Sunday in the Country (1974)

Pretty Good

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

'Vengeance is Mine' - also known as 'Sunday in the Country' - the plot of this Canadian thriller revolves around three deranged criminals who plan to force their way into a rural property to evade police pursuit. The film takes a while to warm up with over 40 minutes before farmer Ernest Borgnine and his granddaughter encounter the criminals at their home, but from the moment they meet, tension simmers. The film impressively avoids going in expected directions; this is not the typical home invasion film that one might anticipate, and without revealing too much, it can be said that the film questions whether we should sympathise with Borgnine, who overreacts to the home invaders. In fact, as the film wears on, he seems less and less mentally stable, with this gradual progression a testament to Borgnine's acting ability (by comparison, Michael J. Pollard is irritating throughout, even as he grows easier to relate to in the film's second half). Shot on location in rural Ontario, the film benefits from its isolated setting, which at first makes Borgnine seem all the more vulnerable until we realise just how hard it is for absolutely anyone to get help there given how far away the nearest neighbours are. 'Vengeance is Mine' might not have big shocks as in films like 'Straw Dogs' and 'Death Wish', to which it is often compared, but it comes with a quiet power and lingers in the mind long after it is over.

first i'd like to say that this movie is flawless, only 80 minutes on the version i saw, and anyone who posts trivia on this movie should think hard first. The movie occurs in real time= 1 day, from time to go to church in the morning until its over. Which is before dark. The original Canadian title is Sunday IN THE COUNTRY, and if you have ever lived in the country in the summertime there is a good chance you might eat dinner at 4 pm. Saying that, there is a good chance it may not get dark until as late as 9pm. So whatever previous self proclaimed genius's in here got confused about it being light out after dark....(threw window's or the like) oughta hang it up ! There was more than enough time for this one to play out / without the sun ever needing to fall. DO THE MATH....Now that iv'e got that out of the way....the American title is vengeance is mine, so besides this being what the movie is about i'll spare you the time telling you anything about the movie or it's characters. I'll just tell you this, the daughter is a bleeding heart liberal, the grandfather is an oldfashioned conservative a spooky early 70's movie at the best level with all the shadows....lol! that is under the trees and in a farm house and barn which are both only dimly lit, due to no artificial light. Lite only by add of the sun threw windows, amazingly this you will find happens in the COUNTRY! lol excellent movie that only gets deeper after the 5th viewing. Not a single wasted scene, or word,can be witnessed in this one. I'm certain a movie, better made, in this genre has never occurred. Period. That is a low budget film, If you view this film and don't automatically want to view it at least one more time.....you are the casual sort and one never to be confused with a movie buff.

Three bank robber killers, including "loose cannon" (Michael J. Pollard), become trapped by roadblocks in the rural countryside. Abandoning their stolen vehicle, they hike to a distant farmhouse. Prepared and waiting is a church going farmer (Ernest Borgnine), his granddaughter, and an oafish farmhand. The three uninvited guests are ambushed by Borgnine, taken prisoner, and routinely tortured. As minutes pass, Borgnine becomes less and less stable, and more and more unhinged, leaving the granddaughter as the only hope for sanity to prevail. Although Borgnine gets to deal out his own brand of justice, it comes at a very high price. - MERK

***SPOILERS*** Pulling off a number of bank robberies that resulted in the deaths of two bank tellers this trio of ruthless gangsters run into two local youths on the side of the road in the open countryside. Needing a different car, with new license plates, the three bank robbers Dineili Ackerman and LeRoy, Louis Zorich Cec Linder & Michael J. Pollard, cold-bloody gun down the driver Timmy Peterson, Ralph Endersby, and his girlfriend Jennifer Logan, Susan Petrie, and then head for the open highway. Finding that all the roads out of Field County are blocked by local and highway police the three take off on foot looking for a place to stay until the heat's off and then make their escape. Seeing this farm in, what seems like, the middle of nowhere the three killers descend on it like a pack of wolves first cutting the phone lines and then pompously walking up to the front door to make their grand and murderous entrance; they didn't know it at the time but they'll find out soon enough that they walked right into the teeth of hell.Disturbing and violent vigilante-like movie that leaves you in a state of shock with Ernest Borgnine as the peaceful and church going farmer Adam Smith. Adam uses his own brand of biblical justice, to avenge the blood of those who these three murderers spilled, that in a way made him far more vicious then his gangster victims. At home with his grand daughter Lucy, Hollis McLaren, Adam spots through the window the killers moving in on his house and, knowing who they are and what they did from radio reports, sets a trap for them. Blasting the #1 man, Dineili, of the trio almost in half with his shotgun as he was allowed by Adam to entered the house Adam takes the other two, Ackerman and LeRoy, prisoner and puts them through such a hell that in the end they wished that the police got to them before Adam did. Even though Adam Smith is well within his rights to defend his home and farm from the three criminal desperadoes what he did to them makes you wonder just who's more of the villain and psychopath in the film him or they. Instead of holding the two remanding bank robbers captive until the police come to take them into custody, like his grand daughter Lucy wanted him to do, Adam put them though the ringer by almost hanging them in his basement, with only their tip toes keeping them for getting strangled. Later Adam has Ackerman run for his truck, to drive back to town and get the police to come over, as he turns his two dogs Peter & Paul on Akerman who tear him to pieces. LeRoy the most vicious of the three who Adam really wanted to do in gets saved by the police, whom Lucy got to come over, but later carjacks the patrol car killing the two officers. It's then when LeRoy comes back to the farm to get even with what Adam did to him that turned out to be the biggest, and last, mistake he was ever to make.Even though Adam Smith is the avenging angel in the movie it's hard to really like him even though he saves everyone, himself his grand daughter Lucy and farm hand Luke (Vladimir Valerta), from the three killers. I just wondered how many people watching the movie would want him as a next door neighbor!