1971-1980 Terence Young Thriller USA Western

Terence Young – Soleil rouge aka Red Sun (1971)

adminMarch 23, 2021

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In 1870, a gang robs a train and steals a ceremonial Japanese sword meant as a gift for the U.S. President, prompting a manhunt to retrieve it.

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★★★½ Watched by AD917 26 Sep, 2020 4

Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, and Alain Delon are in the same movie! Throw in Terrence Young, who helmed the first few Bond films, along with Ursula Andress, the original Bond girl, and you’re packing some serious cinematic iconography into one production.

Nothing beyond the novelty of its all star cast and eastern/western odd couple plot (lifted practically beat-for-beat by the writers of Shanghai Noon 29 years later) does much to elevate the proceedings beyond standard Western fair. I’m not sure any of these three superstars are used to maximum effect, either; Delon disappears for the bulk of the runtime and Mifune struggles with the language, leaving the usually-taciturn Bronson to do too much of the talking.

But hey, Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, and Alain Delon are in the same movie! And they’re all doing their fair share of gunslinging and sword swinging. That’s a pretty damn cool sight to be seen if you look at it through uncynical eyes.