Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

chipe I liked this movie when I first saw it many years ago. Today it seems even better -- a good, well planned, logical, noir-like story (even if a mite unrealistic); and good acting and production values. I recommend it highly.I can see why it got a low vote here (not many action scenes, few outdoor scenes, many talky scenes, the bad guy is the main character). It is surely an unusual Western -- strong on character and moral symbolism.Here are some observations (including some mild spoilers):-- the ponderous forward to the film describes it as the "final chapter" of untamed gunfighters standing in the way of "civilization." At the end of the film, Mahoney asks Robertson why he didn't just leave, and Robertson replies that there was no other place to go, as though the town of West End was the last place for him to assert his way of life.-- Robertson had no gang (other than errand-boy Merlin). He got his way by force of character and paying the blacksmith, barber, et. al. high sums to give up their principles and work on Sunday.-- it was interesting that bad guy Robertson saved Marshal Mahoney's life at the start of the film, so it was implied throughout that Marshal Mahoney was protecting Robertson out of favoritism/repaying a debt. But actually, Robertson never broke the law till maybe the end when he liquored up some guys to try to lynch Mahoney. The town council could have (but didn't) enact any blue laws! -- an early several minutes scene shows the expert, economical direction: Robertson arrives in town and shows his skill with a gun, his arrogance, distrust of the courts and familiarity with Mara Corday, the Marshal's intended. Mahoney soon shows up to defend Robertson. Mahoney gets credit for killing the man actually shot by Robertson while saving Mahoney. Most of the important characters (preacher, Miss Timmons, the Judge. etc.) are introduced.-- There were many well written lines in the film. One of my favorites is when Mara Corday expresses to her fiancée Mahoney that she is afraid that with Robertson free to do as he pleases, she might revert to her old saloon girl life. Mahoney replies, "I'm sure of you even if you're not sure of yourself." -- the supporting acting was fine, especially Jan Merlin and Dee Carroll (Miss Timmons) and the preacher. Remarkable the way all the many supporting characters were so quickly fleshed out, each with their own quirks.-- neat the way Robertson can manipulate the men and women in town because he understands how they tick and preys on their weaknesses, except Marshal Mahoney -- he has integrity, and Robertson (and the townies) wonders if it is because Mahoney is afraid of Robertson or is in debt to Robertson for saving his life or is simply a rock-solid lawman.-- had to feel sorry for beautiful Corday. She is grateful to the town for accepting her as a reformed saloon girl. She sneaks (so the town won't know) into the saloon to beseech Robertson to go off with her to save the town. He says no, but she is seen sneaking out of the saloon. The townsfolk (including her once-friendly Judge-landlord) kicks her out, and she won't be accepted in anyplace decent, so Mahoney has to take her to a hotel in town. And after Mahoney is jailed, she is about to be forced out of town with Robertson.

whitec-3 A well-turned screenplay, efficient editing, good small-scale production values, and tense directing make A Day of Fury much better than most Westerns.Dale Robertson is a better actor than his reputation, but all 3 leads are limited in range. The best role and performance are the Preacher by John Dehner, who helps any film in which he appears. Most Westerns present ministers either as comic-cowardly milquetoasts or as unrealistic studs who give up their guns for the good book. When changes unsettle the town, Day of Fury's Preacher is the first to lose his temper and threaten violence, but then he's embarrassed by his own failing and horrified that his parishioners turn into a lynch mob.The plot plays an interesting variation on the classic Western formula of the Old Wild West struggling to survive in or against the Cleaned-Up Bourgeois Town. The taciturnity of Robertson's Jigade fairly inverts the man-of-few-words Sheriff typically played by Joel McCrea or Randolph Scott into a Mephistophelean villain who quietly but steadily chips and shatters the thin veneer of civilization until the townsfolk break down into drunken irresponsibility, foolish greed, and vengeful terror. Jagade's opportunistic power compromises the town's Sheriff, played by the physically imposing Jock Mahoney, whose taciturnity can only dwindle to mute puzzlement until the wild card in Jagade's deck--the punk gunman Billy Brant--changes the game and creates a clear path of action for the law.The sets are few, but the director keeps moving the characters across each other in well-defined space. The film's most impressive quality is to open with an atmosphere of uncertainty that steadily escalates into tension or dread. But its most interesting feature is that the anti-hero Jagade seems to have orchestrated the story as a suicide note.

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.