The Day of the Wolves (1971)

It's sad that The Day Of The Wolves was not done by a major studio with some decent scripting and editing as part of the package. Had it been the film could have been a classic. It had the makings.It's a combination of High Noon and the Phil Karlson noir classic Kansas City Confidential. Richard Egan as the local chief of police busts one of the kids of a city councilman and for his pains loses his job. He takes it philosophically.At the same time Jan Murray as Preston Foster did in Kansas City Confidential recruits six professional criminals all unknown to each other and all use numbers when addressing each other and him. They also wear gloves at all times so no fingerprints can be detected.Murray has an audacious military style operation planned to hit several locations in a small town on a pay day at the main employer which is a lumberyard. These heist commandos are trained down to perfection.But when the operation goes down it's the former sheriff Egan who springs into action, purely from reflex. What happens after that is for you to see. Martha Hyer plays Mrs. Egan and she reacts the same way to his involvement the same way Grace Kelly did.Shot completely on location in Arizona, The Day Of The Wolves shows many cheap touches, obviously because the film didn't have the budget. One thing that was terribly wrong. Egan has only a shotgun when he deals with the seven criminal commandos. No way in the world he was able to do what he did with only a shotgun which could not have been fired for distance the way it was. Maybe a bigger studio's writing and editing staff would have realized that.Still it's not a bad TV film and it really could have been a lot better.

With a title like this, one might expect a cast like Leslie Nielson, Lynda Day George and Stuart Whitman pitted against a town full of rabid canines. In actuality, it's a heist flick with ambitions a bit beyond its budget. (The title is explained within the film as well.) Murray plays a mysterious ringleader who hires six men to carry out the elaborate scheme of fleecing an entire small desert town in a matter of three hours. They are each given numbers, instead of names, and he asks them to disguise themselves with beards and to wear gloves all the time in an effort to keep their identities secret, even from each other. They happen to converge on the town the very day they've assigned a new sheriff the previous one, Egan, having been deemed too strict and too cynical for what the city fathers assume to be an ideal town. Fortunately, Egan hasn't gotten around to fully vacating since he's practically all that stands between the seven numbered thieves and their targets. Egan gives an able enough performance, though it's nothing to write home about. As his wife, Hyer is handed a thankless and colorless role. She had been experiencing severe career slippage up to this film and wisely took a hike forever after. If she were going to slum anyway, it's a shame it couldn't have been in Irwin Allen's or Jennings Lang's disaster epics where at least she'd have been dressed nicely and photographed well. Murray seems to be enjoying a break from more comedic parts. Jason looks pretty good and does fairly well as one of the hired henchmen. Capps, as Number 6, has one of the swishiest walks that any ostensibly macho male character ever displayed on film. A novel concept is at least interesting enough to hold the viewer's attention, but it really can't fully take off thanks to a couple of things. First, the budget is very tight and so the settings, the lighting, the cinematography and the action sequences take a hit. The shootouts aren't too bad, but the scenes involving skydiving are hampered. Also, the script (written by the director, who also produced!) lacks zing and polish. A bit too much time is spent in the set-up and with the dullards of the town while more tense scenes would have been welcomed during the actual carrying out of the crime or perhaps a bit more development of the dénouement. There are also several bad actors on hand, apart from the name brand quartet. Stay alert, however, for the hilarious female extra who gets to say the line, "Pete Anderson's been hurt!" She and her crony look like the inspiration for Joy and Verla in the syndicated comic strip The Dinette Set and they amuse with their heinous over-listening to the scene at hand. One preposterous development has several of the henchman being shown clean shaven and then wearing full, year-long grown beards within a day or two – which look very fake – only to be later shown shaving them off as if they are real! That's probably the most ridiculous thing in the movie. Otherwise, it's really not too bad a time killer and has elements that surely inspired the makers of other later (and better) heist films. Distinctive character actor Helton has a brief, but amusing, cameo as a farmer.

Like my summary suggests, this IS the worst film ever made. The acting is wooden, the plot is paper thin, and the budget...well, budget implies that there was money to make this film, and quite frankly, I don' think that they had one. It must have taken the director an hour to write tops, and the only reason that I have seen it is because I couldn't be bothered to do my Geography coursework and found it on the smallest of channels available, one that shows the "Classic", b/w beverly hillbillies shows - prior to singing on the theme tune. The other review did not talk about the plot, so let me explain:7bearded men (who look suspiciously like Fidle Castro) rob the town for all its worth, can the former sheriff save the day? Cheapest of stunts, dramatic dying scenes (its like this will be their "BIG BREAK" and poor direction makes this film drag on. But it is because of all of these things, that the film is so funny to watch. It is truly awful, but worth a watch, because you will appreciate other films - you may even begin to like George Lazenby as Bond. This film is shocking, but watch it, you will laugh your head off if you take the piss out of it. The ending, is particularly memorable.

I first saw this as a kid- and have longed to see it again/own it/etc. It is a 10+ as far as plot goes, and although the production is as bad as any B-horror movie you'll ever see it almost adds to the mood of the film. Great action w/cool music, costumes, etc. And a twist of an ending rarely matched in modern screen-writing. A must-see for every movie fan.