The Day of the Wolves

"The Day of the Wolves" has attracted a small cult among die-hard aficionados of the crime syndicate genre, yet the central concept of a large-scale robbery pulled off by an anonymous boss (and his specifically-invited cohorts, who don't know their leader nor each other) isn't too original--it reminds one right away of "The Thomas Crown Affair", and probably a few other titles besides. The low-budget yarn begins with one man killing a restaurant manager, another robbing a bank while disguised as a postman (!), and still another robbing a hilltop residence; these three crooks, as well as three other men, are then brought to a secret hideout where their new leader (Jan Murray, playing "No.1") lays out his plan: to overtake a small town after knocking out the phones and electricity, each man standing to gain $50,000 G's. Richard Egan plays the chief of police--recently dismissed by his own city council!--who is the only town resident brave enough to take on the bad guys. "Wolves" must have been more fun to make than it is to watch. Apparently, the population of Lake Havasu City got involved in the production, and the results have that stilted, tentative feel of an amateur project wherein everybody pitches in without actually possessing noticeable film-making talent. Egan, though looking weathered, does his best without embarrassing himself; as his child-hugging spouse, Martha Hyer isn't as fortunate. Surprisingly, Murray really delivers the goods as the brains of the outfit, and there's a nifty ending with him on TV. Sean Bonniwell's score, which sounds like stoned-out jazz, dates the picture more than anything else, though the opening theme song is a gone gasser. "Nameless men have heard the cry of silent, pounding hoofs," we're told, "While nameless men like you and I will never hear the wolves!" Huh?? ** from ****

This movie is about a theme you rarely see nowadays. A group of bad guys isolate a town and take it over. This gives rise to many questions about the possibility, but then each question takes valuable time to answer, making it more possible than you might think. The bad guys are robbers in this case, as opposed to a movie that would be made nowadays, in which every writer tries to outdo each other with cold blooded sadists. These characters could be the man shopping next to you at the grocery. That gives this movie an appeal lost in today's market. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet gives a serious enough account to be entertaining. The high hat characters were typical of the time, and actually more realistic than people give credit for, with their "City Hall" mentality. The other characters are well drawn. Good acting helps, too, and so does the atmosphere, in which each scene is well defined. A movie such as this will either sacrifice entertainment value for realism, or vice versa. This is fairly well balanced, but thankfully it leans more to entertainment value. The end twist comes a bit too fast for the modern writing style, but it is good natured and likable. Looks to be done on a small budget, and it comes through as a champion of the small budget movies.

I first saw this as a kid- and have longed to see it again/own it/etc. It is a 10+ as far as plot goes, and although the production is as bad as any B-horror movie you'll ever see it almost adds to the mood of the film. Great action w/cool music, costumes, etc. And a twist of an ending rarely matched in modern screen-writing. A must-see for every movie fan.

Low-budget doesn't begin to describe the cheesy production values of this independent heist movie. The piped-in music, limited camera angles, and production glitches remind me of a porno movie. But, the plot is ingenious -- as gripping as I've seen in a crime movie in 30 years. And, although some of the dialogue is ridiculous in the scenes between townspeople in the first third of the film, all of the dialogue, amongst the criminals and among the law officers once the crime is on, is gritty and realistic. A few story twists help the proceedings along to a most satisfactory conclusion.

It's sad that The Day Of The Wolves was not done by a major studio with some decent scripting and editing as part of the package. Had it been the film could have been a classic. It had the makings.

It's a combination of High Noon and the Phil Karlson noir classic Kansas City Confidential. Richard Egan as the local chief of police busts one of the kids of a city councilman and for his pains loses his job. He takes it philosophically.

At the same time Jan Murray as Preston Foster did in Kansas City Confidential recruits six professional criminals all unknown to each other and all use numbers when addressing each other and him. They also wear gloves at all times so no fingerprints can be detected.

Murray has an audacious military style operation planned to hit several locations in a small town on a pay day at the main employer which is a lumberyard. These heist commandos are trained down to perfection.

But when the operation goes down it's the former sheriff Egan who springs into action, purely from reflex. What happens after that is for you to see. Martha Hyer plays Mrs. Egan and she reacts the same way to his involvement the same way Grace Kelly did.

Shot completely on location in Arizona, The Day Of The Wolves shows many cheap touches, obviously because the film didn't have the budget. One thing that was terribly wrong. Egan has only a shotgun when he deals with the seven criminal commandos. No way in the world he was able to do what he did with only a shotgun which could not have been fired for distance the way it was. Maybe a bigger studio's writing and editing staff would have realized that.

Still it's not a bad TV film and it really could have been a lot better.