Day of Anger

For the "Day of Anger" in Egypt, see 2011 Egyptian protests.
Day of Anger

Italian film poster
Directed by Tonino Valerii
Produced by Henryk Chrosicki
Alfonso Sansone
Screenplay by Ernesto Gastaldi
Tonino Valerii
Renzo Genta
Based on Der Tod ritt dienstags
by Rolf O. Becker
(as Ron Baker, credit only)[1]
Starring Lee Van Cleef
Giuliano Gemma
Walter Rilla
Christa Linder
Yvonne Sanson
Music by Riz Ortolani
Cinematography Enzo Serafin
Edited by Franco Fraticelli
Production
company
Sancrosiap
Corona Filmproduktion
Divina-Film
Distributed by Consorzio Italiano Distributori Indipendenti Film (CIDIF)
Release dates
19 December 1967
Running time
114 minutes (Italy)
88 minutes (US)
Country Italy
West Germany[2]
Language Italian
English

Day of Anger (Italian: I giorni dell'ira, lit. "The Days of Wrath"), also known by its UK titles Blood and Grit and Gunlaw, is a 1967 Italian-German Spaghetti Western film directed and co-written by Tonino Valerii. The film stars Lee Van Cleef and Giuliano Gemma, and features a musical score by Riz Ortolani.[3] The film credits the novel Der Tod ritt dienstags (Death Rode on Tuesdays) by Ron Barker (Rolf O. Becker) as its basis, although Valerii and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi have attested that this credit was primarily included to appease the West German co-producers, and that the film is not an adaptation of Becker's novel.[4]

Day of Anger was Valerii's second film, as well as his second Spaghetti Western, following Taste for Killing. Valerii went on to film his third Spaghetti Western, The Price of Power, also featuring Gemma, in 1969.

Cast

Story

Scott (Gemma) is a young man working as a street sweeper in a small town called Clifton. Scott is looked down upon by the town people, and he has never known his father and only knows his mother's first name was Mary. When Frank Talby (Van Cleef) rides into town and kills 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 (Al Mulock), his former associate who owes him 50,000 dollars. Scott follows him and Talby reluctantly lets him tag along and agrees to teach him a few rules about gunfighting.

Talby and Scott find Wild Jack, but the man tells the pair that he does not have the money anymore, as he was double-crossed by the seemingly respectable citizens of Clifton. 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. With the help of Scott "Mary", as he was named by Talby, Talby quickly takes over the town, but Scott's fast draw has now become a threat to him. After he kills Scott's former mentor, the two decide to settle things in a shoot-out. Scott kills Talby in a duel and all of his gang by taking advantage of the rules Talby once taught him.

Releases

Day of Anger was released in Italy on December 19, 1967 and in Germany on January 12, 1968.[2]

Reception

In his investigation of narrative structures in Spaghetti Western films, Fridlund ranges Day of Anger, together with Death Rides a Horse as prime examples of a "tutorship variation" that further develops the play on age/experience between the protagonists in For a Few Dollars More, with Lee Van Cleef playing the older partner in all three films. In the "Tutorship" films a younger protagonist seeks the more or less reluctant partnership of an older one, but differences of motivation eventually bring them into conflict.[5]

Bibliography

References

  1. Day of Anger (Interview with Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi) (Blu-ray). Hertfordshire, UK: Arrow Films. 1967.
  2. 1 2 "Der Tod ritt dienstags" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  3. Hughes, p.91
  4. "Day of Anger". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  5. Fridlund, Bert: The Spaghetti Western. A Thematic Analysis. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006 pp. 165-7.

External links

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