The wonderful thing about genre films is that
there is no need for originality in plot; all that is needed is creativity in
the presentation of expected narratives. Day
of Anger (also known as Days of Wrath)
is a perfectly example of this, doing little unexpected within the context of a
spaghetti western, but doing it in a way that is never short of fantastic. No
filmmaker is likely to surpass Sergio Leone in popularity when discussing this
sub-genre of film made popular mostly during the 1960s and 70s, but Tonino
Valerii comes remarkably close with this cult classic. Perhaps it did not hurt
to have Leone regular Lee Van Cleef as one of the film’s stars.
In a typical
western storyline, Van Cleef stars as a gunslinger named Frank Talby who is out
for revenge against a group of men who did him wrong. When he enters into a
village in order to find the men he wants vengeance against, Talby befriends a
bastard young man being demeaned and abused by members of the town. Forced to
carry out all menial tasks in town while unable to even have a drink in the
local saloon like an ordinary man, Scott (Guiliano Gemma) learns how to stick
up for himself through a partnership with Talby. The film truly becomes
intriguing when it becomes clear that Scott’s motives are more pure than
Talby’s, and their friendship is tumultuous at best. Even when saving Talby
from a group of men looking to stop him from finding justice, Scott only gives
him enough bullets for the enemies.
Because the
motives of Talby are questionable, it is clear that the morally righteous Scott
will be our protagonist. What is unexpected about the narrative is the
complexity of the relationship between these two men, regardless of how
predictable many plot points may be. Few spaghetti westerns are as balanced as Day of Anger, combining violent
spectacle with a psychologically compelling relationship between the two
characters. This is more than a movie about good versus evil; it is a film
about the spiritual corruption that comes with evil deeds, regardless of their
moral justification.
Arrow Films
should be commended for not merely bringing the out-of-print film to high
definition Blu-ray, but also forgiving the film the treatment that it deserves.
Not only does Riz Ortolani’s score and Enzo Sarafin’s cinematography come
across fantastic in the restored presentation, there are even three different
versions of the film available on the disc. Though I would not recommend the United States
Entertainment Value:
8.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8/10
Historical
Significance: 7/10
Special Features: 7/10
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