A Day of Fury

1956 "The story of Jagade... last of the maverick killers!"
6.3| 1h19m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 02 May 1956 Released
Producted By: Universal International Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Town marshal Alan Burnett life is saved by a stranger he meets on the trail. His rescuer turns out to be Jagade, a gunslinger just returned after years away, who finds when he gets into town that he can't abide the peace that has been settled between "his" people (i.e. the saloon-keepers, gamblers, etc.) and the righteous, "respectable" folk.

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Reviews

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
milwhitt702 Dale Robertson has always been a great actor, and Jock Mahoney was one of the most talented horseman, stuntman, and gunslinger in Hollywood. This movie was not right for Dale Robertson, because he was always better than this. I don't really know how Jan Merlin fit in at all. We were never told he and Dale were old friends. However, the female role Mara Cordey,threw me. I thought for certain that she was Margaret Field (or later Maggie Mahoney) who became Jocks real wife. I had to check that out to make sure she didn't use another name. Margaret did some acting in Mahoney westerns so I was sure that was her. I couldn't tell the difference...but I guess Jock could. Her role did make the movie interesting. I never say Mahoney in a bad movie, and my favorite was Slim Carter.
classicsoncall "Day of Fury" gets off to an interesting start when Dale Robertson's character saves Jock Mahoney from an ambush on the trail to West End, but then struggles to deliver in any meaningful manner on the way to a final showdown between the principals. It's supposed to be a story about the passing of the Old West as frontier towns try to put the reputations of feared gunslingers behind them, but having the town marshal in jail for half the story reduced a lot of the dramatic tension that could have been.Maybe the biggest problem with the story was having a character named Jagade. It was pronounced with three syllables enunciating the 'e' at the end, but that just didn't sound quite right. A simple Ja-gade wouldn't have been much better, and since it doesn't seem to derive from another language, it wound up being this big question mark for me throughout the story. I really wish the script would have explained it in some way.The other thing I didn't get was the lapdog character Billy (Jan Merlin), especially since he seemed to tip off the ambush guy on the second floor who was gunning for Jagade. It was fitting Jagade whacked him for it, but instead of making himself an enemy, Billy turns into Jagade's go-fer the rest of the way. Just very odd the way his character was written.The main recommendation, if there is one to be found for this film, is the presence of Robertson and Mahoney, both going on within a couple of years to head up their own TV Westerns. Robertson had the lead in 'Tales of Wells Fargo' as special agent Jim Hardie, while Mahoney brought a suave and sophisticated portrayal to the role of Yancy Derringer. I watched them both as a kid, and when I get the chance, still watch them today.You knew the finale had to come down to a shoot-out between the two, but the writers held their cards pretty close to the vest. We never got to see how good Marshal Burnett (Mahoney) was with a gun, so that element of doubt was always there. At the same time, Jagade pretty much established himself as a heel once he brought the town of West End under his sway. It wasn't the most dramatic of finishes to be sure, but was enough to settle the triangle between the protagonists and Sharman Fulton (Mara Corday). The thing is, it seemed to me she could have had the outcome go either way.
KimB-3 Despite the wooden acting of its stars, this film's intriguing themes and well-written dialog elevate it to something out of the ordinary. "A Day of Fury" is about the end of the Old West, embodied by the gunfighter, and its replacement by "decent folk" and their values. However, one gunfighter returns to town and exposes the hypocrisy and small-mindedness that lies beneath the veneer of civilization. This film is a must-see for those who love Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" as it seems to have inspired that film to a large degree. (One character remarks that if Jagade is allowed to stay, "He'll turn this town into hell.") Despite the emotionless acting of its leads and the irritating, strangely pronounced name of the main character, I enjoyed this film a great deal for its cynical view of the human character and its exposure of human weakness and fear.
phantom-47 I really like these Universal-International colour westerns made in the 1950s. This one was very probably the movie that got Dale Robertson the starring role in "Tales Of Wells Fargo" on TV (which I loved when it first appeared).The chief extra reason why I like this movie though is the other main star was Jock Mahoney, in his usual understated style. He, of course, had previously starred in that superbly action-packed series "The Range Rider" and later "Yancy Derringer".