money to buy things that other people make in other factories-- (not mentioning, of course, that he skims off his share in the process). Political economy 101 for the wild wild west.

I'll admit that it wasn't a cinematic masterpiece-- the only lines of dialogue I remember for sure are Hopper's Native American pal advising him: "If you're not hungry, don't eat cow (censored word)," and somebody yelling, "Shoot that peckerwood, sheriff." On second thought, I probably shouldn't watch it again. Still, I like the beat, I can dance to it, I'll give it a 9.

This film really clicked with me. One of the first times I had seen Peter Boyle and Dennis Hopper. Really enjoyed it. I had just graduated from college. I got to see it in a sneak preview. I have looked for it ever since to see it again.

If you like Dennis Hopper, you like this kind of introspective crazy thing about life, so watch it :)

This is not a classical 50s or 60s Western - this is about how the Old West may well have been for real. No superstunts a'la "Matrix" her for sure, but there is some funny action!

I am only now starting to appreciate the 70s way of making odd movies, with all the less than adequately brainy, all computer tricks, and no substance material coming to our screens these days.

It's all about real people doing mundane things, at times doing stupid things, and occasionally doing even really stupid, but outright spectacular things.

Nothing is sacred, and conservatives will have to hate this piece, that leaves no legend untouched, and shows the old West at its end in its transition to modern times, in which even steam power can already be made out to be relic some day, but not quite yet. Modern times is a comin! The characters are simply everyday people, hypocritical, twisted, evil, a little nice at times, always mean in a way, denuded of social grace as well as soap and water, except when it serves the purpose of getting closer.

This is not a classical Western - this is about how the Old West may well have been for real, spitting, sex, and all.

So stuff your dreamworld, because if you want to be a honky cowboy, you may think twice after seeing this one.

Boring? Yes, there are boring stretches in this movie. But that too were the good old times. So change your pace and watch a true classic of the 70s Western genre. Did I say a classic, when I said before it isn't? Actually, this one is a classic - just a different kind.