This classic Charles Bronson spaghetti western was originally released as SOLIEL ROUGE in 1971. The movie is truly an international production. It’s filmed entirely on location in the Southwestern United States, by an Italian crew. Besides Bronson, the film co-stars Toshiro (HELL IN THE PACIFIC) Mifune, the greatest actor ever to come out of Japan. Europe is also well represented by Ursula Andress and Alain Delon. In the film, you’ve got your Japanese contingent, your Mexican bandits, and your Cherokee renegades. The film has an epic feel for a western, and Bronson fits the role of the outlaw character quite well and also brings some humor to the character. Toshiro Mifune, looking bigger and better than I’ve ever seen him, plays Link’s reluctant partner, and he projects the samurai warrior lost-in-the-old-west character very authentically.

As I mentioned, Charles Bronson’s character, Link, is not the cowboy with the white hat or the man with no name. He’s a money-hungry anti hero who robs passenger trains, associates with outlaw bandits, frequent prostitutes, etc. Yet still manages some situation humor, especially in his relationship with Mifune’s character, Kuroda. When Kuroda first teams up with Link, Kuroda (who is a strict traditionalist samurai) does everything by his code of honor. Halfway through the film, Kuroda is drinking whisky and having sex with prostitutes! It’s all done for laughs though, but it shows how Kuroda has loosened up since his arrival in the US. Speaking of prostitutes, Ursula Andress puts in a great performance as a tenacious, scheming whore Cristina. And yes she goes topless in the movie and believe me, it is worth the price of a rental alone! French actor Alain (GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE) Delon portrays the stab-you-in-the-back villain named Gotch, who has taken quite a liking to Christina (I can’t blame him).

In the late 1800’s Japan is endeavoring to break down it’s cultural barriers and open lines of communication with other nations. The Japanese Emperor has ordained that the Japanese Ambassador to the US travel to Washington DC and deliver a priceless golden sword (called the Mikado) to the American president as a gift of good faith. The Japanese contingent travels aboard a fortified passenger train through the southwestern territories. A small battalion of US troops is guarding the train, because packs of bandits and wild Indians roam the deserts, and the Japanese Ambassador must be protected. The train pulls into a loading station a picks up many passengers including Link (Bronson). The train pulls away from the station, and before you it, Link addresses the passengers, warning them that he and his friend Gotch (Delon) are robbing the train. Suddenly, a huge pack of Mexican bandits (Bronson’s allies) descend upon the train and start shooting the US Army Battalion. Link appears to be in charge of coordinating the siege.

The US troops are quickly defeated in the sneak attack, and Link and Gotch approach the Japanese ambassador’s train car. Inside the car is a small group of samurai’s (led by Mifune) who are guarding the ambassador. Link threatens them to hand over their valuables which they do, with the exception of the golden sword. After Link leaves the ambassador’s car, Gotch shoots one of the samurai’s and grabs the sword and threatens the other samurai’s at gunpoint. Gotch then has the bandits attack Link, leaving him for dead. Kuroda threatens Gotch as he takes off with the bandits, leaving the train demolished and the passengers stranded.

When Link awakens, he finds himself prisoner of the remaining Japanese contingent. The Ambassador decrees that the sword must be recovered. He orders Kuroda to accompany Link across the West to catch up with Gotch and to kill him, and take back the sword. They threaten to decapitate Link if he does not comply. Link wants to find Gotch anyway since Gotch has Link’s money. So the mismatched duo find themselves thrown together by circumstances. They do not know where to find Gotch, but Link knows that Gotch has a fondness for a certain prostitute named Cristina (played with gusto by Andress), so they head to the whorehouse to retrieve her and use her as a negotiating tool. Can Link, Kristina, and Kuroda make it alive through Comanchero country, find Gotch and his bandit associates, and retrieve the sacred sword?

There is a great many bits in the movie that create the tension, and others that make you laugh. But this is not a comedy. Mifune rampages through the old west like a fish out of water, slicing up bandits, Indians, etc. with his sword. Bronson and Mifune butt heads throughout the film, and are constantly trying to out-think each other with Mifune usually getting the upper hand thanks to his martial arts and samurai training. Very interesting watching them struggle with each other, surprise one another, and finally learn from each other. A true odd-couple buddy movie if there ever was one.

SIGHT

Problems, Problems. I’m fairly certain this movie was released in the 1.85.1 ratio. I saw it a 2^nd hand theater quite some time ago and I remember how panoramic the cinematography was. All the plains, rock mesas, canyons, mountain tops, and blue skies (after all this is sort of a road movie as well), looked awe inspiring. UAV present this DVD in full frame format. I’m sad to report that all that Henri Alekan’s cinematography is lost in this poor transfer. The image is inconsistent too. There are times when the daylight exteriors scenes are passable. But most of the image is soft, and color reproduction is poor. The black and shadow detail is especially bad, thus all night and interior scenes you can barely make out what is going on. Flesh tones were inconsistent ranging from pale to brown hues. There are nics and scars apparent, and grain is everywhere. And because of all this, the detail level is non-existent. That being said, its true that the film has lost it’s epic feel in the full frame transfer, but this is surely the best the film has looked on home video.

SOUND

The audio is two channel mono. The film would have benefited from a stereo surround sound remix of some kind because of some of the action set pieces and explosions. There’s some suspenseful scenes of Comanche Indians scouring a wheat field looking for our heroes (to kill them), and I could not help but imagine how a sound field could have really enhanced the tension. There are also the requisite gunshots, explosions, screaming Indians, and swinging swords that could have really enveloped the viewer if properly remixed. But all things considered, the two channel mix does the film justice, and is a big step over single channel mono. The mix is free of hiss, pops, and clutter, and generally holds up better than the video. There are some points in the dialog when it is hard to understand Mifune’s muffled English dialog, because he is actually speaking English and he is not dubbed. And of course being a mono mix, bass is non-existent. Maurice Jarre’s score, while nothing spectacular like Ennio Morricone’s western themes, capture the vibe of the old west pretty well, and come though evenly in the mix. This is a dialog driven movie and that’s why the two-channel mono works well.

FEATURES

Trailers for UAV's other  DVD titles: WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS, WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS 2, YOUNG HERCULES, ANASTASIA, SECRET OF THE HUNCHBACK (the last three are animated children’s films not related to the similar Disney and Fox films). There is no trailer for RED SUN.

CONCLUSION

An epic culture clash western movie that ends with an understanding of both cultures and mutual respect between the two once-adversaries. Besides that, scriptwriter Laird Koenig moves the film along and never spends too much time in one place, which contributes to the epic adventure feel. The script also works hard to remove cliché from western characters such as the hero, the prostitute, and the villain.

The video quality is poor, but far from the worst I’ve ever seen. Bronson or Mifune fans will probably want to pick this one up until a widescreen version comes along (if ever). It’s still worth a rental just to see Ursula Andress topless, but that’s just me. The two-channel mono gets the job done nicely. I understand that UAV (the company that released this DVD) has gone under and maybe DVD collector’s not being to thrilled with their product had something to do with it. Live and learn.

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