Soleil rouge (1971)

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Laird Koenig (writer)
Denne Bart Petitclerc (writer)

Release Date:

9 June 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Western

Tagline:

2 Desperados ... 1 Hellcat ... and a Samurai ... the greatest fighting force the West has ever known!

Plot:

The Japanese ambassador is travelling through the Wild West by train, when gangsters hold up the train...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Beautiful Woman | Color In Title | Spaghetti Western | Female Nudity

Cast

Charles Bronson	...	Link Stuart
Ursula Andress	...	Cristina
Toshirô Mifune	...	Kuroda Jubie
Alain Delon	...	Gauche, a.k.a. Gotch Kink
Capucine	...	Pepita
Barta Barri	...	Paco (as Bart Barry)
Guido Lollobrigida	...	Mace (as Lee Burton)
Anthony Dawson	...	Hyatt (as Tony Dawson)
Gianni Medici	...	Miguel (as John Hamilton)
Georges Lycan	...	Sheriff Stone (as George W. Lycan)
Luc Merenda	...	Chato (as Luke Merenda)
Tetsu Nakamura	...	Japanese Ambassador (as Satoshi Nakamura)
Jo Nieto
Julio Peña	...	Peppie (as Jules Pena)
Mónica Randall	...	Maria

Also Known As:

Red Sun (USA)
Sol rojo (Spain)
Sole rosso (Italy)
The Magnificient Three (Philippines: English title)
Rivalen unter roter Sonne (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Sol Vermelho (Brazil) (Portugal) (censored version) [pt]
Blodröd sol (Sweden) [sv]
Den bloröda solen (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Den røde sol (Denmark) [da]
Kirmizi günes (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Verenpunainen aurinko (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

France | Italy | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor and Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1990) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1971) | Norway:15 (video rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Portugal:M/18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Les Films Corona

Trivia:

One of the Seven Samurai (Toshirô Mifune) and one of The Magnificent Seven (Charles Bronson) are in the movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: This story takes place around 1870. During the train robbery, several calvary soldiers are shown with foreign type bolt action rifles. The US calvary troops were not issued bolt action rifles during this period, but were equipped with either lever-action Spencer carbines or single-shot Sharps carbines, with single-shot "trap-door" Springield carbines being introduced in 1873.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Shanghai Noon (2000)

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

This Spaghetti Western concerns about the robbing a Japanese blade from train crossing the American west and that Japan Ambassador had for gift to US President . The thieves are Charles Bronson and Alain Delon.But Bronson is double-crossed and Toshiro Mifune along with him team up as the unlikely heroes. This is a surprisingly low-key Bronson Western,this time accompanied by the Japanese number one star.Bronson as another of his two-fisted gunfighters joining forces with a Katana expert,martial arts Mifune to find a missing valuable blade and the stolen loot.

The picture contains an interesting plot,action Western,shootout and a little bit of camp and refreshing humor.It's an improbable blend of standard Western,tongue-in-check and chop-socky.A clever premise,gunslingers against samurai,and interesting casting(Bronson,Mifune,Delon and Andress) make this oater well worth the watching.Besides appear usual secondaries from Italian Western as Anthony Dawson,Guido lollobrigida,Ricardo Palacios,Barta Barry.Considerable and spectacular music by Maurice Jarre(Laurence of Arabia).The motion picture is regularly directed by Terence Young(Dr.No,From Russia.. among others). The picture takes part of a sub-genre during the 70s that combines Spaghetti Western and art martial with original influence of David Carradine Kung Fu series,for example ¨Karate law in the west¨(Tonino Ricci),My name is Shangai Joe¨(Mario Caiano)and ¨return of Shangai Joe(Bitto Albertini)',besides ¨The white,the yellow and the black¨(Sergio Corbucci) with similar argument to Red sun.It's an offbeat,muddle and uneven Western but will like to Bronson fans.