Red Sun (1971).

Review #2564: Red Sun.

Cast: 

Charles Bronson (Link Stuart), Ursula Andress (Cristina), Toshirō Mifune (Kuroda Jubei), Alain Delon (Gauche), Capucine (Pepita), Barta Barri (Paco), Lee Burton (Mace), Anthony Dawson (Hyatt), Gianni Medici (Miguel), George W. Lycan (Sheriff Stone), Luc Merenda (Chato), and Tetsu Nakamura (the Japanese Ambassador) Directed by Terence Young (#150 - Dr. No, #278 - From Russia with Love, #335 - Thunderball, #1763 - Inchon)

Review: 

Yes, there are some movies that do slip by the radar despite having a few big names around the sun. Apparently, the film had been in development since 1968, complete with Toshiro Mifune being tapped early but the idea of having Clint Eastwood as a co-star eventually fizzled. Instead, in perhaps amusing irony, you've got Charles Bronson (one of the stars of The Magnificent Seven, the remake of Seven Samurai) co-starring with Mifune. Laird Koenig wrote the story for the film before a handful of screenwriters came in with Denne Bart Petitclerc (in his first screenplay after writing for TV and fresh off the one season run of creating Then Came Bronson [1969-70]), William Roberts (coincidentally a writer on the Seven film), and Lawrence Roman for what became a French-Italian-Spain production (i.e. filming in Spain and plenty of worldly companies producing the venture, which actually was supposed to be a Warner Bros.-Seven Arts movie). It was the second of three movies that Young made back-to-back with Bronson (a favorite of making movies in Europe that he once stated were thought to be foreign by Americans and American by the Japanese) with Cold Sweat (1970) and The Valachi Papers (1972) being the others (each with varying levels of involvement from French-Italian companies). Incidentally, Mifune learned his lines phonetically, as he did for roles in English (which, well, he didn't know the language, and this isn't even getting into movies where he is dubbed like with Midway [1976]). It didn't exactly become a widely well-known hit, although Mifune's presence apparently got it a couple of attendance records in the run in Japan. Apparently, Quentin Tarantino noted his appreciation of the film on at least one occasion.

 

The term "Spaghetti Western" referred to Westerns produced in Europe that were mostly made in either Italy or Spain. Here lies the setting in 1870, a couple of years after the first Japanese ambassadors arrived in America and yet there are perilous times ahead on a journey through the West through railroads and outlaws. You get an "East meets West" type of buddy movie that makes for an unwieldy but serviceable time to sit through at least once. By the first 25 minutes of its 112-minute runtime, you get the setup that appeals to the most ridiculous of time limits: if the duo fails to recover a gold-handled tachi in one week for the ambassador, the bodyguard and the ambassador will actually commit harakiri (ritualistic suicide*). Heck, by the time 40 minutes are gone, you already got a brief goofy fight to make light of Bronson trying to "fight" Mifune. In that sense, Bronson probably benefits from a clash of macho-ness with Mifune where he seems to not aim for the usual dry self in the "shoot-and-slash" pace of action. Sure, he still is outdone by Mifune in the type of presence that comes with basically commanding the screen without having to say much, but I think you get the appeal that each bring in learning what really matters in "honor". Honestly, the film needed a bit more from Andress and others, because it really is a road film with Bronson & Mifune and Delon basically sucks out the rest of the energy even with the limited time basically being a mustache-twirler type of adversary. The sequence near the climax where they have to confront Comanches does veer into a few cliches, but at least the movie finds a way to close itself out with a mostly deserving finish (predictable, sure, but familiar fun is still fun). The landscape may seem familiar, and the carnage may be inevitable (dynamite, train robberies, and double-crosses), but that's part of the fun if you buy what Young and company is selling for flim-flam charm. As a whole, it isn't a great movie by any means, but it has a few entertaining moments with a dynamite enough duo with Bronson and Mifune leading the way to make it a curious recommendation for those who like oddball type of Westerns.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

Come one, come all, be ready for another month-long celebration in August on Movie Night with...Acknowledged in August Again

*Seppuku, harakiri, you get the idea.

The Concorde... Airport '79

Review #1926: The Concorde... Airport '79.

Cast: 

Alain Delon (Capt. Paul Metrand), Susan Blakely (Maggie Whelan), Robert Wagner (Kevin Harrison), Sylvia Kristel (Isabelle), George Kennedy (Capt. Joseph "Joe" Patroni), Eddie Albert (Eli Sands), Bibi Andersson (Francine), Charo (Margarita), Pierre Jalbert (Henri), John Davidson (Robert Palmer), Andrea Marcovicci (Alicia Rogov), Martha Raye (Loretta), Cicely Tyson (Elaine), Jimmie Walker (Boise), David Warner (Peter O'Neill), Mercedes McCambridge (Nelli), Avery Schreiber (Russian coach Markov), and Sybil Danning (Amy) Directed by David Lowell Rich.

Review: 

"We believe that Concorde is a magical star that people will go to see in a good motion picture." - Jennings Lang

You remember the Airport movies, I am sure. Based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey, Airport (1970) was an all-star dud. The sequel Airport 1975 (1974) was more of the same. Airport '77 (1977) can be described aptly: "no better and no worse than the previous two features in terms of mediocrity. Sure, there are probably a few more things to make fun of here, but it is the same kind of blah movie from before that made money in a time where people were ripe for seeing these kinds of movies." The screenplay was done by Eric Roth, but Jennings Lang was behind the story along with serving as producer.  Lang had produced the last two Airport films, but he also was a producer on films such as Play Misty for Me (1971) and Earthquake (1974), but this was the only script that Lang ever did. Roth got his start with film scripts such as The Nickel Ride (1974), but he would go on to better work in later years: he wrote films such as Forrest Gump (1994)...and The Postman (1997). The movie was made on a budget of $14 million. It actually made $65 million, making over 75% of its money in audiences not in America or Canada. Keep in mind, the cast is a bit more international this time around, owing to the fact that the Concorde was a plane manufactured by France and British developers. The supersonic airliner plane had its first flight in 1969 before being retired from service in 2003, three years after the only fatal incident of the plane, which by horrible coincidence was the plane utilized for this film. Air France and Aerospatiale (the French national airline and the makers of the plane, respectively) allowed permission to use the Concorde after a few modifications to the script, such as pilots behaving right in the cockpit (so yeah, they could drink off duty and romance, but discussions weren't cool); amusingly, the movie talks about the impending 1980 Olympic Games, for which the summer edition was hosted in Moscow, one that saw America boycott the Games. Of course, the reviews in contemporary times were even more negative than the last three films. The effects used here involve blue screen that deal with primer and paint to help with possible blending. As for Rich, he was the 1978 winner of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, but he did get plenty of work from 1950 to 1987, such as Madame X (1966).

Imagine having the guy from Good Times, the title character from Emmanuelle (1974), a French matinee idol, and George Kennedy in the same movie. Oh, and a plane that deals with obstacles such as air balloons, an attack drone, an evil jet fighter pilot, and bomb sabotage with most of the passengers on board to experience more terror than making the rounds for Christmas shopping. So yes, this is the first one of these films with a cleanly set villain in terms of multi-phased terror, namely because of how overly complicated they make it in the art of trying to take down one person (the first film had a bomb and the third film had a hijacker, but neither had a Plan B). Far be it from just having an assassin take them down (aside from the guy they take down right in front of her), nah, you have to launch a drone at them. Only the power of firing a flare gun out the cockpit window and doing a roll can stop drone power. Hell, the climax of the film involves the plane having to land on a snowy mountain and freeing the passengers before the damn thing explodes! You know, if the Airport movies were meant to be bizarro propaganda against flying, this one is probably the peak of anti-flying entertainment: enjoy the Concorde in the title, just watch out for the possible chance of pilots that either fire flare guns to prevent terrorism or explosions. The stories of the people don't mean diddly poo, since one cares even less than they did before with boring people meeting disaster planes.

Kennedy played a mechanic in the first film, then he played an airline vice president, then he played a aero expert/technical advisor, and now he plays a pilot of the Concorde who gets to have an escapade with the plane and a hooker played by Andersson. Truly, some actors get all the luck (imagine being a reliable character presence and having an Academy Award), even if his performance is more of a gruff sleepwalk more than anything. Delon apparently made this film as his last shot at breaking into American notice, since being a French star wasn't enough - it did not end well, although at least Delon ended up just fine back in his native country where he could get a script worth acting. The fact that he is acting opposite Kristel in bland overtones is especially sad. Blakely can't make any headway into being noticeable among all the cheese, because who cares about people being targeted for murder when the preposterous Robert Wagner is acting opposite you? To say nothing of the middling attempts at comic relief of Walker or Albert (or worse yet, Charo having only one scene to do schtick). 113 minutes of pure unintentional humor is a weird price to pay, but anyone who has seen their way through Dean Martin trying to play a pilot or Gloria Swanson play Gloria Swanson or Bermuda Triangle bullshit will surely have no problem with a movie that practically starts with its head in the sand.

Remember, this was the last of these crappy movies. Of course, this film was released in the same year that saw the Italian thriller Concorde Affaire '79, but the real nail in even thinking about doing another Airport movie probably came with Airplane! (1980), the spoof to end all spoofs with airplanes. If you like crappy movies with recognizable names, this may be up your alley. It may be the worst of the bunch, but those with a sicko committee desire to see how low crappy airplane/big cast movies can go will surely have a ball here.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: Saving Christmas.