Red Sun

Red Sun
US film poster
Directed by	Terence Young
Produced by	Robert Dorfmann Ted Richmond
Screenplay by	Denne Bart Petitclerc William Roberts Lawrence Roman
Story by	Laird Koenig
Starring	Charles Bronson Ursula Andress Toshirō Mifune Alain Delon Capucine
Music by	Maurice Jarre
Cinematography	Henri Alekan
Edited by	Johnny Dwyre
Production company	Les Films Corona Oceania Produzioni Internazionali Cinematografiche Producciones Balcázar S.A.
Distributed by	Les Films Corona (France) National General Pictures (US)
Release date	15 September 1971 (France) 9 June 1972 (United States)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	France Italy Spain
Language	English
Box office	3,300,488 admissions (France)

Red Sun (French: Soleil rouge) is a 1971 French-Italian-Spanish Western film with an international cast. It stars American-born actor Charles Bronson, Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune, French actor Alain Delon and Swiss actress Ursula Andress. It was filmed in Spain by the British director Terence Young. It was released in the United States in 1972.

Link Stuart (Bronson) is a ruthless outlaw, and co-leader along with Gauche (Delon) of a gang of bandits. Link and Gauche lead their gang on a successful train robbery, and discover that one of its cars carries a Japanese ambassador, who is bringing a ceremonial katana (sword) as a gift for President Ulysses S. Grant. Gauche takes the sword, and kills one of the two samurai guards, while members of his gang attempt to murder Link by throwing dynamite into the train car he occupies, then leaving him for dead.

The surviving Japanese delegation rescues Link, and the ambassador instructs him to assist the surviving samurai guard, Kuroda (Mifune), in tracking down Gauche so that he may kill him and recover the sword and his honor. Kuroda is given one week to fulfill this task, or commit seppuku. Link reluctantly agrees, but he realizes that Kuroda will kill Gauche immediately, before he is able to extract the location of the stolen loot. Link repeatedly attempts to elude Kuroda, only to be thwarted by the irrepressible samurai.

While tracking Gauche's gang, Kuroda eventually reveals that his samurai values are disappearing as his countrymen no longer value the customs of old. Link gains a measure of respect for the strict bushido code Kuroda follows, and eventually comes to an agreement with the samurai that Gauche will not be killed before he reveals the location of the stolen money first. The duo eventually abduct Gauche's woman, Cristina (Andress), who leads the men to Gauche and his gang.

On the way to Gauche, however, the three run afoul of a group of Comanches, and Cristina is forced to kill one of them in self-defense, compelling the band's enraged chief into chasing after them. When Link and Kuroda finally find Gauche, the Indians attack, forcing the two unlikely friends to join forces with the bandits against their common enemy. In the ensuing fight, the Comanches are repelled, but Kuroda is mortally wounded by Gauche as he tries to fulfill his revenge. Disarmed by Link, Gauche tries appealing to Link's greed, but Link decides that the dying samurai's honor is more important to him than learning the location of the stolen money, so he kills Gauche. Just before Kuroda expires, Link promises him that he will return the katana to the Japanese ambassador. He does so, thus preserving Kuroda's honor.