Sunday, 11 February 2024

RED SUN **


 As international co-productions go, Terence Young's "Red Sun" isn't at all bad, thanks in large part to its starry cast, (Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress and Capucine). It opens with a fairly spectacular train robbery and it never really lets up after that. Best of all is the plot. You see, on that train is the first Japanese ambassador to the US and he's carrying a valuable ceremonial sword as a gift for the President. When Delon steals the sword and tries to kill fellow train-robber Bronson the chase is on to retrieve it with Mifune's samurai naturally taking centre stage turning this into a highly enjoyable Samurai Western, ("Yojimbo" meets Randolph Scott by way of Sergio Leone). Very handsomely shot by Henri Alekan, action-packed throughout, (the climax is an Indian attack), and, of course, Mifune and Delon add that touch of class if might otherwise not have had.

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