By ANTHONY LUSARDI
Day of Anger (1967),
Tonino Valerii
If Death Rides a Horse wasn’t enough to satisfy, and you
wish to see another spaghetti western where payback is overdue, Day of Anger is
a great choice.
Once again, Lee Van Cleef takes the lead as Frank Talby,
an opportunist who strolls into the quiet town of Clifton to set up his own
casino. But there are a couple of criminals and corrupted town officials that
he must bring down. Things seem a bit okay for Talby though, when he receives a
welcome from social outcast Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma). And this outcast
becomes a very big ally in Talby's ambitions in town.
Scott Mary is the town street sweeper and trash
collector, and therefore treated as something unclean. Wishing to become
someone big and important with a sense of acceptance, he finds opportunity when
Talby shows him compassion and puts a revolver in his hand. And since Talby’s
opponents are the same bullies of Scott Mary, it’s safe to assume that this
whole town is about to erupt like a volcano.
Yet, payback isn’t the only thing that makes this story
so interesting. In a world where trust can be defined by the type of gun
somebody puts in your hand, things may not be what they seem between Talby and
Scott Mary. Spaghetti westerns were known for reshaping the western genre by
featuring more anti-heroic characters. Day of Anger blurs the line between who
is good and who is bad. The chemistry between the characters is superb, backed
up with flawless acting by Van Cleef and Gemma.
Day of Anger is noted for its own revenge theme,
character development, and music by Riz Ortolani, whose musical reputation goes
beyond spaghetti westerns. It also started a common “tutorship” theme where a
younger gun seeks the tutelage of an older gun. Talby certainly has a lot of
lessons for Scott Mary, one of them being that once you start killing, you
can't stop. Such lessons turn out to be true, as Clifton is put on a path to
gunfire and destruction.
Day of Anger is a .45 colt pistol that shoots a powerful
bullet. Definitely don’t get between it and its target.
Trivia: Aside from
spaghetti westerns, composer Riz Ortolani has achievements in a variety of
genres, including Italian giallo, Eurospy, exploitation, and mondo. In 1962, he
earned a Grammy award and Academy Award nomination for the song “More,” which
appeared in the movie, Mondo Cane. His music has been used in modern video
games such as Grand Theft Auto: London 1969, and in movies like Kill Bill, Drive,
and Django Unchained.
ANTHONY LUSARDI
Lives in Rockaway Borough
He's a 2013 graduate of Centenary College (now Centenary
University) in Hackettstown, NJ
He currently work as a freelance reporter
Anthony is an avid movie fan, reader, and lover of arts
and entertainment. I've attended and covered music concerts, art exhibits,
festivals, parades, book readings, library lectures, and even a movie premiere
in Parsippany and a movie shooting in Roxbury.
[Continued next
week]
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