Red Sun (French: Soleil rouge,
Italian: Sole rosso) is a 1971 Spaghetti Western film directed by Terence Young
and starring Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and
Capucine.The Franco-Italian international co-production was filmed in Spain by
the British director Young, with a screenplay by Denne Bart Petitclerc, William
Roberts, and Lawrence Roman from a story by Laird Koenig. The film was released
in the United States on 9 June 1972.
Link Stuart and Gauche are
leaders of a gang of bandits who decide to rob $400,000 from a train. There, a
Japanese ambassador is on his way to Washington, carrying a ceremonial tachi
sword meant as a gift for the president. Gauche steals the gold-handled tachi
and kills one of the ambassador's samurai bodyguards. By Gauche's order, the
bandits double-cross Link by throwing dynamite into the train car he is in,
leaving him for dead. Before Gauche leaves, the surviving samurai bodyguard,
Kuroda, asks his name and swears to kill him.
After Link is revived, the
ambassador instructs him to assist Kuroda in tracking down Gauche. Kuroda has
one week to kill Gauche and recover the sword; if he fails, both Kuroda and the
ambassador will have to commit seppuku for allowing the tachi to be stolen and
leaving the dead samurai unavenged. Link reluctantly agrees to help Kuroda.
Once they set off in pursuit of the gang, Link repeatedly attempts to elude
Kuroda, to no avail.
Gauche and four gang members
bury the money, then Gauche kills them so only he knows the hiding place. He
pays off others, who go their own way, and the remaining gang stays with him.
While tracking Gauche, Kuroda reveals that his countrymen's ancient links to
their own culture and the samurai's values are disappearing, and he believes
the only way to honor his ancestors and his own way of life is to bring back
the sword. The two approach a ranch that has been taken over by some of the
gang members, kill them and take their horses. Link then manages to escape
Kuroda, but has a change of heart and returns, having grown to respect the
strict code by which Kuroda lives. He warns Kuroda, however, that he will kill
him if Gauche dies before revealing where the money is hidden.
Continuing the pursuit, Link
decides the best way to get to Gauche is through his lover, Cristina. The duo
travel to a brothel in the town of San Lucas, where she resides, and seal her
inside a room. The next morning, four of Gauche's men arrive to fetch
Christina. Link and Kuroda kill three of them, and the fourth is sent back to
Gauche with the message that they will exchange Christina for the stolen sword
and Link's share of the robbery spoils. The switch is to take place at an
abandoned mission a day's ride away.
En route to the exchange,
Christina escapes from the duo and runs into a band of Comanches, killing one
as he assaults her. In retribution, the leader has her bound and her neck tied
with wet rawhide, which slowly strangles Christina as the sun dries it out.
Link and Kuroda attack the Comanches, killing most of them and driving the
leader away.
At the mission, Link and
Kuroda are ambushed by Gauche and his men. Despite Christina's protests, Gauche
tells one of his men to shoot Link. Just then, the Comanches attack, forcing
the rivals to fight on the same side. They repel the attack, first from inside
the mission, then, after it is burned down, in the surrounding cane fields.
After all the Comanches are dead or have fled, only Link, Kuroda, Cristina, and
Gauche remain alive.
Gauche faces off against Link,
who has run out of bullets. Kuroda prepares to kill Gauche but hesitates,
remembering what Link wanted. Gauche shoots Kuroda while Link seizes the
opportunity to grab a rifle. Gauche is confident that Link will leave him alive
to learn where the money is hidden. Link, however, having decided that Kuroda's
honor is more important, kills him and promises the dying samurai that he will
return the sword to the ambassador. After Kuroda is buried, Link rejects
Cristina's offer to join her to track down the money. Shortly before the
ambassador's train arrives, he hangs the sword from the telegraph wire in front
of the station, fulfilling his pledge.
