Day of Anger is finally getting the distribution package it deserves when the film, arguably one of the best spaghetti westerns ever made, hits the streets with a DVD/Blu-ray release with U.K.-based distributor Arrow Films. The film stars Lee Van Cleef, who skyrocketed to stardom thanks to Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, but the actor wisely stuck around Italy for a bit continuing to make spaghetti westerns including this one, directed by Leone's former assistant, Tonino Valerii.

Giuliano Gemma play Scott Mary, a street cleaner who is rather relentlessly bullied by the townspeople of Clifton. When the legendary gunfighter Frank Talby (Van Cleef) arrives in town, Mary takes it upon himself to lift himself out of the gutter and, quite possibly, surpass Talby's own gunfighting skills.

Still, why is Talby even in town?

Day of Anger features a magnificent score from Riz Ortolani, and a terrific chemistry from the film's two co-leads that drives everything that occurs in this intelligent, action-packed, and some pretty remarkable fight choreography for a film originally released in 1967.

As is true of all the releases from Arrow, Day of Anger features some terrific extras including:

• • Brand new restoration from the original 35mm Techniscope camera negative
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of both versions of the film: the original Italian theatrical release, and the shortened version that was screened internationally
  • Original uncompressed mono audio, with English or Italian soundtracks on the longer cut and an English soundtrack on the shorter one
  • Newly translated English subtitles for Italian audio and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
  • Brand new interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
  • Brand new interview with Tonino Valerii’s biographer Roberto Curti
  • Previously unreleased 2008 interview with Tonino Valerii
  • Deleted scene
  • Theatrical trailers
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist
  • Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Howard Hughes (author of Spaghetti Westerns), illustrated with original poster designs

  © Written by Richard Propes
  The Independent Critic