Terence Young directed Red Sun (French: “Soleil rouge”), a Spaghetti Western starring an international cast, headed by Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine.
Grade: C+ (** out of *****)
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theatrical release poster
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It was shot in Spain by the British director Young with a screenplay by Denne Bart Petitclerc, William Roberts, and Lawrence Roman, from a story by Laird Koenig.
Link Stuart (Bronson) and Gauche (Delon) are the ruthless co-leaders of a gang of bandits who rob a train of its $400,000 payload.
On the train is also the Japanese ambassador heading to Washington DC. He is holding a ceremonial tachi, a gift to the American president.
Turning point: Gauche steals the gold-handled sword and shoots dead one of the ambassador’s samurai guards.
By Gauche’s order, other gang members double-cross Link by throwing dynamite into the train, leaving him for dead.
Before the gang departs, the surviving samurai guard Kuroda tells Gauche that he intends to track him down and kill him, but Gauche is dismissive of the threat.
Link promises the dying Kuroda that he will return the tachi to the Japanese ambassador, but Kuroda warns him of arrest and imprisonment.
After Kuroda dies, Link rejects Cristina’s offer to become lovers and search for the loot together. Instead, he is taking her back to San Lucas.
In the happy end, Link hangs the sword in front of the train station where the Japanese ambassador is arriving, thus eluding capture and also preserving Kuroda’s honor.
Curio Fact:
Ursula Andress, perhaps best known for her bikini appearance in Bond’s Dr. No, is shown topless in this picture.
The movie did not make much of an impact when released in the U.S. on June 9, 1972.
Bronson starred in The Magnificent Seven, a remake of Seven Samurai, in which Mifune had appeared. Bronson was extremely popular in Japan at that time, and Red Sun set a record in Tokyo, playing for a record 35-week-run in its first release.
Despite largely negative reviews, Red Sun was popular at the international box-office, especially in France.
Cast
Charles Bronson as Link Stuart
Ursula Andress as Cristina
Toshirō Mifune as Kuroda Jubei
Alain Delon as Gauche
Capucine as Pepita
Barta Barri as Paco
Guido Lollobrigida (as Lee Burton) as Mace
Anthony Dawson as Hyatt
Gianni Medici (as John Hamilton) as Miguel
Georges Lycan (as George W. Lycan) as Sheriff Stone
Luc Merenda as Chato
Tetsu Nakamura as the Japanese Ambassador
Mónica Randall as Maria
Credits:
Directed by Terence Young
Screenplay by Denne Bart Petitclerc, William Roberts, Lawrence Roman; Story by Laird Koenig
Produced by Robert Dorfmann, Ted Richmond
Cinematography Henri Alekan
Edited by Johnny Dwyre
Music by Maurice Jarre
Production companies: Les Films Corona
Oceania Produzioni Internazionali Cinematografiche
Producciones Balcázar S.A.
Distributed by Les Films Corona
Release dates: Sept 15, 1971 (France); Oct 26, 1971 (Italy); Dec 20, 1971 (Spain)
Running time: 112 minutes
Box office: 3,300,488 admissions (France)
