The sword, the loot and even the reasons the two men pursue Gauche for are really just McGuffins for the journey the two undertake whilst tracking him down; the physical journey of the pursuit (which is wonderfully shot) and the journey the two make from mutual dislike to respect for each other and maybe even friendship. Don't get the idea this is all 'emotional' stuff though as there are plenty of dangers, shootings and sword usage along the way and the pace never really slows that much. The one constant is Link trying to 'persuade' Kuroda (by fair means or foul) to let Gauche live long enough for him to find out where his loot is hidden and Kuroda's determination to avenge his friend and kill Gauche on sight.
All three main leads are superb, Bronson as the tough outlaw is well suited to the role and Kuroda as the perfect honourable Samurai (sworn to ritually kill himself out of shame if he doesn't recover the sword within just seven days) especially play their parts to the hilt, with the changes of attitude in the characters coming slowly and logically as the two begin to rely on each other for mutual protection from bandits and Indians.
Alain Delon as bad guy Gauche meanwhile seems to be having a great time as the smart, debonair but ruthless criminal, though he's not given much to play off except in the opening scenes and in the (slightly over-stretched out) finalé, the two times when all the leads are together.
The action is pretty graphic and obviously someone has been doing their homework which shows is small things like all the pistols being single action and requiring cocking for each shot, which was accurate for 1870 when the film is set, and also in Kuroda's attitude when the pair stay at a brothel (run by a lover of Links, played by the alluring Capucine) where they kidnap Gauche's girlfriend, Cristina (Ursula Andress) who plays her small role acceptably (the men's attitudes towards women in the film are probably quite realistic but some may find them a bit misogynistic for easy watching).
A lesser script may have had such an 'honorable' man as Kuroda turning down female companionship in such a situation whereas in fact in Japanese culture men were sometimes traditionally offered women for 'pillowing' as part of a host's hospitality so it was quite natural for Kuroda to accept... even ignoring the fact he may only have a day or so to live if he doesn't succeed in his mission!
There are a couple annoying mistakes in the use of Japanese, when not using real Japanese spoken between Japanese characters. One was the use of the phrase Hara Kiri for Japanese traditional Samurai self-sacrifice after losing honour (it was actually only banned from being ordered as a form of capital punishment some 3 years after the film was set, adding to Kuroda's words that the Samurai tradition was dying out) whereas a real Samurai would be much more likely to use Seppuku, Hara Kiri being more of a slang term (though it does have Japanese etymology).The other was when the Japanese ruler is referred to as the Mikado which only came into use after the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta written ten years after the film's setting. Still, these are small things and may have been done deliberately to aid understanding.
Even though the story it tells of the bond forming between the two men is quite straightforward and one that's been seen before and since, it is told very well here, with great scenes of the battling of the two men's wills, and its hung on a basic plot which works well to support the action and drama. The above mentioned attention to detail and the general realism of the Red Sun works massively in its favour and along with some good action set pieces, some worthy acting, well written dialogue and some lovely cinematography make it well worth a watch.
The DVD: (UK, Region 2)
You would hope that when a DVD is released under a banner of "Western Classics" they treat the product as just that, a classic. Sadly this isn't the case here.
Though the print is clean (no obvious dust, sparkle or film damage that I saw) and the colours are probably deliberately muted to add mood, rather than a messed up transfer, the picture is extremely soft and any night scenes show up as 'mushy' with no deep blacks, and quite a bit of over-obvious grain... luckily it's mostly shot in daylight! Even if this is unavoidable due to the original film quality it isn't a good sign when the opening credits sequence has black bars down the sides of the actual image and then switches to a proper image after the credits are complete... unless the original was like this but it seems quite unlikely.
The aspect ratio is at least correct at 1.85:1 (an improvement over previous cropped releases) and the sound is the original mono (dual mono for the DVD and it seems to be very quiet, even for a DVD which has more dynamic range than VHS or than is permitted on TV programmes). However that's where it ends with no subtitles and no extras at all barring the ability to select a scene, not even a trailer (and that was on a previous 'pan and scan' release)... scene selection may have been a revolutionary feature in late 90s when DVD started to replace video tapes, but not what I'd expect of a "Western Classic". The film deserves better even though it is admittedly not that well known a title.
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