PIC of the Week – Red Sun
Article series by Ray Schillaci
This week The Warner Archive Collection finally rustles up one of my favorite Charles Bronson films where East collides with the wild West in Red Sun. That’s right, cowboys and samurais! Charles Bronson leads an impressive cast that includes the legendary Toshirô Mifune (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo), actress and sex symbol of the ’60s and ’70s, Ursula Andrews (Dr. No, She, What’s New Pussycat?), and the suave international star Alain Delon (The Leopard, Is Paris Burning?). Director Terence Young gives us one helluva thrill ride with this one. After all, he is the man who delivered some of the most famous James Bond movies – Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball – and was responsible for the suspenseful Wait Until Dark.
Red Sun has been labeled a “spaghetti western,” in the vein of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West which also starred Bronson. Yet, the film is helmed by a British director, shot in Spain, and financed by France’s Corona Films with its original title Soleil Rouge. An obscure side note, Charles Bronson starred in The Magnificent Seven (’60) which was an American remake of the famed Seven Samurai that starred Toshirô Mifune. In fact, Mifune was the first to be attached to Red Sun with other stars coming on board later.
Bronson and Delon play Link and Gauche, bandits out to rob a train of hundreds of thousands of dollars. On board are Japanese dignitaries out to deliver a ceremonial sword to the President of the United States. Gauche gets greedy nabbing the sword and double crossing his partner while blowing up the train for good measure.
Link survives and joins forces with Mifune’s Kurado to exact revenge, regain the money and the sword. But, there are major stumbling blocks: Kurado has been given only one week to recover the sword otherwise he has been ordered to commit harakiri (a form of suicide), and he is determined to kill Gauche immediately. This does not settle well with Link since he knows that Gauche has hidden the loot, and Link will not find it if his old partner is dead before he forces him to reveal the hiding place. There is also the matter of Gauche killing off their gang to keep the secret well hidden. And, Link gets so desperate, he kidnaps his partner’s girlfriend to get to the money.
Such a fun and raucous western deserves a great Blu, but alas The Warner Archive is stingy providing only a DVD MOD at this time. The picture quality is the best we’ve seen from an American distributor. There have been various releases of this film and all of them are awful, especially the night scenes that are barely visible. Yes, there is a considerable amount of grain, but that does add a nice nostalgic touch and does not impede the entertainment value provided.
As far as the audio aspects, this is a typical Dolby Digital presentation. Nothing to crow about. But, a vast improvement over what has been available over the years. As with many Warner Archives, there is nothing to mention as far as bonus material.
But, for Charles Bronson, Toshirô Mifune, and fans of a rip roaring action/adventure westerns this definitely fits the bill. Is this the best quality you can get? Not quite. If you want to spend a little extra, you can purchase a Blu version, region free, from Underground Pictures, Spain at Amazon under the title Sol Rojo. That would be the best out there for now, but still has some grain issues, but far better than what we now have available in the States.
What TWAC is offering…lowest Price – $19.99 – The Warner Archive Collection
