I giorni dell'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.

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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.

This clever and successful Spaghetti Western that owes a considerable debt to Leone deals with a miserable young named Scott (Giuliano Gemma) who runs errands and works menial jobs in a little town ; as he's harassed , pushed and kicked by ruthless villagers . Then , there arrives an occasional mysterious visitor , a too smart bad guy , he's a two-fisted gunslinger named Frank (Lee Van Cleef) . He befriends Scott and acts as protector of the humiliated young who receives advice from the gunslinger and he becomes tough , surpassing his teacher . The gunfighter teams up with the hapless young man against the nasty townspeople mistreated him and then Scott carries out a personal vendetta . Later on , fateful happenings takes place , as they never thought it could happen in their town .

The film displays psychological characters-in deep , shootouts , Western action and being entertaining enough . The movie contains typical particularities Spaghetti , as it is filled with fury , sadism , bloodbaths , and portentous close-ups of grime-encrusted faces . Gulianno Gemma is good as unfortunate guy working in worst and dirtiest labors , and Lee van Cleef is cool as cruel gunslinger . As secondaries appear Jose Calvo (Silvanito in ' A fistful of dollars') and Spaghetti regulars as Benito Stefanelli (habitual master of arms) , Andrea Bosic and Ricardo Palacios . Furthermore , Ivonne Sanson as brothel Madame , she was a known actress in Italian melodramas and an uncredited Al Mulock (he was one of the mythic trio at the beginning of 'One upon a time in the West' along with Jack Elam and Woody Strode) . The producers Alfonso Sansone and Chroscicki produced 'Day of Anger' with quite a few budget . The picture is full of nice sound by composer Riz Ortalani and colorfully photographed by cameraman Enzo Sarafian . The motion picture was well directed by Tonino Valeri who was Sergio Leone's assistant . Valeri managed to make a fluid , witty and agreeable SW . He proved his experience in Western , such as : ¨Bounty hunter¨ , ¨Death a President¨ , ¨A reason to live a reason to die¨ and his biggest hit : ¨My name is nobody¨ with Henry Fonda and Terence Hill .

This Spaghetti Western I giorni dell'ira (1967) along with 'Da Uomo a Uomo (Giulio Petroni with Lee Van Cleef-John Philip Law)' led to recovery in the popularity of 'horse opera' after Leone hits . Both of them are masterpieces about gunslinger/disciple theme , and developing a paternal-filial relationship . Other films about this matter is as follows : 'All'ombra di un colt (65)' by Gianni Grimaldi with Conrado San Martin and Stephen Forsyth , 'Bandits (1967)' by Massimo Dallamano with Enrico Maria Salerno and Venantino Venantini and 'Beyond the Law (68)' by Giorgio Stegani with Lee Van Cleef and Alfonso Sabato.

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.

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.