The Day of the Wolves

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.

Quentin Tarantino may have seen ALSO this one : the gang boss does not want his men can identify themselves, and he wants them to choose (or he chooses for them : memory is not sure about that) names of numbers or colors or anything else. Remind you something ? It is clearly one source of one of the good ideas of Tarantino in RESERVOIR DOGS. Tarantino has seen many movies : he makes homage to the famous first dialogue line of DEATH TRAP / EATEN ALIVE / STARLIGHT SLAUGTHER (USA 1976) directed by Tobe Hooper in KILL BILL, and to many others movies he has seen in his own movies. He liked what we liked in the 60's & the 70's. And because of his "history of movies" memories, we can even re-discover such movies as this quite funny DAY OF THE WOLVES ! As Latin proverb says : NIHIL NOVI SUB SOLE (Nothing new under the sun) !

While budgetary constraints may be evident, the plot is what probably attracted a quality actor like Richard Egan. Definitely a must see for Tarantino fans, as it seems he watched it more than a few times. The film itself was ahead of its time in terms of plot, and if it were more available, would be a favorite among heist fans. Despite the budget/filming conditions, Egan gives a great performance, giving the writing a bit more than it deserves. All in all, a good watch.

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.

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.