Load of rubbish!!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Blistering performances.

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.

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.

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.

Just re-saw this "B" heist film. The plot was interesting, the acting was decent, and there are a host of washed-up former stars throughout. For fans of such films as Ocean's Eleven (both versions), The Anderson Tapes, The Killing, Assault on the Queenm,Heat, and Dayton's Devils, this is an enjoyable little film. Made on a shoe string budget; the texture of the film is fair, and the camera work makes it look like a high school production, but the over all look and feel of the movie is entertaining. There is even a surprise ending which is comical. Richard Egan does a professional job, as does Jan Murray. However, Martha Hyer has aged badly and has lost her sexy looks from her role in the Carpetbaggers. So, if you're a fan of caper and heist films, this is the movie for you.

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.