Long Days of Vengeance (1967)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Admirable film.

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This particular spaghetti western has some attributes that will be appealing to those that like the genre. First of all, it has a fantastic musical score, music that stands up to the most famous music found in movies of this genre. The look of the movie also has some offbeat touches. There are a few striking images, and some of the direction is eye-catching, ranging from a long and uninterrupted shot of the hero picking off bad guys one by one, to the fact that the hero's face isn't shown for the first twenty or so minutes of the movie.However, the movie has some problems. The story is somewhat confusing, with some key details seemingly left out. Also, the movie is way too long at 111 minutes. If it had been cut by twenty to thirty minutes, I think it would have run a lot better.Those problems, however, did not stop me from enjoying the movie... though I am a die hard spaghetti western fan. If you enjoy the genre like me, you'll probably enjoy this movie. If not... well, you most likely won't.

After three years of heavy physical labor in a hellish prison in the desert, the former Sheriff Ted Barnett (Giuliano Gemma) escapes. Barnett was framed by three men and wrongly convicted for thirty years of hard work for the murdering of his father. He looks for those that had accused him seeking revenge and the first one he meets is Gomes, who owns a barbershop, and he kills him in self-defense. Then he travels to Charleston where his former wife is married with Sheriff Douglas (Francisco Rabal). When Barnett confronts Douglas, he tells that he had killed Barnett's father. They shoot each other and Barnett kills Douglas. He finally meets the last powerful man that sent him to jail and his former wife helps him to get the evidences to prove his innocence to the judge. But the criminal does not intend to surrender to justice. "Long Days of Vengeance" is a conventional story of injustice and revenge. The plot does not offer any surprise and sooner the viewer knows who the killers are. I have just watched this film in a dreadful DVD released by the Brazilian Distributor Look Films that certainly has digitalized a common VHS to make the DVD. The DVD is dubbed in Portuguese and does not offer the original audio with subtitles; further, the framing is awful, too close. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Dias de Vingança" ("Days of Vengeance")

For a Spaghetti Western enthusiast like myself, movies starring Giuliano Gemma are always worth a try. Florestano Vancini's "I Lunghi Giorni Della Vendetta" aka. "Days Of Vengeance" of 1967, a Spaghetti Western based on The Count Of Monte Christo is certainly an enjoyable film, but it is nevertheless quite a bit overrated among my fellow fans of the Italian Western. I personally found the movie great in the beginning, but it gets a lot weaker throughout the second half, as far as I am considered.Ted Barnett (Gemma) who has been wrongfully convicted to 30 years of heavy labour for the murder of his father, escapes his brutal desert prison camp, and longing for nothing but to take revenge on his father's real murderers, who had put the blame on him...As mentioned above, I really liked the first half of the movie a lot. Gemma's character Ted Barnett is a typical antihero driven by his desire for revenge. Unfortunately, as the movie goes on, Barnett becomes more and more of a 'good guy', who wants justice and peace rather than just to take revenge. One of the greatest qualities of "Days Of Vengeance" is the score, especially the main theme by Ennio Morricone, which Quentin Tarantino used in Kill Bill almost four decades later. Giuliano Gemma is cool as always in the lead, beautiful Nieves Navarro, who has been in quite a few Italian Westerns, including Sergio Sollima's "The Big Gundown" (1966), plays her role very well, most of the other supporting performances are also OK, although not particularly breathtaking. Overall, "Days Of Vengeance" is entertaining enough, but, in my opinion, slightly overrated by some of my fellow Spaghetti Western fans.

It´s a rarely seen, unknown Spaghetti Western Classic, you might want to check out, if you are not only interested in the classics by Sergio Leone or Sergio Corbucci. This one has extraordinary camerawork and good acting by Giuliano Gemma, who is playing a character seeking for revenge in typical italian style. It´s very dark and has kind of a gothic horror atmosphere, which makes it a little bit different from other Spaghetti Westerns. So, do check it out!!