Violent Saturday (1955)

You won't be disappointed!

Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Once or twice this almost slips into melodrama but a strong cast with a strong script and magical direction and cinematography keep this moving wonderfully. Described in my Blu-ray booklet as a, 'sun-kissed noir' and it is hard to argue with as the bright and sunny cinemascope visuals collide with the devilish doings of the three bad dudes in town. Filmed in copper mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, the industry is woven seamlessly into the story as the various inhabitants criss cross each others lives and we learn remarkably much as they interact with each other. There is a marvellous scene in a drug store which sells everything (I even noticed a rack of pulp paperbacks) where we follow one character in, another is already in there and there is a brief exchange as unnoticed one of the bank robbers enters to make a crucial phone call. There are also great shots as the train crosses the desert, skies as good as any of Ford's. I'm not especially a fan of Victor Mature but he does well here mixing home life, work life and heroism. Not by any means action and hip talk all the way but convincingly and entertainingly structured to great effect. Oh and just watch out for Ernest Borgnine as an Amish farmer.

I noticed the name of Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in the cast and I said to myself that I'll see a good thriller with a bank robbery. I was wrong. The film is a great drama, actually there are three different stories that intertwine. One is that of those who rob the bank. Then the story of the family of Shelley Martin(Victor Mature), who manages to kill 3 of those 4 gangsters. Then the story of the family of Fairchild Boyd(Richard Egan), whose wife is murdered during the robbery. Intelligent script, well played. Victor Mature in certain frames seems a clone of Sylvester Stallone. Marvin and Borgnine have smaller roles, the film is made in 1955, they are not yet the stars of the 60s, 70s or 80s. By the way, Borgnine, an Amish who hates violence, kills the gangster of all gangsters, Mister Lee Marvin, with a hayfork. Enjoy!

As a school kid, my Grand-dad took me to see this picture, and it stayed in my mind. BUT, only for the rather undesirable nastiness. Revisiting it again years later, it's hard to believe we managed to stay awake back then! (my wife quite justifiably fell asleep within the first 20mins) This was Hollywood in decline.When television took off and theatres began to close, 20th Century Fox foolishly decided that all their productions would be in CinemaScope and garish DeLux color...even when the subject did not call for it! This decision would see many of their 50s-60s productions filled with artless images ~ this is just one of them. What might have been a tight little B/W crime melodrama gets 'Lost in Gloss' and GIANT screen vistas (mostly shot in pokey little hotel rooms!) The unfortunate Director of Photography: veteran, Charles G. Clarke, and Director: the checkered careered, Richard Fleischer (son of famous Animator Max) had to place and actor in each corner of the room, with one in center just to fill the unnecessary spaces. This often gave many films an empty feel.Then came the change in writing style. Film companies were looking towards TV production for fast profits on small budgets, and because everything made for cinemas would end up on TV, they began making 'BIG' screen TV style movies. Many movie makers and writers had crossed over to TV anyway, and sooner or later it would all look the same. Many viewers didn't seem to know what constituted quality, so on it went.Now we have 'modern' critics looking for all kinds of hidden meaning in these cheaply scripted 50s works ~ along with 'modern' movie makers copying the so-called 'new trend' in violence. Mostly, it simply added up to 'cheap and fast'. 'Violent Saturday' was also treated to overwrought 50s style mellow-drama, a style largely made famous by W.B. TV, and other endless series like Peyton Place, etc, etc...As for performances, we have the capable Stephen McNally wasted in yet another type cast thuggish role ~ Tommy Noonan playing an outlandishly wimpish perv of a bank Manager --a role so hokey it creaks!-- Richard Egan again type cast in a part he's played endlessly ~ Acting honors probably go to veteran Sylvia Sidney in a part that amounts to little more than an unnecessary sub plot. The rest of the women do what they can with thankless roles ~ Victor Mature does what he does best...with a character who talks to his son about 'fear being nothing to be ashamed off', and 'decorated heroics' as not essential in general life --who is then made 'hero' to the towns kids for having killed the most villains-- Lee Marvin just plays Lee Marvin all over again, this time, showing delight in being violently cruel to kids. So this was the so-called bold new 'adult' approach to film-making. This same juvenile 'adult' approach, has continued to fester in movie making today. Screenplay Writer: Sydney Boehm had done better with Fritz Lang just two years earlier with "The Big Heat". Forget "Saturday" look to the "Heat" if you want a better example of low cost 50s Noir that largely still holds up today. Disc quality note: The Bounty DVD copy I bought a few years ago, has poor image quality, regardless of having the Fox logo on the cover. Subsequent re-issues may be better (?)

"Violent Saturday" is like a tricked-out CinemaScope (2.55:1) version of "Desperate Hours", both films were released in 1955. Add in a lot of the small town angst ("Picnic" and "Peyton Place") that 1950's moviegoers were seeking for some reason. Richard Egan, Steven McNally, and Victor Mature are the featured actors in a large cast of character actors who were not likely to generate much action at the box office. Whether by coincidence or design the three look very much alike with the same lack of subtlety in their acting techniques. If this casting unity was by design, the interchangeability might be intended to convey the same quality in the three characters; implying how it is fate that determines who becomes a criminal, a coward, and a hero. And maybe not.Director Richard Fleischer and screenwriter Sid Boehm have made an entertaining picture that moves along nicely until the wheels fall off in its climatic action scene. The bank robbery itself is more Hitchcock McGuffin than central focus; mostly it is in the story to provide some motivational elements for the overwrought melodrama and as a way to pull back out of the muck of petty small town life for brief periods. It is certainly anti-climatic. This is mostly due to inconsistencies in the scripting of Ernest Borgnine's character, plus some extremely lame action elements. But this was not a film noir feature so much as a pontification to the Hays Code and the need to artificially inject some "crime does not pay" comeuppance into a story that should have stuck to its "post-WWII veterans vs those who did not serve" theme.Tommy Noonam, Sylvia Sidney, and Egan are actually quite good. It was a good part for Egan whose tendency to seem disconnected from his material serves him well in this part. His final scene outside the hospital is extraordinary; by far the best material in the whole screenplay and a nice reflection on Fleischer's acting for the camera direction.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.