"He was a born a wolf". What a fantastic Lee Van Cleef western, one of the best. From the ludicrously over-the-top opening credits, to the hard-as-nails tough guy dialogue ("The weapon that's going to kill me hasn't been invented yet"). Certainly it feels a little like a theatre play, with the early opening scenes of the sleepy town, and the creeping tension when Talby arrives. Frank Talby is such an Alpha male, he doesn't understand why Scott is worried about people laughing at his name ("Scott Mary"). He says "So what?" - love his character's confidence & toughness. Less of a caricature which took hold with films like Sabata. He's vulnerable too, as we see in the horses dragging him torture scene. I also like Van Cleef's outfit in this film, and his hat. Scott Mary is a very sympathetic protagonist, well acted too. The cinematography and directing is beautiful, some of the camera angles make you feel you're inside the town, observing the events yourself. Good to see Leone homages too, like revisitng the town from For a Few Dollars More (here it's renamed "Bowie") as well as the one armed assassin who tried to kill Tuco in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, playing a particularly nasty ex-colleague of Talby here. It really is like a theatre play with the interval around the point that Talby says "it's too late" for Scott Mary to be a nice guy again, just before the hitman arrives in town (a good point to pause the film). The 2nd half of the movie reminds me oddly of gangster films like Scarface, with Talby taking over the town and the saloon, but too much power/greed corrupts. There's also odd echoes of Star Wars (which came later of course) with Scott akin to Luke and Kirby very much like Obi Wan. For the hardcore fans of this film, I also list Talby's 9 lessons to Scott below. 1 never beg another man, 2 never trust anyone, 3 never get between a gun and its target, 4 punches are like bullets - if you don't make the first one count you might be finished, 5 you wound a man, you got to kill him. Or sooner or later he's gonna kill you, 6 right bullet at the right time, 7 if you untie a man take his gun first, 8 don't give a man any more bullets than what he's got use for, 9 there are times where you have to accept the challenge or lose everything in life anyway. This is one of those times.
Review of Day of Anger
