Let’s run down the list of Features That Should Automatically Make Ryan Love The Movie:

a) It’s a Western

b) It stars Toshiro Mifune as a samurai in the West

Ok, the combination of those two alone should be enough to make it my favorite movie of all time, but there’s more.

c) Charles Bronson as a gunslinger

d) Directed by the guy who made some fun Bond movies

e) Features another gunslinger played by the French guy from Le Samourai (Alain Delon)

What could go wrong?

*sigh*

Well, it should have been my favorite movie ever, but it turns out it was just OK, and that’s mostly because of Mifune hacking up bandits and dubiously-cast Indians.

The first thing Amy and I noticed was that the setup is identical to Shanghai Noon. It begins with Bronson and Le Samourai sticking up a passenger train. Bronson is supposed to come off as the likable thief, while his partner Delon seems more sinister, and at the end of the heist Delon betrays and attempts to kill Bronson. Mifune is also on the train, accompanying an ambassador from Japan, and his friend is killed by Delon during the hold-up. Mifune discovers Bronson outside, not quite dead, and the two set off after Delon as a bickering and unlikely pair. Along the way they introduce each other to their respective cultures a bit, and become loose friends. They even stop off at a brothel where Bronson is well-known and Mifune gets introduced to Western women. From here the stories of Shanghai Noon and Red Sun part ways, as the annoying banshee known as Ursula Andress is introduced and unfortunately survives the rest of the movie.

High points: seeing Toshiro Mifune as a samurai in color. His character and performance are very good. He’s the most interesting person to watch in the movie. His action scenes, especially the one where he’s attacking on horseback, are excellent. The other action scenes are OK as well. The sound effects for the guns are unique. They sound like production audio for blank-firing guns, but it works. Delon is pretty handy with the gun, and uses fanning to great effect.

Mediocre points: Bronson. His character is not very likable: starts off by robbing the train and bringing Delon in on the job, so he’s responsible for the samurai’s death, yet he takes no responsibility; then he visits a farmhouse to steal horses and watches as bandits kill an innocent old man while his wife watches and his daughters hide nearby (Bronson only steps in and kills the bandits when they come close to discovering him); at the very end he is responsible for another character’s death, and directly after it happens he does something that makes the death pointless. Bronson’s voice is also tough to listen to. His cadence and delivery are annoying and way too close to Hank Azaria’s parody of him on the Simpsons. I think he works best in Once Upon a Time in the West because he doesn’t talk very much. (And I like Bronson as an actor!)

Also, there isn’t much style to the movie. The most interesting part is probably towards the end when they’re in the old church, and they’re surrounded by a field of tall reeds. The use of sound is very effective during these scenes, as the sound of the wind rushing through the reeds is used to mask any sign of the approaching Comanche. The sound and visuals create some effectively tense moments. Unfortunately that’s about all the style that I can remember. Everything else was pretty uninspired.

The low points: Ursula Andress. I think she was getting paid a bonus for every time she screamed “You bastard!” with her annoyingly hoarse voice. The ending was also very unsatisfying because of the stupid choice that Bronson’s character makes (the one that results in a pointless death).

Ultimately Red Sun is failed potential. I’m glad Shanghai Noon decided to use the concept again, because that makes at least one East vs. Wild West movie that I enjoy, even if it Mifune ain’t in it.

(The DVD presentation is passable. Criterion it ain’t, but at least it was widescreen, and the sound was decent.)

This review is for the Red Sun Region 0 (All Region) version, and the low rating is for this DVD version, not for the great movie. Not mentioned in the Amazon information, and by only one reviewer, is that this DVD is from Hong Kong, and a disclaimer on the back of the case says “for sale in Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR only”. This DVD has a big problem, and to my surprise, no reviewer has mentioned it. The problem is a hard, harsh, screechy sound track that makes the DVD almost as difficult to listen to as finger nails scraping a black board. It sounds like the treble was turned way up and the bass way down, and then distortion added. I can only speculate as to the reason. Maybe it’s an asian compatibility problem with U.S. equipment, or maybe the sound track was remixed to appeal to asian listening preferences. Whatever the case, the sound is so nasty that I had to return the DVD. Before I did that, I tried it on 2 different DVD player/TV setups. The DVD sounded awful on both. Finally, I tried it on my computer — a Dell Media Center with excellent 5.1 surround sound. The DVD sounded as bad as on my two DVD player/TV setups.

It’s really a shame. Red Sun is a 5 star western, and ranks among the best westerns ever made. It the second best western Bronson made, falling slightly below his amazing Sergio Leone spaghetti western “Once Upon A Time In The West.” Red Sun is so good that I can’t figure out why there is not an excellent Region 1 remastered widescreen version available.

Unlike the previously released full screen Region 1 version of Red Sun, this Hong Kong Region 0 DVD does have very good picture quality in widescreen with the original aspect ratio. That makes this DVD all the more sad — it’s beautiful to look at but horrible to listen to.

The musical score on Red Sun is beautiful in the tradition of the best westerns ever made. It is right up there with films like the Magnificent Seven and the Ennio Morricone scores for the great spaghetti westerns. It is tragic that such a musical masterpiece would be butchered with bad sound mastering. Please, will somebody release an excellent remastered Region 1 widescreen version of Red Sun with good sound? This is a classic western that should be preserved.

Conclusion: Red Sun is a fabulous movie, but stay away from the Region 0 (All Region) version due to the harsh, screechy sound track.