Sol rojo

East meets West in this rather ingratiating period Western. Set in 1860 America, it has a Japanese ambassador (Tetsu Nakamura) traveling by train to meet the President. There, the ambassador will give the President the gift of a special sword. But then bandits including Link (Charles Bronson) and Gauche (Alain Delon) seize control of the train, intending to make off with the loot on board. But the back-stabbing Gauche betrays Link, steals the sword, and rides off into the sunset. Now, a samurai named Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune) must track down the bad man, kill him, and retrieve the sword within seven days, or else commit hara-kiri. Since he and Link both have an interest in Gauche, the two of them team up - albeit reluctantly on Links' part.

Overall, this is good fun, and is capably directed by Terence Young. It was more violent than this viewer expected; while some people will be put off, I didn't mind at all. It's got decent action throughout, with the finale taking place within tall grass as the main characters are attacked by aggressive Comanches. It's also got plenty of sex appeal, as some of the ladies, such as Ursula Andress as Gauches' girlfriend, show off some skin. But what really makes "Red Sun" work to the extent that it does is its humour. The culture clash leads to some real chemistry between Bronson and Mifune. Bronson is especially amusing. We didn't always get to see this kind of performances from him: jovial, smiling, cracking jokes. And he goes to work on manipulating Mifune with a vengeance. Link wants to keep Gauche alive as long as possible so he can find out where the loot is stored, and has to convince Kuroda not to kill him immediately.

Other familiar faces turn up: Anthony Dawson, Luc Merenda, Monica Randall, etc. But if you're a fan of the stars, you'll find that this is primarily a solid vehicle for their abilities. Delon makes for a great villain, looking right at home in Western duds. Putting in a special appearance is another lovely lady, Capucine, who plays Pepita.

While somewhat overlong, "Red Sun" does show the audience a pretty good time.

Seven out of 10.

Culture clash ending in mutual respect, with an understanding of BOTH cultures... good western action-adventure at the same time. Battle of wills and skills as Bronson butts heads with Mifune, who of course has all kinds of surprises Bronson's character has never seen. They are forced by circumstance to collaborate and travel together. Bronson the epitome of western tough and smart guy, in this case whose ethics are not always ivory soap; Mifune plays the epitome of determined, skilled, smart, ethical samurai knight type. Very funny watching them struggle with each other, surprise each other, and learn from each other... and deal with bordello, desert, etc. They have to retrieve the treasured sword and in the process chase down and fight a truly nasty slick cold fish. You'll end up liking Bronson and loving Mifune. Both actors did a wonderful classic job with this one!

Red Sun is the type of film they mean when they talk about international production. American Charles Bronson, Japanese Toshiro Mifune, German Ursula Andress, French Alain Delon, Italian Capucine and for good measure this film was shot on the plains of Spain which did not look like they'd seen much rain by Englishman Terrence Young.

The film concerns the train robbery of a gang in which Alain Delon is in charge. The money isn't enough for Delon, the train is carrying some Japanese passengers with a ceremonial samurai sword, a gift from their Emperor to our president. Two of three Japanese are killed, the mistake Delon makes when he decides the sword would make a nice souvenir is that he lives a real live Samurai in Toshiro Mifune alive with a vengeance quest. Delon makes a second mistake in double crossing Charles Bronson and not killing him as well. Bronson is a member of his gang who cuts all ties, but forms an uneasy alliance with Mifune.

Mifune wants Delon dead, but Bronson just wants him alive long enough to say where he's hidden the money. Bronson and Mifune go to a bordello run by Capucine to get Ursula Andress, a hooker favored by Delon as a hostage.

Red Sun works nicely as a film because of the interesting if antagonistic chemistry between Bronson and Mifune. From an uneasy alliance they develop a genuine regard for each other. As for Delon he has a gentlemanly demeanor that's a very thin veneer for one of the meanest mean streaks ever on the big screen.

Fans who are younger will recognize the plot of Red Sun being later used in a modern day feature Renegades with Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips as the uneasy allies with Rob Knepper as the gang leader with a mean streak.

I'm not really big on foreign made westerns, but I make an exception in the case of Red Sun.

This Franco-Italian "Eastern Western" has intrigued me since I read about it on a magazine, in view of its then-upcoming showing on Italian TV, when I was about 7 years old – but it literally seemed to vanish from the face of the earth in the interim! Given that fact and Leonard Maltin's unpromising ** rating, I had suspected that it was going to be a big disappointment when I eventually catch up with it – but, happily, it turned out not to be the case. It is actually a very enjoyable large-scale action film which, while perhaps lacking the touch of greatness, deserves to be re-evaluated more positively.

The four international leads – Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress – are top-notch and the supporting cast also includes Capucine, Anthony Dawson and Luc (here billed as Luke) Merenda. The chemistry between betrayed outlaw Bronson and samurai warrior Mifune is especially successful and provides the film with some nice humorous touches (as well as a couple of good lines); their casting is all the more interesting for its pairing one of THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) with a member of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), that film's equally popular Americanization! Delon has a smaller part than I was expecting but he does well as Bronson's double-crossing partner-in-crime who, apart from the pre-requisite European sophistication, has a vicious streak about him. Andress adds the required eye-candy as his sluttish girlfriend and, along with Monica Randall (playing Mifune's inexperienced one night stand at Capucine's rundown brothel), provides the film with some unexpected – if very welcome – dashes of nudity.

Besides, there's a fine if subdued score from Maurice Jarre; as befits the film's title, too, renowned cinematographer Henri Alekan often bathes the scenery in a warm golden hue and the use of remote locations throughout is inspired. Still, the film could probably do with a few trims here and there, as some scenes tend to go on too long – such as the afore-mentioned mid-section revolving around Bronson and Mifune, and the climactic Indian attack. The full-frame presentation is not too bad considering: I can only complain of excessive headroom on occasion and a general washed-out look to the print on the U.K. disc I watched.

People are simply suckers for crossovers: be it Superman and Spiderman slugging it out in the comic books, Hercules fighting Aztecs in the Italian muscle n' sandal flicks or Dracula dueling Jessie James. In "Red Sun" the dream for many a kid came true: samurais going head to head with cowboys and Indians.

The concept of mixing Eastern culture and (especially) martial arts with the archaic Wild West has been often tried, sometimes with success but more often with complete failure (Jackie Chan escapades, numerous Spaghetti-Western-Kung-Fu-crossovers and the "Kung Fu" TV-series, which was a technical and aesthetic failure, even though the audience loved it). This had little to do with the incompatibility between east and west but rather lacking directors who could handle both genres with equal dignity.

The story is rather plain and simple: Bronson and Delon plan to rob a train that happens to carry the imperial Japanese ambassador. The heist goes fine but fiery-eyed Delon (remember, he is French and left-handed) betrays his partner, leaving him at the mercy of the Japanese entourage – but not before stealing a Samurai sword that was meant as a present for the US-president. The ambassador makes Bronson a deal he cannot refuse: bring back the sword within a week or loose your head. To insure that Bronson is doing his job, the disgraced sword-keeper (Mifume) is sent along, likewise obliged to commit 'hara-kiri' when the seven day span is over. Both men form an uneasy camaraderie, one driven by obligation, the other from thirst for revenge and each perceiving the others culture as plain alien.

It would be very hard to duplicate this 'innocent' clash of the cultures-scenario today: too many similarities, too many cross-cultural interchanges have occurred. Today a kid from Japan would be no more alien to the image of an American cowboy than your average businessman would be to the concept of eating raw fish with rice, namely sushi, which they eat anyway during lunch-break. Back in the early 70's, those images tended to be way more exotic to the average-Joe. Back then we could believe Mifumes wide-eyed look of disbelieve at 'culture' of the Wild West as well as Bronsons inability to comprehend his 'partners' culture. Needless to say, this leads to many-a comic relief and, once the colts and katanas are pulled, plenty of action.

Mifune and Bronson are simply veterans at what they do (so is Ursulla Andress, by the way, namely dressing, undressing and throwing tantrums). They really don't need much dialogue to bring their sentiments and thoughts across – each confused and by degree disgusted by the others culture and behaviour. No matter how you look at it, the chemistry works and is believable. Throw in Alain Delon doing what Delon can do best – namely look chiseled like a roman statue and throw glares that could cut through ice – you've got the perfect cocktail of experienced acting and charisma.

Terence Young made this happen by applying the same he did to the first two James Bond films: make a serious movie but don't take the movie too serious. The result was a comic-book Western that owed more to the Euro-Western of the 60's (perhaps even a bit more to the German Schnitzel-, rather than the Italo-Spaghetti Westerns) than it did to John Wayne or "Bonanza".

Granted, this is not a cinematographic masterpiece, this isn't Sergio Leone nor is it Eastwoods "The Unforgiven". This would be comparing "Dr. No" to the ultra-realistic violence of "Casino Royal". Neither films need to be taken serious but should rather be enjoyed. This isn't "Dance with the Wolves"; this is about a bandit and a samurai on a mission to retrieve the emperors sword, on the way slugging it out with bandits and Indians. Throw in the (as usually) excellent soundtrack by Maurice Jarre and what you get is the perfect blend between Euro-Western and Samurai Adventure. 8/10