RED SUN

 

RED SUN technically qualifies as a Euro Western--it was filmed in Spain, at many locations that would be familiar to Spaghetti Western fans. The movie has an international cast, with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Ursula Andress, and Alain Delon in the leading roles. RED SUN was directed by James Bond veteran Terence Young. With that type of cast and director, one expects a lot out of the picture, but it doesn't live up to them. 

In post-Civil War America, bandits Link (Charles Bronson) and Gauche (Alain Delon) lead a raid on a money-laden train. One of the passengers happens to be the new Japanese ambassador to the United States, who is bringing with him a ceremonial samurai sword to present to the President. Gauche takes the sword, then attempts to kill Link in an explosion so he can keep more of the loot for himself. Link survives, and he teams up with a samurai named Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune) who was assigned to guard the ambassador. Link and Kuroda form an uneasy alliance--the former wants to find Gauche mainly to retrieve the loot, while the latter wants to kill Gauche for the insult of stealing the sword. Link, Gauche, Kuroda, and Gauche's lover Cristina (Ursula Andress) wind up being besieged by Comanches. 

RED SUN opens with a massive train robbery (Gauche's gang seems to consist of dozens and dozens of men), sets up the situation with Link and Kuroda going after Gauche, and then settles into a "Odd Couple" type of relationship between Bronson and Mifune. The two men are constantly trying to one-up each other, with Link attempting to take advantage of Kuroda's presumed lack of awareness about the American West. The taciturn Mifune winds up stealing the film from his co-stars, and he's able to put across much while saying very little (this is one time in a Charles Bronson movie where one of his co-stars has less dialogue than he does). Mifune's Kuroda is really the only sympathetic character in the story--he's a man of honor and principle, whereas everyone else in the movie is out for themselves. 

Alain Delon is surprisingly quite good as the nattily attired black-garbed Gauche. Despite his pretty boy looks Gauche is a cold-blooded killer who'll betray anyone. (Delon has a lot less screen time than Bronson and Mifune do.) Despite being second-billed, Ursula Andress doesn't show up until about an hour into the picture. Her character is used as bait by Link and Kuroda to get to Gauche, and she spends most of her screen time complaining about her plight. It won't surprise anyone to know that Andress appears topless during one scene. Of course Andress had worked with Terence Young before in DR. NO. As for Charles Bronson, he's much more talkative and personable than usual--was this his way of trying to compete with Toshiro Mifune? (I'm sure Bronson had to have known that Mifune had the better part.) 

Capucine plays the madam of the brothel that Ursula Andress' character works at, and another DR. NO alumnus, Anthony Dawson, plays a member of Gauche's gang. (Note: this is Anthony Dawson the British actor, not the Italian director Antonio Margheriti who was often billed as Anthony Dawson and who made a number of Euro Westerns of his own.) Much of the supporting cast consists of Spaghetti Western veterans, while the climax is hurt by the "Comanches" being played by a group of dull-looking European extras. These Comanches are set up as a major threat, but they come off as dangerous as a bunch of kids dressed up for Halloween. The film has a music score by Maurice Jarre, but in my opinion it's not one of the composer's best. 

RED SUN is not a bad film--it's a decent time-filler--but one has to wonder what would have resulted if a true Spaghetti Western director, such as Margheriti or Sergio Corbucci, had been in charge. Terence Young was an efficient, capable filmmaker, but he isn't able to provide the elaborate elements a Euro Western like this usually has. The main reason to watch RED SUN is the four international stars in it.