Arrow Video: Red Sun (1971) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Arrow Video

Shanghai, China born British writer-director Terence Young is probably best known for his three entries in the James Bond 007 film series with the first two pictures Dr. No and From Russia with Love followed by Thunderball.  Initially a screenwriter for Brian Desmond Hurst before fighting in WWII and returning to continue working for Hurst before mounting his own directorial debut in 1948 with the Christopher Lee starring Corridor of Mirrors.  Eventually he worked with producer Alan Ladd on a tenure for Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli’s Warwick Films between 1955 and 1961.  

Allen and Broccoli separated but that didn’t stop Broccoli from hiring Young to direct the James Bond films, wrapping up around 1965.  Though he had some ups and downs including the flop The Rover and the hit Wait Until Dark, eventually the director landed a three-picture deal with actor Charles Bronson, starting with Cold Sweat, The Valachi Papers and that same year Red Sun co-starring Swiss Bond girl Ursula Andress, Jean-Pierre Melville regular Alain Delon and Akira Kurosawa’s leading man Toshiro Mifune.

 
Picked up by Arrow Video for a new 4K restoration and joint BD/UHD disc releases, Red Sun is something of an offbeat mashup of the Spaghetti Western, the Samurai film, the Bond film and the Anthony Mann Western.  A French-Italian co-production shot in Spain by British director Terence Young, it was a union of East Asia clashing with the American West while also being an unlikely kind of buddy ensemble Western.  

Amid a train robbery spearheaded by crusty bandit Link Stuart (Charles Bronson), a ceremonial Samurai sword intended as a gift from the Japanese ambassador to the US president is stolen by the nefarious rogue assassin Gauche (Alain Delon).  Despite their cultural differences and animosities, disgraced Samurai Kuroda Jubei (Toshiro Mifune) and bandit Stuart join forces with femme fatale Christine (Ursula Andress) to try and track down Gauche to both learn where a batch of missing gold has been hidden and for Jubei to reclaim the sword and restore his honor.

 
An episodic all-things-to-all-people kind of Western where it becomes a cultural mashup between America, Japan, France and Sweden directed by a British man, Red Sun (not to be confused with the 1970 German film of the same name) is the work of an economical unpretentious film worker.  Featuring stunning, picturesque cinematography by Beauty and the Beast as well as Wings of Desire cinematographer Henri Alekan and a rousing evocative score by legendary Lawrence of Arabia and Ghost composer Maurice Jarre, this is one of the prettiest as well as richest textured Westerns since some of the best American epics by Anthony Mann or John Ford.  

Playing off of the larger-than-life screen personas of all four gifted actors who are having fun with the international casting, all four players are formidable and tough physical fighters and seeing their cross-dynamics play off of each other is kind of exciting.  Yes the actors are more or less doing what they’ve done before in other movies with Mifune again channeling Yojimbo in his lone samurai but you don’t really care as you’re watching.

 
Released in 1971 where it became an instant commercial hit with mixed but otherwise strong reviews, Red Sun became particularly popular in Japan where it set an attendance record for 35 weeks straight.  Always a vehicle for Mifune before other actors fell into place, it was the second of three efforts joined by Charles Bronson and director Terence Young.  Released on Blu-ray and 4K disc by Arrow Video, the new limited special edition comes with a new audio commentary track by C. Courney Joyner and Henry Parke, visual essay by Daisuke Miyao, video appreciation of Alain Delon by Mark Gallagher and an original archival televised interview with Terence Young and Toshiro Mifune.  

The set also comes with a collector’s booklet, reversible sleeve art and a collectible slipcover.  While not my first go-to choice for the Western film, it was a unique meeting-of-the-minds as far as America, Britain, France, Spain and Sweden coming together for a truly one-of-a-kind Western that doesn’t fit easily into any particular niche but will absolutely give you a good time in the old wild West meeting an equally wild if not more complicated East.

--Andrew Kotwicki