weezeralfalfa We have a reluctant buddy relationship between a Japanese Samaria: Kuroda, and an American desperado: Link(Charles Bronson),which is the focus of most of the screen play. We have another reluctant buddy relationship between Link and his sometimes outlaw partner and sometimes enemy :Gauche. The latter 2 are partners in a train holdup, involving other gang members. But during the last part of the robbery, Link is left for dead after dynamite is thrown into the car where he is. However, a group of Japanese, including the new Japanese ambassador to the US, revive him, and he miraculously escapes with little permanent damage. The ambassador demands that Link and Kuroda team up and catch Gauche, retrieving the gold ceremonial sword that was meant as a gift to President Grant, and killing Gauche, who killed the other Japanese guard.. Initially, Link refuses, especially because they are out in the middle of nowhere, without horses. But, eventually the ambassador imposes his will on Link. The 2 set out on foot across rocky desert, with somewhat different agendas against Gauche. Kuroda wants to kill Gauche immediately, whereas Link wants to take time to try to get Gauche to tell where he hid most of the considerable loot from the train, before killing him. The 2 periodically argue about this difference, threating to leave the other or fight. Toward the end of the film, Link and Gauche temporarily team up again to fight against a Comanche war party....Sometimes mixed in with these doings, is Ursula Audress, as Christine. She is Gauche's woman, and a participant of a bawdy house. She is kidnapped by Link and Kuroda, who hope she will aid in the capture and perhaps interrogation of Gauche. She tries to escape a time or two, getting mixed up with raiding Comanche, whom she mistook at a distance as Gauche's gang....Lots of dead bodies pile up during the course of the film, especially those of the US troops guarding the train, the outlaw gang, and the Comanche. Sometimes Gauche or Link rapid fire their pistol, like a machinegun, implausibly mowing down a half dozen. The screenplay has some other plausibility issues, as well.... Toshino Mifuni does an excellent job in his critical role as Kuroda. At one point, he has a contest with Link over stick vs. sword as a close-range weapon. Also, Link challenges him to a wrestling match, believing he will win. Kuroda even apparently kills a bothersome mosquito with a swipe of his sword.....The screenplay keeps your attention throughout, so I can recommend this film for those who are not put off by a high body count. See it on YouTube.

Wuchak Released in 1972 and directed by Terence Young, "Red Sun" is a Western starring Charles Bronson as a train robber who teams up with a samurai (Toshirô Mifune) to get Gauche (Delon), the moral-less killer who wronged them both. Ursula Andress and Capucine are also on hand. "Red Sun" combines a gritty realistic tone with comic booky flavor typical of Spaghetti Westerns, but the filmmaking is just overall more professional and effective than most Italo-Westerns. The movie flows well, increasing momentum for the kinetic final act, which contains some pictorially dramatic scenes. I was surprised by how good "Red Sun" is. All the main cast members fit their characters superbly with Delon standing out as the handsome villain dripping with evil. Ursula, who doesn't appear until the midway point, is even more stunning than usual. The relationship of Link (Bronson) and Kuroda (Mifune) is amusing and interesting as it develops. Furthermore, the locations/sets are notable, especially the cane field in the final act. Despite all these good things there's the obvious problem that Gauche is a murderous weasel right out of the gate so why are we supposed to root for his accomplice Link? The answer is that this is a story of redemption. Yes, Link is obviously a greedy criminal at the beginning, but he's otherwise likable and seems to have some kind of sense of honor underneath his gruffness, which is palpably contrasted by Gauche. ***SPOILER ALERT*** As the story unfolds Link's association with Kuroda slowly and positively affects him to the point that he's no longer a lucre-obsessed scumbag by the climax: Disarmed by Link at the end, Gauche tries appealing to Link's greed, but Link decides that the dying samurai's honor is more important to him than learning the all-important location of the stolen money, so he executes Gauche. Just before Kuroda expires, Link promises him that he will return the priceless katana to the Japanese ambassador, thus preserving Kuroda's honor. Give Link some credit: He coulda made a small fortune off the sword (which would make up for the loss of the stolen loot), but he gave it back to the proper owner instead, which testifies to a vastly changed man. ***END SPOILER*** The movie runs 112 minutes and was shot in Spain. GRADE: Borderline B+/A-

t_atzmueller 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

JasparLamarCrabb If nothing else, RED SUN is a very entertaining western. Sometime in the late 1800s, Charles Bronson tracks down turncoat ex-partner-in-crime Alain Delon while Toshiro Mifune tracks down the Japanese Ambassador's sword (stolen by Delon). That's the plot. Along the way, Bronson, Mifune and Ursula Andress (as Delon's girlfriend) run into Indians and battle each other (Andress call Bronson a bastard or son-of-a-bitch a lot). Mifune is so stolid he makes the usually stolid Bronson look relaxed and it's not easy to see Andress made-up like a fashion model trekking through the Rockies (actually the Spanish country-side) and still take any of this seriously. Delon, in a relatively small role, is terrific as the oily villain and the stunning Capucine appears as a madam. Directed, with very surprising finesse, by Terence Young and featuring some beautiful photography by Henri Alekan.