I giorni dell'ira

Plot synopsis:
Scott is a young man working as a street sweeper in the town of Clifton, Arizona. Scott is looked down upon by the town people, as he has never known his father and only knows his mother's first name was Mary. The only two people who show him respect and friendship are Murph Allan Short, a former gunslinger, and Blind Bill, a partially blind old beggar. When Frank Talby rides into town and kills Perkins, one of Scott's bullies, Scott realizes the opportunity to change his life, and decides to prove his worth as a gunfighter to him. Talby soon leaves town to go after Wild Jack, his former associate, who owes him 50,000 dollars of a planned robbery. Scott follows him and Talby reluctantly lets him tag along and agrees to teach him ten essential rules about gunfighting.
Talby and Scott find Wild Jack, but the criminal tells the pair that he does not have the money anymore, as he was double-crossed by a group of Clifton's most seemingly respectable citizens, the same citizens who despised and mistreated Scott. A gunfight ensues and Scott manages to convince Talby of his skills with a revolver. After taking care of Wild Jack's gang, the pair return to Clifton, where Scott changes his name to "Scott Mary", after Talby's suggestion. Scott showcases his shooting skills at those who resented him, and quickly becomes a feared man.
With Scott's help Talby takes over the town, killing first Perkins' gang and later the inner circle who runs Clifton and conspired to kill Talby when he revealed their dirty secret. Talby becomes the de facto town's manager and Scott his second-in-command. Nevertheless, Scott's old friend Murph, who taught Scott how to shoot, explains Scott that his fast draw and accuracy has now become a threat to Talby, who is aging and wants to settle in Clifton. Soon after, Murph takes the Sheriff's badge and forbids to carry guns. Scott warns Talby not to mess with his former mentor, but Talby obliquely says that he won't back down.
Murph knows that he can't defeat Talby in a duel, but he still decides to face him, as he also knows that in doing so Scott will finally realize that Talby and his ruthless ways are not Scott's true path. When Murph comes to take Talby's gun with Scott watching, Talby shoots and kills him in cold blood. Accordingly, Scott flees in anger and decides to settle things in a shoot-out. Scott finds that Murph left him famous gunfighter Doc Holliday's gun, adjusted for a quick fire, as well as some instructions on how to defeat Talby. Scott defeats Talby's gang by taking advantage of the rules Talby once taught him, and then kills Talby in an open duel. Triumphant but despondent, Scott throws his gun to the floor, takes his friend Blind Bill with him and walks away, apparently leaving Clifton forever.

Tags: western, violence, murder

Review:
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.
It may fall just short of Leone and the first Django movie, but it's still a first-rate spaghetti western..
"Days of Wrath" is an excellent Spaghetti 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.
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.
It is wonderfully choreographed with the film's music, and has that artistic, operatic quality that the very best spaghetti westerns possess.
Tonino Valleni's western is more American in its approach, although the staples of the spaghetti genre are still here.
Close ups, violence (altough not as glorifying as you'd expect from your typical spag), a languid jazzy score by Riz Ortolani (a departure from the typical operatic Morricone scores), and great performances by Lee Van Cleef and Giulliano Gemma.Giulliano Gemma is Scott, the garbage boy for the quite peaceful town of Clifton, a town where the sheriff wanders about without his gun and residents are surprised to hear the sound of gunshots.
Van Cleef is typically superb as Talby, who takes Scott under his wing and teaches him the art of gunslinging by laying out the 9 rules of the gunfigher.
Talby and Scott will come back into Clifton to get the 50,000$ a crook called Wild Jack owed him.
Wild Jack was sold short by Clifton's higher class citizens, so Talby will have to get the money back in his own way.The story follows both Talby's gradual usurping of the city and Scott's progress from a green boy to a man who stands his ground.
This clever and successful Spaghetti Western that owes a considerable debt to Leone deals with a miserable bastard named Scott (Giuliano Gemma) who runs errands and works menial jobs in a little town ; as he's mistreated , 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) .
Later on , it takes place fateful happenings , as they never thought it could happen in their town .The film displays psychological characters-in deep , shootouts , action Western and being enough entertaining .
Gulianno Gemma is good as unfortunate bastard working in worst and dirtiest labors , and Lee van Cleef is cool as cruel gunslinger .
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 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 .
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.
The musical score, cinematography, and strong performances make this particular western a great story that goes beyond the standard thematic gunslinger opera.
Lee Van Cleef gives his best performance on film.
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.
Thrilling spaghetti western with two great performances.
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.
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.
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.
Another Great Van Cleef movie.
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.
Giuliano Gemma gets no respect in "Day of Anger", but this film might be getting too much respect in the "spaghetti western" sweepstakes.
The performances by Lee Van Cleef and Giuliano Gemma are fine, but the film is very choppy, with little or no character development of anybody else.
Van Cleef teaches Gemma the tricks of the gunfighter trade, then once he gains respect, it eventually leads to conflict.
Although "Day of Anger" is good, it certainly is no threat to "The Big Gundown", which is often considered the best of the non-Leone "spaghetti westerns".
"Day Of Anger" is an excellent Spaghetti Western with great actors and one of the genre's best Non-Moricone scores.
Furthermore, "Day Of Anger" contains some of the most remarkable lines in Spaghetti Western dialogue.Scott (Giuliano Gemma), the illegitimate son of a prostitute, lives as an outcast of society in a town called Clifton, where he is responsible for the garbage removal.
One day, however, a mysterious gunman called Frank Talby (the great Lee Van Cleef) comes to town, and begins to teach Scott some self-respect.
Scott, who now calls himself Scott Mary (because his Mother's first name was Mary), follows Talby, who leaves town after shooting a man in self-defense and getting acquitted at court.
But Talby, who teaches Scott one lesson after another for his life as a gunslinger, still got unfinished business with the "good" people of Clifton.
And Scott Mary, who is given a gun by Talby, is just too happy to follow Talby back to Clifton and demand the respect he deserves from the people who oppressed him for years.The acting in "Day Of Anger" is excellent, Lee Van Cleef is brilliant as always, Giuliano Gemma is great too.
The excellent score by Riz Ortolani is one of the genre's best non-Morricone soundtracks, the cinematography is also great.
The dialogue is superb, lines like the ten lessons taught by Talby (one of them is the title of this review) are unforgettable film history."Day Of Anger", an excellent and particularly moving Spaghetti Western, is a must-see for us fans of the genre, but also highly recommended to everybody else.
Nice shootouts, interesting plot, great score (even which isn't written by Morricone), the characters develop very good.
Andy every time in the movie you can stay on Scott's side, even though he begins as a little stable-boy, becomes a tough gunfighter, and in the end a man, who makes his own decisions and who is able to differ the good from the evil.
But he always tried to control him (by telling him, how to shoot and buying him another gun than he has).Talby: "Allright Scott, you can come with me, but don't get your hopes up to high, 'cause it's a dirty life."Great line :>.
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.
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..
Visually, it's not that good either.Tonino Valeri doesn't use the possibilities in Cleef and Gemma's faces.
It holds it's own against any of the non-Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns that made their way stateside.
Lee Van Cleef's Talby is as chilling as his Angel Eyes in The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly and Giuliano Gemma shows why he was once one of Italy's top stars.
Scott (Gemma) isn't yer usual Western hero.
Then one day a guy called Talby (Van Cleef) shows up, and he's all attitude.
Looks like he's an old gunslinger with a beef regarding the more established gentleman of the town, and he's also taken Scott in as an apprentice.
Scott starts developing loyalty problems as his new employer and his old employer start having conflicting views on how the town of Clifton should be run.Just like other 'young gunslinger and mentor' films (Death Rides a Horse, starring Lee Van Cleef, For A Few Dollars More, with Cleef, Beyond The LAw, with Van Lee Cleef, The Grand Duel, with DJ Cleef Lee Van), this one concentrates a lot on the relationship between master and apprentice, but this one has a more sinister tone as you're not sure if Gemma is going to become a victim of Cleef's power grab or not.There's a lot to this film too.
Into which town rides the mysterious Frank Talby and everything starts to be shaken up as two main plot strands emerge; the taking under his wing of Scott by Talby and Talby's efforts to get back the $50,000 dollars he claims is owing to him.
It starts off slowly establishing character then moves up several gears to the gripping climax.Giuliano Gemma as Scott is good and Lee Van Cleef as the ambiguous (Is he a hero or a villain?) Talby is even better.
Although playing in an Italian western was so familiar to him Van Cleef still manages to give a compellingly nuanced performance.
"Day of Anger" Is One of Lee Van Cleef's Best Spaghetti Westerns.
Tonino Valerii's "Day of Anger" ranks in the lower half of the ten top best Spaghetti westerns.
This intelligent, superbly made, marvelously lensed formulaic saga about the rise and fall of a notorious gunfighter holds its own against comparable American horse operas, partially since veteran Hollywood villain Lee Van Cleef of "High Noon" stars as the lead-slinging anti-hero who is as fast on the draw as he is deadly accurate with his aim.
This lean, mean, gritty 95-minute sagebrusher is one of the three best Spaghettis that Van Cleef appeared in, with "Death Rides A Horse" edging "Day of Anger" out as the best, while "For A Few Dollars More" closely follows in third place.
Frank Talby (Lee Van Cleef) delineates the nine things that Scott Mary (co-star Giuliano Gemma of "Fort Yuma Gold") must learn to survive as a gunfighter.
Ninth, when you start killing, you cannot stop it.Scenarists Renzo ("Jungle Holocaust") Genta and Ernesto ("My Name Is Nobody") Gastaldi, along with director Tonino Valerii, based their "Day of Anger" screenplay on a German novel by Ron Barker entitled "Der Tod Ritt Dienstags." Valerii and company waste no time establishing the primary setting in the inhospitable frontier berg of Clifton, Arizona, and we meet an illegitimate fellow simply known as Scott (Giuliano Gemma of "The Master Touch") who was raised in the local bordello and now serves as the community's garbage collector.
Scott's life is grim, unrelenting drudgery until gunfighter Frank Talby (Lee Van Cleef) rides into Clifton and pays Scott a dollar to stable his horse.
Scott flees the town on his mule to track down Talby.
What stands out about the facade of the saloon is that huge, hand-carved, and painted Colt's .45 six-guns serve as the facade uprights.Although this Lee Van Cleef & Giuliano Gemma western is serious from start to finish, "Day of Anger" gets its best joke in early in the action, but you have to be a Spaghetti western fan to appreciate it.
Scott Mary calls his mule 'Sartana,' the name of an invincible gunslinger in Spaghetti westerns.
Lee Van Cleef excels as Talby and Gemma is convincing as the green kid who grows up fast.
Talby remains a static character, while Scott changes over time from a nobody to a somebody, something rare in Spaghettis.
DAY OF ANGER is a solid addition to the spaghetti western genre, shot in attractive Almeria (as with so many films of this genre) and with fine performances from two leads who made the genre their own.
The director behind this one, Tonino Valerii, also handled the popular likes of MY NAME IS NOBODY and A REASON TO LIVE, A REASON TO DIE.The plot is different to most standard spaghetti western stories.
Giuliano Gemma stars as a down-on-his-luck young cleaner who falls in with an infamous gunslinger, played with relish by Lee Van Cleef.
Day of Anger is one of the great spaghetti westerns.
Directed by Tonino Valerri and stars Guiliano Gemma as the hero of the film, a waste collector turned gunslinger named Scott.
All things considered, this is a well shot, well acted spaghetti western.
It is one of the greats of its genre, and should be viewed by any western fan.
One of the best spaghetti westerns.
DAY OF ANGER stars two of the spaghetti genre's superstars.
Lee Van Cleef is the fast gunslinger, Giuliano Gemma is the young man, son of a prostitute, made fun of and treated shamelessly by the town that is taken under the wing of the older, more experienced man.
Scott Mary(his mother's name) is tutored in the use of a short gun, he seems to have a natural talent, and he and Van Cleef take over the town.Van Cleef is righting old wrongs, but he goes to far with the only man who ever treated the young man decently and it causes a confrontation between the pair in the finale of the film.
Old revolver man (Lee Van Cleef) teaches a young guy (Giuliano Gemma) how to get the respect of people in the West!.
Tonino Valerii learned much from Sergio Leone as he was his 2nd unit director (in The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, I think).
Besides the Sergo Leone Spaghetti-Western, the Valerii ones are some of the best and most important for the genre.
In "I giorni dell'ira" we see the story of a Son of a whore who fallows an old revolver man to learn from him how to get the respect of the people of the town he lives in.
But Scott Mary (Gemma) understands too late the real main interests of Talby (Van Cleef) which wants to make money not caring about anything else, after he already became as his master.
The only way out is to use the 10 learned "basic roles of the west" for the revenge and to come back to peace.This movie has all what is important for a good SW: - wonderful sunny desert landscapes from southern Spain, - Good actors (Lee Van Cleef is simply perfect for this role) - Wonderful music in vain of morricones soundtracks for the "dollar" movies - very much suspance and good action.Together with "My name is nobody" (1972) this is the best Valerii western, check it out!.
Lee Van Cleef made his best movie in "Day of Anger".