An outlaw and a samurai hunt down a sword, gold, and revenge in Terence Young’s 1971 Western, coming to 4k UHD & Blu-Ray form Arrow Video.
The Film
Red Sun has Samurai-Superstar Toshiro Mifune and American Tough Guy Extraordinaire Charles Bronson tromping across the American West of 1870 to get a dose of revenge while buddy-picture bickering. Hell yes! What else do you need?
That’s enough of a log line to draw in so many people, or at least perk up some ears, but is the movie worthy of that designation of awesome? Oh yeah, it is. Directed by early Bond director Terence Young, and also featuring the first Bond girl, Ursula Andress, the 1971 film is a very entertaining buddy-cop, Spaghetti-influenced Western adventure. It’s a fantastically put-together film, thrilling and funny, with a great villain in Alain Delon to go with the international superstars.
The skinny to set up the mismatched pair: it’s 1870, and a train is working eastward across the wild west. Along with the regular passengers is the Japanese ambassador, carrying a gift for the President: a fancy sword. Too bad a band of bandits led by the villain Le Gauche, played by Alain Delon, are targeting the train to get at the packet of gold it’s carrying. Among those bandits is Bronson’s betrayed Link Stuart. La Gauche takes off with the sword, and it’s only with Stuart’s help that Samurai Kuroda Jubei, as played by Mifune, gets it back. Thus, the pair head out on a cross-country adventure to get the sword for Mifune and the gold for Bronson, and a bunch of revenge for both.
Red Sun is a truly international picture. With stars from Japan and the US, it also features the Swiss Ursula Andress and the villain portrayer Alain Delon, who is French. Filmed in Spain, as many Spaghetti westerns are, and written by Americans Denne Bart Petitcler, William Roberts, and Lawrence Roman, produced by French, Spanish, and Italian backers, and directed by Englishman Terence Young! Yes, Red Sun hits the beats one expects from the story: the pair bicker and battle but gain respect, they fight over their various styles and honor (or lack of it), they have a series of episodic adventures with townsfolk, Native Americans, while the villain does villain things, everyone gets closer to one another.
True, no plot surprises, but I didn’t give a hoot as it was just a damned good time. As evident in his Bond pictures, Young knows how to create low-key but thrilling action (check out Wait Until Dark for pure thrills in a single location type). Those early Bond pictures don’t have the death-defying huge stunts that came later, but they have big energy, tension in how they are shot and edited. The same goes for Red Sun. Young makes several layered sequences of moving parts working together with ease. For an early example, the train robbery of the opening act has a raiding party externally, the robbers internally, the Army making its movements, and those stuck between all the parties. It’s carefully put together, but never overplays itself or goes drab. Even when it’s our main parties between the action scenes, the banter and personalities keep moving. Mifune and Bronson are as mismatched in style, both in their characters and in how they work on a metacontext. Delon as La Gauche is a cool, chilling villain. Andress is admittedly, mostly there as a sexual object, but she does what she can to make it hers. On the sexuality – not just her, each of the guys gets to skivvies. Beefcake to go with Andress’s undress (a gratuitous topless shot surely had an effect at release).
Red Sun is a highly engaging action Western of cultural clash with a bevy of household names (if a household of international movie fans), including director Terence Young. It’s a fun, tense blast of East meets West.
The Packaging
Arrow Video puts Red Sun on your choice of single-disc 4k UHD or Blu-Ray. The disc image is the “four stars” close-up of Robert Sammelin’s new art. Said art is also on the cardboard O-sleeve and one side of the reversible sleeve that fits in the standard case. The other art is the original art. It also includes a booklet (see below).
The Presentation
The 4k resortation is courtesy of StudioCanal, which put out an edition in Europe two years ago. As is the case with Arrow releases, it looks astounding. As I often note, the sweaty, gritty movies are the most notable in 4K, where the detail really comes through. Especially something like Red Sun, shot on location and using the expanses of land and the upclose dirt and dust to the greatest degree. The audio is the original English mono, with plenty of going on; nothing is lost. Subtitles are in English only.
The Features
Outside of the pair of contemporary TV bits, all features are new. The previously mentioned StudioCanal edition contained a non-ported interview and the TV bits. All in all, a great set.
Commentary
Courney Journer & Henry Parke give an encompassing and entertaining track. With this pedigree in cast and crew, there is plenty to talk about, along with talking about where this fits in those careers and the genre. Funny, they spend a bit talking about the Winnetou movies I covered recently on the Eureka Karl May set, with this coming as part of that same post-Leone run of Spaghetti westerns.
A Global Western (new)
This appreciation by Jose Arroyo gets more into the details of the worldwide production, along with love for the whole thing, marveling in the production and honing in on the skill of Young in the layered shooting and shot choices. 32m
The Ghost of the Samurai( New)
Daisuke Miyo gives a fantastic essay and history on the shifts in Samurai cinema at the time, how Mifune’s history leads here, and the crossover of Western and Samurai (As much as I talk about these being the same genre in different settings in other reviews, I’m surprised it’s the first time it’s coming in here. Anyway, it’s a great exploration. (32)
The Man with the Gold Tooth (new)
Mark Gallagher focuses on the least known of the four leads to modern audiences: Alain Delon. I’ll admit, I’m not too familiar with him coming in, now I appreciate him, his spot in cinema, and what he brought to the film. (15m)
Archival French TV footage
Pour le Cinema features interviews with cast and crew, along with behind-the-scenes footage. An interview with Bronson is certainly something. In English, French, and Japanese with English and French subtitles (8m)
Le Journal du Cinema finds Young and Mifine at an event talking about the film. In French and Japanese with English and French subtitles. (2m)
Image Gallery
46 behind-the-scenes and promotional images.
Booklet
A 38-page bound booklet features the cast/crew/release info, photos from the film, and two essays. Bronson: Red Hot in Red Sun by Paul Talbot uses Bronson as a pivot point to talk about the whole production. Ursula Andress by Moyo Luckett focuses on Andress and her career around the movie. She’s left out of so much above, so good to get her moment.
Final Thoughts
Red Sun, directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, is an awesome Spaghetti-style Western, crossed with a cross-cultural buddy-flick. It’s a fun little flick, made by great names in filmmaking. Arrow gives a great visual treatment and a nice collection of extras. Recommended to jump on this train – but don’t steal the sword, no one wants Mifune chasing them down.