From National General Corp.
Directed by Terence Young
Starring
Charles Bronson
Ursula Andress
Toshirô Mifune
Alain Delon
Capucine
Barta Barri
Anthony Dawson
I cannot deny that this is an unusual western but it's also an entertaining one. Its focus is the American west but it is filmed entirely in Spain with a British director and crew and starring two actors from France, one from Switzerland, one from Japan and okay, there is the lonely American. There are also several European production companies involved. It certainly gives some meaning to the term international film.
It opens at a train station as we watch various characters board. We take in a number of shifty-looking men who appear to avoid one another and also an imposing Japanese man in his native garb.
Soon these ominous-looking men come together to rob the train. They have frightened passengers into turning over their personals as more outlaws gather outside preparing to blow up the cash car that has a $400,000 booty. A number of soldiers and train personnel are killed. It soon becomes apparent that the two leaders (Charles Bronson and Alain Delon) do not agree on who's in charge.
The action switches to the final car on the train where a small Japanese contingent is holed up and hoping to go unnoticed. Their mission is to deliver a priceless Mikado sword to the U.S.President.
The vicious Delon kills one of the Japanese and steals the sword. The Japanese ambassador instructs his bodyguard, Toshiro Mifune, to begin the journey to recover the sword and kill Delon. If it's not accomplished in seven days, Mifune is to commit seppuku.
Delon blows up the money car just as Bronson jumps to safety. Bronson heads out on foot to get Delon and is annoyed that Mifune with his unusual ways is by his side.
There is much comedy along the way as Bronson attempts to, shall we say, dissuade Mifune from continuing. This is not so much that east meets west as it is east and west disrespect one another. Mifune's quest for honor and duty and moving along quickly annoys the lazy cowpoke Bronson who only wants to leave his traveling partner in the dust and go after the loot on his own.
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| Bronson and Capucine |
The mission is to get to a whorehouse in San Lucas where Delon's girlfriend, Ursula Andress,works. It is assumed she knows where her boyfriend is hiding. While Mifune seems stunned by all he witnesses, Bronson cozies up to the madam, Capucine, who is an old friend. After a ruckus with Andress, Bronson imprisons her in her room until the trio can leave.
In the meantime Delon has some of his men bury the loot and then he kills them. He and the rest of the gang hole up in a large cave, hoping to stay out of harm's way for a spell.
Bronson fights with both of his companions along the way. At one point Comanches capture Andress and she nearly strangles to death until her companions can get her to safety.
There is more fighting, of course, when the trio meets up with Delon and his cutthroats at an old mission. In the melee all of Delon's men are killed. With just the main four remaining, nobody seems to trust one another. We know the only one worth trusting is Mifune.
The final scene, a long one, takes place outside the mission in a sugar cane field (were there sugar cane fields in the old west?) as the four attempt a standoff against a slew of Indians. Ultimately the field is engulfed in fire. All of the Indians have been killed along with two of our quartet.
The film had a long pre-production period with Mifune attached to the project almost from the start. He appeared to be the only star who was a given. It had been hoped that Clint Eastwood would topline but it never worked out.
It turned out to be a difficult outdoor shoot,complicated by rain,and becoming more tense when director Young and associate producer Ted Richmond almost got into blows over some production issues.
Young was an obvious choice to direct a manly exercise such as this. He was a lover of ruckus flicks... dudes mixing it up greatly appealed to him. It was the clash of cultures here that appealed to him along with a story of a Japanese man trying to survive in the old west. An added appeal for Young was that he had never made a western before although a number of his adventure films featured horses. This would be his first western and as it would happen, his last.
Most of the movie-going public, at least in those days, saw Young's films. The more notable ones include three James Bond entries, Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball, along with Audrey Hepburn's blind lady thriller, Wait Until Dark, Inchon and Run for Your Life.
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| Delon & Mifune waiting to be called to the set. |
Young had recently signed a three-picture pact with Bronson. They had just wound up the first, Cold Sweat, next was this one and the third would be The Valachi Papers. They had a good working relationship and usually the same goals. Red Sun would have been another kind of film with Mifune as the star and the whole focus of the film. But when Bronson is brought on board, it becomes a Bronson film. I'm okay with that. What he did he did well and he never did anything other than what he did well. Go ahead, read it again.
I have always thought the intent here was to do a spaghetti western of sorts, but perhaps not. There certainly are little kernels of it here and there but since I didn't particularly care for spaghetti westerns, I found more appeal in Soleil rouge as it was called while being filmed.
Young and Andress had worked together on her first film, Dr. No. They liked one another and he had no doubt that she would dress up his manly little western. I thought that's exactly what she did in her films. She had also worked with Capucine a few years earlier on What's New Pussycat? Capucine who was billed over Andress in Pussycat whereas here Capucine had but a couple of scenes while Andress is the leading lady. Ah, how times had changed.
Mifune, despite not speaking but a word or two of English (he learned his part phonetically, which, frankly, blows my mind), kept the cast and crew happy by showing what an excellent chef he was, although his entourage helped. The nightly heapings of Japanese meats, watercress, seaweed, saké and more were the thing to do.
Andress loved the spirited Andalusian stallion she rides and wanted to buy him but she had to settle for some land where she would build a villa.
Bronson had a lot on his plate because he was filming parts of another film, Chato's Land, in the very same Spanish locations. He and Mifune were far more friendlier off screen than on. They no doubt discussed two films that linked them... Mifune starred in the renowned Seven Samurai and Bronson was in its American remake, The Magnificent Seven.
Delon, a French and international heartthrob, at 35, had lost some of his boyish sexuality but he was still a good-looking man. I wish I had seen him in a few foreign language films because most of his roles in English language and especially American films are not particularly praiseworthy. I don't think a healthy, near-nude romp between Delon and Andress would have hurt business, but noooo.
It is not a great film, it's not even a great western but it is a good one, an entertaining one and one that clearly offers something a little different. On that last score, I think we should we always be grateful.
The esteemed director, John Huston, once said that Red Sun along with Stagecoach (1939) and Red River (1948) are the three greatest westerns ever made. Really? Well, that must have made Terence Young and his gang of unruly ruffians very happy indeed.
Here's a scene of the train holdup:
Next posting:
You may remember her
50s blonde, kewpie-doll looks
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