Movielogr

Red Sun (1971)

Directed by Terence Young

Western | Action

Overview

In 1870, Japanese ambassador Sakaguchi and his entourage travel by train to Washington to deliver a valuable sword to the President of the United States, a gift from the Emperor of Japan. On board the same train are two robbers, Link and Gauche, ready to make their move…

Rated PG | Length 114 minutes

Actors

Charles Bronson | Toshirō Mifune | Alain Delon | Ursula Andress | Capucine | Hiroshi Tanaka | Barta Barri | Guido Lollobrigida | Anthony Dawson | Gianni Medici | Georges Lycan | Luc Merenda | Tetsu Nakamura | José Nieto | Julio Peña | Mónica Randall | John B. Vermont | Ricardo Palacios | John Landis

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Date ViewedDeviceFormatSourceRating
04/22/2013TVDVDLibrary7 stars
 

Viewing Notes

You’d think with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Alain Delon and Ursula Andress there’d be more fireworks. Not the case here. Not to say that this pseudo-Spaghetti Western is without its thrills because it has plenty of good moments. But to assemble that cast for a fairly straightforward uneasy allies buddy western road movie seems like a waste.

These actors deserve more than this story provides. But that said, this is still quite enjoyable esp. the interaction between Bronson and Mifune. Delon doesn’t get much to do here as the villain unfortunately. Again a waste. To her credit Andress does spice things up but even then it’s not enough to elevate a mediocre story.

At least these actors do the best they can and for that I give it a bump. Replace them with lesser actors and this is a 6/10 at best. Also my viewing was saddled with a super poor quality transfer via the DVD western set. The dimly lit scenes were nearly black. A better release must exist for this film because I want that. The sheer star power of these actors should warrant a decent video release. I’m also wondering if the version NWI once had was better than this.

Comments

avatarsensoria
10 years ago

Wow, what a crazy cast! I’d expect a hidden gem of a movie, but I suppose some unknown films are unknown for a reason.

avatarsleestakk
10 years ago

Agreed. But the cast alone deserves a better release for this. May improve my initial impressions greatly because I would at least be able to see what’s happening onscreen. Kinda wild to see Bronson and Mifune interact.