The Day of the Wolves

1971 "They Ravaged A Whole City"
5.7| 1h31m| G| en| More Info
Released: 01 January 1971 Released
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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A group of six thieves selected from different areas are sent a letter that promises them a minimum of $50,000 and includes a plane ticket. The letter instructs them to grow a beard. After being given a blindfolded ride from the airport, they arrive at a ghost town and meet with the boss (Number #1, Jan Murray). All of the "Wolves" are assigned a number, wear identical overalls and instructed never to take off the gloves that they are given. They are only to address eachother by their numbers; in that way, if one is caught, he can't rat-out the others. Number #1 reveals to them that they will take over a town, and clean it out. Using the ghost town for training, they develop their tactics to fleece the town.

Genre

Drama, Crime

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Director

Ferde Grofé Jr.

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The Day of the Wolves Audience Reviews

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
classicsoncall I couldn't help thinking that with a better script, bigger budget and a celebrity cast, the story in "The Day of the Wolves" has some potential as a modern day blockbuster. You know, somewhere on the order of the 'Ocean' films (they used numbers too). Instead, you have a quickie flick from Balut Productions made on the cheap, as in less than two hundred grand. So with all that, it's not a bad little programmer that surprisingly holds your interest even as Jan Murray puts together a gang of criminals with the worst set of fake beards in movie history.You know, I remember Jan Murray from watching TV as a kid and recall seeing him many times, yet when I check his credits here on the IMDb, most of his appearances in the Fifties and Sixties were as TV guest spots, so something doesn't compute. As a comedian he seemed to have been all over the place, so maybe it was on a bunch of game shows and variety hours. I don't think I ever saw him as a clown.In an earlier time, I think a group of criminals using this modus operandi might have actually gotten away with it. A few of them in the picture actually did, which kind of surprised me, but this was after the Production Code lost influence. When it clicked with Number #4 (Rick Jason) in his hospital bed that Uncle Willie was Number #1, I almost thought the picture would smoke out the rest of the outlaws. However the picture was already hitting the ninety minute mark and I knew this shoestring budget could only go so far.Here's a suggestion for the folks at Mill Creek Entertainment - take this one out of your Westerns box set and trade it out for "Drums in the Deep South" that's found in the Mystery/Crime compilation. Both moves would make a lot more sense.
bkoganbing 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.
Erin McHugh While budgetary constraints may be evident, the plot is what probably attracted a quality actor like Richard Egan. Definitely a must see for Tarantino fans, as it seems he watched it more than a few times. The film itself was ahead of its time in terms of plot, and if it were more available, would be a favorite among heist fans. Despite the budget/filming conditions, Egan gives a great performance, giving the writing a bit more than it deserves. All in all, a good watch.
witness-2 This movie was filmed back in 1971 in Lake Havasu City, Az. I really liked the movie, but unfortunately I knew a lot of the local people that they used in the film, & the layout of the town. So the "towns people" laughed at how it was made and their family or friends that were in it. They didn't stop to think of how possible it was for this to really happen. I've been waiting for someone like yourselves to give their thoughts on it. Now I can show the people who were here at that time, that it truly was a good movie. Thanks