Red Sun: Leone-ised

Red Sun: Leone-ised

Tagline: The First East-Meets-West Western

FanEdit Name - Red Sun: Leone-ised
Original Name - Soleil Rouge or Red Sun
Film Studio - Films Corona & Oceania Film (Canal Plus)
Editing - Mollo
Original Release - 1971
FanEdit Release - August 2008
Original Runtime - 1 Hr 50 Mins Approx
New Runtime - 1 Hr 50 Mins Approx

Footage

Red Sun
Once Upon A Time In The West

Torrent

DVD Features: Menu & Scene Selection PAL, Extras - Scene Comparisons Short. img. file 4.09 GB

(Sorry just fixing a spelling error will post soon)

Avi Version 2.75 GB with Art & Comparisons Short

uploaded to piratebay

Conceptual Improvements/Advancements Of Edit Over Original

I wanted to do a FanEdit of a Western as my next project and a Spaghetti Western in particular. Red Sun (1971) directed by Terence Young has always been a favorite of mine and today it is a sadly neglected Classic.

So with this FanEdit I hope to promote some interest in the original motion picture by doing a Leone style interpretation.

I have changed very little of the narrative of the original and large sections are left unaltered. What I have tried to do is give the movie a Leone-esk feel by presenting it in widescreen, so many shots have been re-framed to give a hint of the Leone style. I have also lengthened scenes slightly to increase the dramatic tension and tightened up some action.

Some sequences have had the original audio entirely removed and replaced with new sound effects and in some case new score. This was done to provide a more serious tone to some of the montage sequences.

One new scene has been especially created for this FanEdit using some three shots from Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. Also I have created a new opening and end credits sequence. The ending is also slightly altered to present Link and Kuroda in a more heroic light.

I hope you will enjoy this FanEdit and that it might lead you to seek out the original.

Technical Note

The only DVD versions available are a Full Screen PAL version and a Hong Kong Wide Screen No Region Version. The latter claims to be a re-mastered but in fact, is the PAL version converted to NTSC. In most cases I have used the original PAL version as the colors are brighter and the image does not stutter.

Cuts Removed/Added/Extended

Contains Serious Spoilers!!!!

1. New: Opening Credits hopefully in the style of a Sergio Leone Western with Music by Masaru Satoh

2. New: Opening scene with Link (Charles Bronson) arriving at the train station with shots from Once Upon A Time In The West

3. Cut: The Sheriff from 2 scenes the train station and the confrontation scene between Link and Gauche (Alain Delon)

4. Cut: Some shots of the bandit attack on US cavalry unit to tighten the action

5. Cut: One shot of Gauche flinching when he takes the sword as a Samurai bodyguard steps forward

6. New: Extension of the scene where Kuroda (Toshirô Mifune) asks Gauche for his name

7. New: Removed the Maurice Jarre score from the first montage as Kuroda and Link begin their quest and replaced it with amplified natural sound and new score

8. New: Extension of the scene where Link insults Kuroda in English

9. Cut: Some shots of the drunken bandits and tighten up the action, especially Kuroda's second kill

10. New: Removed the Maurice Jarre score from the montage after Link shoots at Kuroda's horse and replaced it with amplified natural sound and new score

11. New: Re-worked the dubbing of Cristina's (Ursula Andress) yelps and yells when she is locked in her room as these were dubbed later and are out of sync

12. New: Extension of the confrontation between Link and Kuroda when Link steals Kuroda's clothes in the freezing mountains (more SFX added)

13. Cut: The line by Link that clearly indicates he has feelings for Cristina before they save her from the Comanche

14. Cut: The 'thank you' line given by Kuroda during the Comanche skirmish

15. Cut: Link calling out Kuroda's name before he is shot down by Gauche

16. New: End Credits

Many cuts have been made that are not listed

Notes on Sound Editing and Design

Most action sounds have been altered or replaced such as Gunshots, Punches, Slaps, Samurai Sword Sounds and Stabs (I have also used sounds from some of Sergio Leone's favorite Westerns such as Shane, Warlock, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Johnny Guitar)

New ambient sound effects have been added

The opening credits have a new edited score by Masaru Satoh, 御ç"¨éc' (Goyokin 1969) with added amplified action sounds









[vimeo:1zxerjie]
Red Sun DVD Art http://rapidshare.com/files/134859890/R ... VD_Art.zip

Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info

youtube video is gone. And are you really seeding both the avi and the DVD at the same time? ...I fear this might take forever to get this.

You Tube is working now. I am going to seed the avi first.

Update: I am going to correct a spelling error on the DVD version. So as from now only the Avi version is available (which will still have the spelling error) until I fix the DVD version.

Thanks Mollo

awesome comparison!!! Now I really cannot wait to see your version. The score changes are absolutely cool as are the sound changes. Big kudos!

I must say, I'm not big on westerns, but now I'm interested. Awaiting the DVD. Can't wait.

This looks interesting. Will have to check it out.

Definitely getting this - love this movie

NTSC SL DVD:
uploaded to Rapidshare

Very Nice DVD presentation boon. Also as an added bonus you get a double tit shot!!! Brilliant and Thank You.

So is the DVD boon posted a conversion of the AVI posted with nice menus, or the DVD Mollo was working on with the corrected spelling error? Or, did Mollo send boon the corrected files to make a nice DVD presentation? boon for President '08.

the DVD was created from the not to be published PAL master, which mollo sent to me. It was on 2 DVDs for best image and audio quality. With this I made a quite nice NTSC conversion and created the menus all based on mollo's ideas.

So this IS the final product that Mollo was working on, made to NTSC, with nice menus. That's what I wanted to know. Cool deal boon!

This is going to be a rather strange review...
I was pretty excited when I heard about Mollo's new project RED SUN, a western with eastern elements and an interesting cast. It made me wonder a bit though, why I as a western buff had never watched it before. I decided to purchase the original but watch the fanedit right only, because the concept interested me a lot more. LEONE-ISED. Way cool idea. More serious, cool score, lots of shooting.
Unfortunately I had to realize that RED SUN cannot be Leone-ISED or Leone could create boring movies. The movie has a tendency to be funny at parts, serious at parts, meaningless at parts. And the cast... does not really work well IMO. Charles Bronson is joking his way through this and he does a terrible job. I really hate it, when he talks a lot anyway and in this movie he is talking, talking, talking, but all the time just nonsense. Alan Delon should have stuck to French thrillers. Toshirô Mifune deserves better than this. Ursula Andress is cute, but uninspired.
I have to confess that I did not finish watching this movie and therefore will not rate it. I am disappointed, because mollo took so much effort with this movie and it looks so great, what he did:
Widescreen in great quality, nice score added, entire scenes completely resounded and a lot of care for plot and scenery. It is really a pity this one did not work out for me, but I am sure it does for some people. From the work that went into it, it is nothing less but a 5, except for the parts when the old score was still intact, which now stuck out even worse than it did before. From the entertainment for me... well, it was not not entertaining for me.

I did watch the whole thing and I agree with much of what Boon said. Most of the film's problems (for me) also stem from Charles Bronson. As an actor, he ranks somewhere between Chuck Norris and a plank of wood. I have NEVER understood his appeal.

That said, Mollo's edit is certainly more entertaining than the original. Unfortunately, the original is faulted (IMO) beyond any attempt to make it very good at all. It's sad, really, because the premise of the film is quite cool and Mollo's thought behind the edit (making it more like a Leone film) is an excellent one. And in the hands of someone more capable, like Leone, it could have been a really kick ass movie. Imagine Clint Eastwood and Mifune with Leone directing! And if any old Western could benefit from a remake ala '3:10 to Yuma', it is this one.

Technically, two things bothered me. Firstly the credits didn't really jibe with the feel of the movie. If it's an older film, they should maintain the same feel and the modern looking ones Mollo created, while cool, didn't really fit. Secondly, the repeating shot of the hooker. I'm all for tits; the more the better in fact, but this was a pretty big technical gaffe that should not have been overlooked before releasing it.

As I said, Mollo has improved it a bit with new sfx and some new score. His stated intention was to give it "a bit" of the Leone feel, and he has done so. But it's really not enough to save the picture.

Mollo is a very good (and award winning, lest we forget!) editor - he did a fantastic job on 'Land of the Dead', and I am certainly planning on watching his whole catalogue in time. And we all have soft spots for movies others might not consider very good. But even with competent fan editing these types of films might never rise above a certain level. For me, this is the case here.

jokersmailbag said:

I'm all for tits; the more the better in fact, but this was a pretty big technical gaffe that should not have been overlooked before releasing it.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the double tit shot happened during the NTSC authoring process and is not in the original FanEdit or in the avi. version which is out there. Still as errors go I like this one.

jokersmailbag said:

Technically, two things bothered me. Firstly the credits didn't really jibe with the feel of the movie. If it's an older film, they should maintain the same feel and the modern looking ones Mollo created, while cool, didn't really fit.

Click to expand...

The new opening titles I made were trying to be in the style of the dollars trilogy, so these new credits are a big part of giving this FanEdit that Leone feel, I tried hard that they did not appear modern.

Thanks for the review, I have a soft spot for this film because I am a huge Mifune fan and to see him in a western, even a faulted effort like this, makes it special.

I watched it and while I agree that this movie can not be made "great", Mollo did an excellent job at giving it a little update. I loved all his changes (except the opening titles, but they didn#t bother me either), and would have welcomed more editing. Bronson's jokes where appropriate at the beginning of the movie, but I would have expected his character to become a little more serious towards the end of the movie.

The general idea is excellent however, and there are a LOT of (potentially) great spaghetti westerns, see here http://fistfulofpasta.com/index.php?go=articles/top20a for some titles I'm sure most of you never heard of. Especially the films by Sergio Sollima stand out. The Big Gundown is nearly as good as anything Leone made. Death rides a horse, Django, Sabata, Sartana and The Great Silence and nearly everything with Lee Van Cleef are all worth seeing and could benefit of a little Mollo treatment.

Updated Scene Comparison short.