El día de la ira

Lee Van Cleef has always been an unsung hero. Although an instantly recognisable face with those cat-like eyes and chiselled cheekbones, there will be few casual film-goers who will be able to name many films of his outside of For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). In Day of Anger, he may not take the lead role, but his Frank Talby, the dangerous yet charismatic gunfighter who wanders into town one day, steals the screen and your attention thanks to Van Cleef's formidable presence, proving that he was one of cinema's greatest character actors.

In the small town of Clifton, bastard-born street sweeper Scott Mary (Euro-western legend Giuliano Gemma) is ridiculed and bullied due to his social status. When Frank Talby strolls into Clifton on the back of his horse, he sides with Scott, and ends up shooting a man in his defence. When Frank leaves, Scott follows in the hope of being taught how to be a great gunfighter. Frank agrees, but has some brutal lessons to teach him. But they find themselves returning to Clifton in the search of money owed to Frank by Wild Jack (Once Upon a Time in the West's (1968) Al Mulock), where Frank hopes to deal some swift justice and make a mark of his own.

A protégé of Sergio Leone, this was director Tonino Valerri's second movie in the chair, and he certainly knows how to shoot a western. It doesn't share the extreme close-up's of Leone's work, but builds it's fair share of tension, climaxing in an inevitable yet thrilling climax between teacher and student. The film is superbly filmed, backed by a ridiculously catchy score by Riz Ortolani from which the title song was used in Django Unchained (2012). But the film's biggest boast is in the performances of Van Cleef and Gemma, the former proving he can play as good an anti-hero as any of his peers, and the latter convincing throughout his massive character shift. Highly recommended.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

A scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of a famed gunfighter, and the stage for confrontation is set when the gunman becomes unhinged and overruns the boy's town through violence and corruption.

The film credits the novel "Death Rode on Tuesdays" by Rolf O. Becker as its basis, although director Valerii and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi have attested that this credit was primarily included to appease the West German co-producers, and that although some scenes are partially borrowed from it, the film is not an adaptation of Becker's novel.

This is an interesting western, not just because it has a young man going from janitor to gunfighter, but it has the audience questioning whom to trust. There is sort of the classic theme of a hero being mentored by a villain, and how that can complicate alliances.

"Day of Anger" is an incredible western. Not only is it one of the 3 or 4 best non-Leone spaghetti westerns, It also has just about the best non-Morricone music score I have heard.

Lee Van Cleef is at his very best in this movie as Talby, the slick, intelligent, and ruthless gunfighter. As is the case with many spaghetti westerns, this movie draws a very thin line between "good" and "evil." Talby is a killing machine who is out for his own personal gain, yet he is also very likable in many ways. When he takes Scott under his wing and teaches him not to put up with being treated with disrespect from the "good" citizens of Clifton, Talby actually becomes the only person who represents any real sort of "justice" in the whole town. Then we find out that the pillars of the community have something to hide, and Talby delivers his own brand of justice to them also.

Giuliano Gemma always delivers a great spaghetti western performance, and he is at the top of his game here as well. In the role of Scott Mary he has to play a character who goes through a lot of different emotions, and a couple of life-changing events. When Scott becomes a gunfighter like Talby, we relate to him and like him even more as he demands and gets respect from the people who used to spit on him. Talby's comment to the townsfolk of Clifton sums up why: "He was born a wolf, but you made him rabid." What a great line! The final showdown at the end is one of the classics. It is wonderfully choreographed with the film's music, and has that artistic, operatic quality that the very best spaghetti westerns possess. There's lots of emotion going on in this one, as it is plain to see that the two men squaring off still have respect and admiration for each other. On some level, it even still seems like they are friends, but this moment was inevitable, like an uncontrollable force of nature. As Talby says, "once you start killing, you can't stop." Talby's killing finally draws that thin line, Scott ends up on the other side of it, and the final showdown begins. I will say no more.

Riz Ortolani's score is awesome. I love the opening theme, and the pictures and movements on the screen that accompany it. It pulls you right into this film before the story even begins. Not only is the music great, it is very original as well. It is not a Morricone rip-off at all. Ortolani's style here is all his own. It is much more of a swinging 60's sound that retains just enough western flavor to make it appropriate for this type of film. This is a soundtrack I would like to have on CD.

This is one of those movies that I just can't say enough about. I would recommend it to anyone, and if you like spaghetti westerns you really need to own it.

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.

Nothing here you haven't seen before if you're a fan of Italian westerns, but DAY OF ANGER develops its plot and characters carefully, keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout. Van Cleef is terrific--this is surely one of his finest moments--yet he's matched stride-for-stride by Giuliano Gemma and the rest of the cast, with solid performances from many bit players. The direction and camera work are first rate, also. It may fall just short of Leone and the first Django movie, but it's still a first-rate spaghetti western.