| Day of the Cobra | |
|---|---|
 Italian poster for Day of the Cobra | |
| Directed by | Enzo G. Castellari |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Aldo Lado [1] |
| Produced by | Turi Vasile [1] |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Giovanni Bergamini [1] |
| Edited by | Gianfranco Amicucci [1] |
| Music by | Paolo Vasile |
Production company | Laser [1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes [1] |
| Country | Italy [1] |
| Box office | ₤489 million |
Day of the Cobra (Italian : Il giorno del Cobra) is a 1980 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Enzo G. Castellari.
 | This article needs a plot summary.(September 2019) |
Director Enzo G. Castellari initially approached Vasile with a script written by Vasile's son. The boxing film project was shelved and Vasile offered Castellari to direct Day of the Cobra. [1] Day of the Cobra was written by Aldo Lado who was initially going to direct the film. [1] Lado's story was initially set right after World War II in Trieste. [2] Castellari's film is set in the present day and he imagined the film a "homage to Chandler. [2]
Castellari cast many actors who he had previously worked with, including Franco Nero and Massimo Vanni. [2] He also cast some of his family members such as his brother Enio Girolami and daughter Stefania. [2]
Day of the Cobra was shot on location in San Francisco, Genoa and at Incir-de Paolis in Rome. [1]
Day of the Cobra was released on August 12, 1980. [1] The film grossed a total of 489,000,000 Italian lira on its domestic release. [1] The score of the film was by Paolo Vasile which was released by Cinevox. [1]
According to the German book Der Terror führt Regie: "Day of the Cobra is technically pure cinema. The film suffers a bit in its pandering to American viewing habits." [3] Online film database AllMovie gave the film two stars out of five, stating that a "key flaw is the maddening story line, which manages to be over-complicated and half-baked all at once." and that "elements of the story simply rehash other, better thrillers, like The French Connection ." [4] The review noted that the film contains "a few worthwhile action set pieces. The rooftop chase that opens the film is quite exciting and there is also a memorably tongue-in-cheek scene where Nero dukes it out with a transvestite in an empty disco. However, the viewer must wade through a lot of clichés and dull passages to get to these moments" [4]
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