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Scott (Giuliano Gemma) is the lowest of the low in the peaceful Western
town of Clifton, sweeping the floors, collecting the shitbuckets, doing
all sorts of filthy work, and never being respected by anyone other than
old Murph (Walter Rilla), in whose stables he's allowed to sleep. Scott
has dreams of one day owning a gun to earn himself the respect he yearns
for, but so far he's only got a wooden replica, and the money he has saved
won't afford him one by a longshot. But then one day, gunman Talby (Lee
Van Cleef) comes into town, and even though he doesn't have to, he treats
Scott with respect, gets into a fight when a local wants to throw Scott
out of the saloon, and ultimately he shoots another local in self defense
- and is acquitted by judge Cutchell (Lukas Ammann) for it. Then he just
rides on, but Scott is beaten to a pulp for confessing in Talby's defense
in court, which is the final straw for him and he skips town, rides after
Talby and ... well, asks him if he may become his student. Talby, a
notorious loner, first tricks and humiliates Scott time and again to get
rid of him, but when Scott saves his life, Talby gives in and makes him
his sidekick - and since Scott proves to be a natural marksman, it seems a
match made in heaven ... Presently, Talby is after the loot of Wild
Jack's (Al Mulock) last heist, but Wild Jack was tricked out of it as
well, and the trail leads back to Clifton, where a handful of extremely
respectable citizens - including judge Cutchell, the local banker Turner
(Ennio Balbo) and the bar owner Murray (Andrea Bosic) - have taken
possession of Wild Jack's money and sent him to prison for their own sake. Talby
soon makes it known that he is here, withdrawing money from the bank even
if he has no account, than buying himself into Murray's bar for super
cheap ... which of course has those who have tricked Wild Jack pretty
nervous and jumpy - and soon enough, the city has turned into something of
a war zone. Scott seemingly thrives under the city's new rule, he's now
on the winning side, he's respected as one of the greatest gunmen, and
those who don't fear Scott feat Talby, who always has Scott's back. Murph
warns Scott about Talby, but Scott won't listen. At first, Talby does
stay within the law, only shooting someone who draws first (and there are
plenty), but eventually, he grows so big he starts to live more and more
by his own standards, including burning down Murray's saloon with Murray
inside to open a bigger and better one that is his and his alone. With
stuff like this going on, the town hires deputies, but even they are no
match for Talby, and Scott helps in eliminating them ... until Murph
becomes the new sheriff - and now Scott has to decide between his
trigger-happy idol and his honest-to-a-fault father figure ... Day
of Anger has pretty much everything you'd expect from a good spaghetti
Western: Cynicism aplenty, scores of violence, stylized shoot-outs, an
overly dramatic musical score, Lee Van Cleef, and so on and so forth - and
yet, Day of Anger is more than just that, offering politico-social
commentary under the surface, plus interesting and unusual characters and
character constellations, and a very original story to top it off
(especially in a genre as formulaic as the spaghetti Western). And add to
that a very elegant directorial effort that includes plenty of action,
shoot-outs, fights and the like, and you've got yourself a pretty great
genre movie!
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