Soleil rouge (1971) Reviews

• Culture Clash in the Old West

  donlecouteur2005-05-10

  On the surface Red Sun appears to be a fairly standard shoot-em-up with the attendant 'who's the real nasty?' sub-plot thrown in for a bit of mystery. But the careful observer will discover many more layers of this particular onion pitting cultures (and genders) against each other with a few surprising results and plenty of thought-provoking situations designed to keep this one on the shelf as a 'keeper'. Bronson fans (like me) will note this is the second of his 'samurai connection'westerns...Magnificent Seven being the first...though the debate will probably never be resolved as to which was the better performance. True, some of the dialogue in this movie borders on juvenile, but overall I rate the movie very high.

• Toshiro Mifune GREAT!!!!

  Buslady1999-04-06

  I just got Red Sun and enjoyed it. It's kinda hard to explain it in writing, you have to watch it. It's worth the time. Charles Bronson fans will like his performance as Link, a thief who's forced to team up with Toshiro Mifune's character Kuroda-a Samurai who has 7 days to get back a sword stolen while traveling to the US capital in 1870(around that time); the sword was to be a gift to the prez. Toshiro's performace was great, simply great. Fans will like this. It is very odd to hear him speak english...especially when he never really learned it in the first place! There's many great little bits in the movie like when Link is trying to escape from Kuroda...he just can't get away from him. They way Kuroda begins to really relax in the saloon cracks me up..he's usually stiff and mean looking..well, not that mean looking. I voted a 10 for this....

• Fast action, one-dimensional characters in a Spaghetti Western with gunplay and blades

  ma-cortes2007-03-26

  This Spaghetti Western with enjoyable casting (Bronson , Mifune , Delon and Andress) concerns about robbing a Japanese blade from a train crossing American West and the Japan Ambassador had for gift of emperor (the Japanese Ambassador refers to the emperor as the "Mikado") to US President . The thieves result to be Charles Bronson and Alain Delon . But Bronson (one of The Magnificent Seven) is double-crossed by Delon , then Toshiro Mifune (one of the Seven Samurai) along with Bronson team up as two unlikely heroes . This is a surprisingly low-key Bronson Western , this time accompanied by the Japanese star number one , Mifune . Bronson as another of his two-fisted gunfighters and joining forces with a Katana expert , a specialist on martial arts well played by Mifune to find a missing valuable blade and the stolen loot. The picture contains an interesting plot ,action Western , shootouts and a little bit of campy and refreshing humor . It's an improbable blending of standard Western , tongue-in-cheek and chop-socky . A clever premise , gunslingers against samurais , and agreeable international cast make this oater well worth the watching . As the movie stars U.S. born Charles Bronson, Japanese actor Toshirô Mifune, French actor Alain Delon and Swiss actress Ursula Andress , it was filmed in Spain by the British director Terence Young . Pretty good Charles Bronson in his ordinary tough role , this film is one of Charles Bronson's 70s westerns ; his westerns made during the 1970s include Chino (1973), Red sun (1971), Chato the Apache (1972), From noon till three (1976), Nevada Express (1975) and The White Buffalo (1977) . Besides , there appears usual secondaries from Italian Western as Anthony Dawson , Guido Lollobrigida , Ricardo Palacios , Bernade Barta Barry and several others . Considerable and spectacular musical score by Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia) . The motion picture was regularly directed by Terence Young (Dr.No , From Russia , Thunderball.. among others) but turned to be entertaining . The picture takes part of a sub-genre in which during the period of the 70s combined Spaghetti Western and art martial with original influence from ¨David Carradine's Kung Fu ¨ series , for example : ¨Karate law in the west ¨(Tonino Ricci), ¨The Karate , the Colt and the impostor¨ (Anthony M Dawson) , ¨ My name is Shangai Joe¨ (Mario Caiano) and ¨ Return of Shangai Joe ( Bitto Albertini)¨, furthermore ¨ The white, the yellow and the black¨(Sergio Corbucci) that bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Red sun ¨ . It's an offbeat , muddle and uneven Western but will appeal to Bronson , Andress and Delon fans.

• Marvelous cultural juxtaposition of western salty hero and samurai knight archetypes

  hanshan1999-09-24

  Culture clash ending in mutual respect, with an understanding of BOTH cultures... good western action-adventure at the same time. Battle of wills and skills as Bronson butts heads with Mifune, who of course has all kinds of surprises Bronson's character has never seen. They are forced by circumstance to collaborate and travel together. Bronson the epitome of western tough and smart guy, in this case whose ethics are not always ivory soap; Mifune plays the epitome of determined, skilled, smart, ethical samurai knight type. Very funny watching them struggle with each other, surprise each other, and learn from each other... and deal with bordello, desert, etc. They have to retrieve the treasured sword and in the process chase down and fight a truly nasty slick cold fish. You'll end up liking Bronson and loving Mifune. Both actors did a wonderful classic job with this one!

• Samurai cowboy Yee Ha!

  lastliberal2008-09-11

  The things that had me on the edge of my seat during Brokeback Mountain was the amazing cinematography and the thrilling music. I just wanted to get as close as possible to the screen. Those two things were not as impressive in Soleil Rouge, but they were good enough that Oscar nominee Henri Alekan's (Roman Holiday, Wings of Desire) cinematography and three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre's (A Passage to India, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia) music make this film worth watching all by itself. Directed by Terence Young (Dr. No, From Russia With Love), the film stars one of my favorites, Charles Bronson (Mr. Majestyk , Once Upon a Time in the West, Death Wish 1-5) and Japan's greatest actor, Toshirô Mifune. If that is not enough, it also starred Golden Globe winner Ursula Andress (Dr. No) and Alain Delon (Le Samouraï, The Leopard). Now, how in the world do you get Mifune in the old west, dressed as a Samurai, no less. He is accompanying the Japanese Ambassador on a train that is robbed by Bronson and Delon. A sword destined to be given to the President is stolen and he must serve his mater and retrieve it. Bronson is double-crossed by Delon and left for dead. Mifune and Bronson join together in a strange journey to retrieve the sword and Bronson's loot. Mifune is classic Samurai, and Bronson is the funniest I have seen him in the many films I have watched. he has that magic that made Mr. Majestic so fun to watch. Along the way, they stop in a whorehouse and pick up Andress as a hostage. She is Delon's girlfriend. She gives us a good view of her hootage as she changes a shirt while waiting with Bronson. Spanish actress Mónica Randall also gave us a skintastic display when in bed with Mifune. Lots of western action with shootouts between Bronson and the bay guys, and the whole gang against the Comanches. Mifune uses his sword to good effect as he adds the expected bright red to the screen. Eastern philosophy meets Western crudity in a classic.