RED SUN

I remember when RED SUN came out in 1971 but somehow I missed seeing it then and in all of the years since. TCM ran it the other day, I recorded it and watched it this afternoon. Loved it!

At this point in his career, Charles Bronson was beginning to headline films rather than just be part of the supporting cast and RED SUN is a perfect example of this. He gets top billing and it's clearly his film from beginning to end although he does have one helluva supporting cast.

His main co-star is Japanese film legend Toshiro Mifune and the idea (courtesy of screenwriters Denne Bart Petitclerc, William Roberts and Lawrence Roman) of teaming up a gunfighter/train robber with a samurai in the American West was absolutely inspired. These two men represented two of the most macho men to be found in the cinema at the time and they both bring their A games.

Of course, any good western has to have a good villain and RED SUN has one in the form of French heartthrob Alain Delon. He plays Bronson's former train robbing partner who double crosses Bronson and makes off with a fortune in gold and a prized samurai sword, intended as a gift from the Emperor of Japan to the American president.

Bronson and Mifune make an unlikely pair of heroes as the two set out to recover the loot and the sword. They hate each other at first but come to understand and appreciate each man's code of honor. 

Along the way, Bronson and Mifune pick up the beautiful prostitute Cristina (Ursula Andress). She's in love with Delon and the two men plan to use her as a bargaining chip with the outlaw. 

But when all of the parties are finally gathered in the third act, the greatest threat facing them is a tribe of savage Comanches who are determined to kill them all. 
 
RED SUN is a rousing Western adventure with four appealing stars, a nice score by Maurice Jarre and Spanish on-location cinematography by Henri Alekan and a plethora of vertical wipes thanks to editor Johnny Dwyre. I swear, at times I thought I was watching STAR WARS (1977). Director Terence Young, Ursula Andress and Anthony Dawson (who plays one of Delon's henchmen) had all previously worked together on the first James Bond film adventure, DR. NO. Young also directed FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) and THUNDERBALL (1965). 

It's worth noting that Mifune became an international star thanks to his starring role in Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954). When an American version of that film, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, was made in 1960, Charles Bronson was one of the seven along with Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Brad Dexter and Horst Buchholz. 

RED SUN combines the best elements of American western films with Japanese samurai movies for an extremely entertaining slice of pulp adventure.

 Thumbs up.