Day of Anger

Day of Anger is one of the great spaghetti westerns. Directed by Tonino Valerri and stars Guiliano Gemma as the hero of the film, a waste collector turned gunslinger named Scott. He becomes mentored by a tough gunslinger named Frank, who helps/harms him in equal manner. Scott becomes indebted to Frank after Frank defends his honour, and the two men become entangled in a violent and messy plot involving stolen funds. However, their friendship is tested when Scott begins to realize just how far Frank will go to get rich. This is one of the spaghetti classics. A rich and detailed world with good solid action sequences, long-panning shots of gorgeous desert and an iconic soundtrack await. This film holds its own amongst some of the Sergio Leone and Corbucci classics, like A Fistfull of Dollars and Django. Their are also multiple versions of the film available. My first viewing was the original English dub (there is another one as well). I have not yet viewed the Italian dub (yes, both feature dubbing). All things considered, this is a well shot, well acted spaghetti western. It is one of the greats of its genre, and should be viewed by any western fan. 8/10

Nice shootouts, interesting plot, great score (even which isn't written by Morricone), the characters develop very good. It doesn't need any stupid brutal violence. It gets brutal through its story and characters. Andy every time in the movie you can stay on Scott's side, even though he begins as a little stable-boy, becomes a tough gunfighter, and in the end a man, who makes his own decisions and who is able to differ the good from the evil. Very interesting too, are Talby's motives fro recruiting the innocent Scott. But he always tried to control him (by telling him, how to shoot and buying him another gun than he has). Talby: "Allright Scott, you can come with me, but don't get your hopes up to high, 'cause it's a dirty life." Great line :>

"I giorni dell'ira" is a very nice western, sometimes more american then italian. Despite from some perennial charachterizations about spags, you can find somewhere a little taste of Dmitrik's "Warlock", maybe because this is an urban western. The peculiarity is that is a pacifist western, where you find a town that doesn't desire the use of arms but is very racist to Scott Mary. The arrival of Frank Talby demoster that it was a fake peace. In a little time, Talby-devil demonster that any gun can play. And you can see the transformation of a quiet man (but with gun in his heart) in a furious man of revenge, that finds a father in the old gunman. At the end Mary understand that the law of Talby (wich is the law of west) can't go on. So father and son meets theirself in a duel. Valerii's direction is good, and there is no only the Leone lesson. Actors are in role and secondary charachters are discreet. Only Gemma is a problem for me but is not very miscast; he have the face of a good boy, unlucky, that, for an instant, meets a change of fate.

One of my favorite teen memories surrounds the film "Day of Anger." I saw it at the El Rey Theatre in Walnut Creek, California in 1972 as part of a double feature with "Superfly." Don't ask me how that match-up was booked, but I went with a couple of friends and thanks to the new release paired with it, the place was nearly packed. Old school singleplex with 1000 or so seats. Everyone was hushed and into the story until Lee Van Cleef stomped into the scraggly bar in the scraggly village, banged on the wooden plank serving as the bar and demanded: "Get me Wild Jack!" For a moment the theater remained hushed. Then, from a few rows behind us, a guy yelled out "WILD JACK! What kinda name is that?" Suddenly taken by the over-the-top melodrama, the crowd turned the whole experience on its end and started howling at what now seemed to be a self-referential satire on the spaghetti western genre. Of course I didn't think in such high-falutin' terminology at the time, I just thought it was funny. With all due respect to serious aficianados of the genre, it was just one fun night. One of the guys I went with suggested that we go back and repeat the astonished "WILD JACK!" comment the next night, but we figured, I think rightly, that you had to be there, it was a one shot thing, with perfect timing that had us laughing too hard to take it seriously when poor Scott Mary finally had his day in the sun and finished off his mentor while reciting the final rule of the gunfighter.

Really good, from the languorous, elegiac opening to the full throttle finish, I enjoyed it all. I note that IMDb shows a running time of 95 minutes whilst my new Arrow DVD runs nearer 115. Can that be so, 20 minutes cut from the previous print? It is just possible for there is a surprisingly large amount of time given to introduction of the characters and the town so that we might become totally involved. Goodness knows what anyone would make of much of this film without the precious opening ten minutes where Giuliano Gemma is introduced to us, literally as a sh*t shoveler before coming under the wing of the majestic Lee van Cleef. The famous Almeria set and surrounds plays its part well too and whilst the tale is fairly simple (revenge!) it is so well told and whilst the opening scenes seem to show a ghost town by the end we have seen it teeming with folks from all around. A fine film with much violence.

Day of Anger (1967) is considered a top 20 by most fans and critics. I definitely agree this is a great SW movie with good music and acting by Lee Van Cleef, and Gemma. The story is great about a simple man with dreams to have respect and to own his own colt, but unfortunately Scott Mary (Gemma) is treated like dirt by the townspeople of Clifton and verbally and physically abused and it is a revenge style theme about a man name Talby (Van Cleef), who gets out of jail and goes to collect 50,000 from Wild Jack, who in return was lied and double crossed by some of the good old folks of Clifton so Talby goes to collect and helps mentor Scott, who becomes a side kick. It all changes when Talby kills someone close to Scott and then he gets a reality check and faces off with his mentor. Movie is overall fast paced with good action and story.

The first time I saw this western was on a triple bill with a Bruce Lee film and a Charles Bronson western. It holds it's own against any of the non-Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns that made their way stateside. Lee Van Cleef's Talby is as chilling as his Angel Eyes in The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly and Giuliano Gemma shows why he was once one of Italy's top stars. Beware, that there is a 85 minute version in circulation that is choppy. The original version that was shown here at 109 minutes is recommended.

It's one of my favorite westerns of all times.I've seen it on the theater, in 71, and several times on the telly. Usually, critics reviewing it, claim it's above average for the two actors efforts, so it comes as an unpleasant surprise to see it scorched here. Classic bits: when Van Cleef says to Scott he should call himself Scott Marry, after his mother only known name,and as Scott says that everybody would laugh at him if he used such name, Talby (Van Cleef) replies: Who cares??? And the scene where Scott asks for his old broom, just to shoot it apart, costumers in the saloon get impressed, and the camera focus on Gemma smiling. Simply perfect!

DAY OF ANGER is a solid addition to the spaghetti western genre, shot in attractive Almeria (as with so many films of this genre) and with fine performances from two leads who made the genre their own. The director behind this one, Tonino Valerii, also handled the popular likes of MY NAME IS NOBODY and A REASON TO LIVE, A REASON TO DIE. The plot is different to most standard spaghetti western stories. Giuliano Gemma stars as a down-on-his-luck young cleaner who falls in with an infamous gunslinger, played with relish by Lee Van Cleef. Together, the two men quickly clean up the town, but the stage is set for conflict when the pupil outgrows his former master. DAY OF ANGER has plenty of well-shot action to recommend it, and the cinematography is colourful and lush. The milieu is rather small scale, but the assured performances from the two likable leads make this a film that's hard to dislike overall. In some places it becomes pretty iconic, and it's certainly above average for the genre.

Lee Van Cleef made his best movie in "Day of Anger". The worst drawback is the voices saying one thing and the lips doing something else, because they were using mostly foreign actors. As far as acting, Cleef did some fantastic stunts in the film on several occasions, and seemed to be as limber as a dishrag at the age of 43. Being dragged by horses and catching the gun thrown to him was really a good stunt. Also the street fight where he flipped over backwards while shooting at the bad guys. At then end, he was facing the man he was teaching his "10 rules of survival", and lost. The final scene where he was wounded and asked the man not to kill him, was very realistic camera work. If it was spoken in English, I would have given this movie a 10! Thanks.