Richard Fleischer made his name directing black and white B movies for RKO, especially "The Narrow Margin" and "Armored Car Robbery", both starring Charles McGraw, one of the great screen hard men. Fleischer made 'Violent Saturday" for 20th Century Fox, and it was nothing like as tight and economical as those two classics. It concerns three crooks coming to a small town to rob the bank, always a promising set-up.
I think there are two main reasons for the relative inferiority of this one. One is the use of Cinemascope: colour and widescreen photography, nearly all in sunlight, though well done here, can never be as satisfying in a thriller as the old black and white. The other problem is the script. Hard to believe when it's by Sydney Boehm, who wrote some great noirs, including "The Big Heat" and "Undercover Man", both with Glenn Ford. Others have complained about the amount of soap and mentioned "Peyton Place," published the year after this film was released, and presumably the fault was with the novel on which Boehm based his script. We spend too much time on Victor Mature's desire to be a hero to his young son, and Richard Egan as a poor little rich boy driven to drink by the infidelities of his wife Emily. It doesn't help that while Mature and Egan were handsome hunks and catnip to the ladies, both are rather dull. More interesting is Tommy Noonan as the timid bank manager, married but given to taking his dog for a walk so that he could spy on, and drool over, Virginia Leith, He's got no chance, of course, as she fancies Egan, but Peeping Tom's obsession is understandable. Leith was lovely and talented, and deserves better than to be remembered as Jan in the Pan. There's also Sylvia Sidney as a librarian who steals to pay her debt, Ernest Borgnine as a pacifist Amish farmer and Brad Dexter as Emily's latest lover.
All the strands are brought together when McNally, Marvin and J. Carrol Naish stage their robbery and head to Borgnine's farm with the loot. This is where Fleischer comes into his own: like the similarly underrated John Sturges he was one of the greats when it came to staging action scenes. Marvin, not surprisingly, is the most interesting of the trio. His loose-lipped look suggested oafishness bordering on stupidity, and before he become an unlikely star it was always a pleasure to see him get his. His fate here was up there with the one in "The Big Heat." Despite my reservations, this film is still well worth watching.
I think there are two main reasons for the relative inferiority of this one. One is the use of Cinemascope: colour and widescreen photography, nearly all in sunlight, though well done here, can never be as satisfying in a thriller as the old black and white. The other problem is the script. Hard to believe when it's by Sydney Boehm, who wrote some great noirs, including "The Big Heat" and "Undercover Man", both with Glenn Ford. Others have complained about the amount of soap and mentioned "Peyton Place," published the year after this film was released, and presumably the fault was with the novel on which Boehm based his script. We spend too much time on Victor Mature's desire to be a hero to his young son, and Richard Egan as a poor little rich boy driven to drink by the infidelities of his wife Emily. It doesn't help that while Mature and Egan were handsome hunks and catnip to the ladies, both are rather dull. More interesting is Tommy Noonan as the timid bank manager, married but given to taking his dog for a walk so that he could spy on, and drool over, Virginia Leith, He's got no chance, of course, as she fancies Egan, but Peeping Tom's obsession is understandable. Leith was lovely and talented, and deserves better than to be remembered as Jan in the Pan. There's also Sylvia Sidney as a librarian who steals to pay her debt, Ernest Borgnine as a pacifist Amish farmer and Brad Dexter as Emily's latest lover.
All the strands are brought together when McNally, Marvin and J. Carrol Naish stage their robbery and head to Borgnine's farm with the loot. This is where Fleischer comes into his own: like the similarly underrated John Sturges he was one of the greats when it came to staging action scenes. Marvin, not surprisingly, is the most interesting of the trio. His loose-lipped look suggested oafishness bordering on stupidity, and before he become an unlikely star it was always a pleasure to see him get his. His fate here was up there with the one in "The Big Heat." Despite my reservations, this film is still well worth watching.