A Day of Fury

Two of television's best known cowboy heroes, Dale Robertson from Tales Of Wells Fargo and the Range Rider Jock Mahoney star in this unusual western about a town full of hypocrites. Imagine High Noon had we probed a bit deeper into the town of Hadleyville and its citizens who would not back up Gary Cooper and you have A Day Of Fury.

Notorious gunslinger Robertson arrives in the town and the townspeople are righteously aroused. They want Marshal Mahoney to just run this guy out of town. But Mahoney's life was once saved by him and with no wants or warrants out on him, Robertson is a free man until he actually commits a crime.

Which works out fine as Robertson bit by bit turns things around completely and it's the marshal these fine citizens turn on. You have to see how he does it, more I will not say. There's also the complicating factor that Mahoney's fiancé Mara Corday has history with Robertson.

A trio of standout supporting performances come from Jan Merlin as a local tough, John Dehner as the town minister, and most of all Dee Carroll as the spinster school teacher who is a repressed and tragic figure.

Mahoney and Robertson have some good chemistry in their scenes. A nice mixture of antagonism and respect goes into their dialog.

A Day Of Fury is a real sleeper of a western. Caught it by accident almost, glad I did.

A well-turned screenplay, efficient editing, good small-scale production values, and tense directing make A Day of Fury much better than most Westerns.

Dale Robertson is a better actor than his reputation, but all 3 leads are limited in range. The best role and performance are the Preacher by John Dehner, who helps any film in which he appears. Most Westerns present ministers either as comic-cowardly milquetoasts or as unrealistic studs who give up their guns for the good book. When changes unsettle the town, Day of Fury's Preacher is the first to lose his temper and threaten violence, but then he's embarrassed by his own failing and horrified that his parishioners turn into a lynch mob.

The plot plays an interesting variation on the classic Western formula of the Old Wild West struggling to survive in or against the Cleaned-Up Bourgeois Town. The taciturnity of Robertson's Jigade fairly inverts the man-of-few-words Sheriff typically played by Joel McCrea or Randolph Scott into a Mephistophelean villain who quietly but steadily chips and shatters the thin veneer of civilization until the townsfolk break down into drunken irresponsibility, foolish greed, and vengeful terror. Jagade's opportunistic power compromises the town's Sheriff, played by the physically imposing Jock Mahoney, whose taciturnity can only dwindle to mute puzzlement until the wild card in Jagade's deck--the punk gunman Billy Brant--changes the game and creates a clear path of action for the law.

The sets are few, but the director keeps moving the characters across each other in well-defined space. The film's most impressive quality is to open with an atmosphere of uncertainty that steadily escalates into tension or dread. But its most interesting feature is that the anti-hero Jagade seems to have orchestrated the story as a suicide note.

This is not a big budget western. You have to remember that when considering its worth. It's a classic "B" western. I'm not sure why this western would rate low in any old western lovers opinion. I know that this is not a typical role for Dale Robertson. He is playing against type. He is almost always the good guy. His Jagade character starts out fine enough, maybe even heroic in saving the life of the town sheriff. I would point out how well Robertson handles his role as the bad guy, because you are pretty much despising him before the midway point of the movie. Jagade is egotistical, selfish, and all around despicable in just about every way possible. There are not many redeeming qualities to him. He even uses his act of heroism to try to control the marshall through guilt. The marshal is played by one of Hollywood's best western stunt men, Jock Mahoney. His character is loyal to a fault and even though it seems he is bending to Jagade's every whim, Mahoney's turn as the town marshal will surprise you. Mahoney is not the best actor, but watch his character closely, because he is not what he seems to be. This western is not too bad. Let Dale Robertson have his fun playing against type. He plays Jagade to the hilt as a completely despicable bad guy. Even Robertson's disgusting mannerisms he displays as the gunfighter will start getting on your nerves. To me, he's great in this one, and Jock Mahoney's role as the reserved town marshal was one of his better roles in a western. Mara Corday is as beautiful as ever playing the reformed dance hall girl. Remember folks it is a "B" western. Enjoy it! I certainly did. Every time I see it, I enjoy it a little bit more. Robertson is a "B" western favorite of mine, and it's great to see this perennial, good guy actor chew up the scenery as the arrogant Jagade. They say that Mahoney was such a good stunt man, that if he refused to do a stunt, other stunt men refused to do it also, deeming it too dangerous. You might think he seems a little wooden in his role as the marshal, but I think he totally captures the quiet, but dangerous lawman. Plenty worth watching. For me, numerous times.

It seems like a nice town: quiet and civilized. They're run the bar girls out of town and the miners go some place else for their drinking. Everything is shut on Sunday. Marshall Jock Mahoney keeps things quiet. Then gunfighter Dale Robertson rides into town and opens it up with a series of double eagles and some rowdy boys. He wants two things: Mara Corday, and revenge on Mahoney for taking her from him.

There were several movies in the 1950s about how the thin veneer of civilization was ready to crack and reveal the savagery underneath, and this looks like an attempt to apply it to the western, where there was always the possibility that a saloon entertainer would have a dress so low cut you could see the top of her bosom, or a crowd would break a prisoner out of jail and hang him. Robertson and Mahoney seem awfully calm and controlled, while everyone else seems mildly hysterical While there's some hinting at unpleasant things the respectable people in town might have done, none of it is explicit, except for preacher John Dehner losing his temper. It's very watchable all the way through, but the suspense goes on a trifle too long.

Despite the wooden acting of its stars, this film's intriguing themes and well-written dialog elevate it to something out of the ordinary. "A Day of Fury" is about the end of the Old West, embodied by the gunfighter, and its replacement by "decent folk" and their values. However, one gunfighter returns to town and exposes the hypocrisy and small-mindedness that lies beneath the veneer of civilization. This film is a must-see for those who love Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" as it seems to have inspired that film to a large degree. (One character remarks that if Jagade is allowed to stay, "He'll turn this town into hell.") Despite the emotionless acting of its leads and the irritating, strangely pronounced name of the main character, I enjoyed this film a great deal for its cynical view of the human character and its exposure of human weakness and fear.