Violent Saturday
directed by Richard Fleischer
directed by Richard Fleischer
I have seen this movie characterized as a film noir. I'm not sure I would categorize it as such. It has some noir elements. Many characters are sympathetic or disturbing mixes of good and evil.
I think this is a good crime drama that doesn't try to convince the viewer that the bad guys aren't so bad or like some later films show things from the bad guys' point of view.
Nonetheless in style and interlocking story lines this film must have had an influence on later crime or drama directors, especially people like Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch. I seem to remember reading someplace that Tarantino cited this movie approvingly.
Don't worry. This film is not that explicit in terms of violence despite the title. It does play up the idea that no one is safe, even women and children. I suppose that was a little unusual in the mid fifties when this film was released. This film didn't have much in the way of cynicism, pessimism, or "good guys" losing, all of which I think are important to a greater or lesser extent for something to be a true film noir.
Every father wants his children's respect, particularly that of his sons. Young boys model themselves after their father and often go through a stage where they think their father is Superman. Perhaps this adulation helps boys define themselves as they mature.
Shelley Martin (Victor Mature) is a copper mine executive happily married to Helen Martin (Dorothy Patrick). They have a young son Steve (Billy Chapin) who has been misbehaving at school and getting into fights with his best friend.
Steve won't tell his mother why but eventually admits to his father Shelley that he's embarrassed by the fact that Shelley was stateside during WW2 doing defense industry work.
Steve has been fighting with other boys, including his best friend, who call his father a coward because many of their fathers were in combat. Steve is unimpressed with his father's patient explanation that heroism and duty come in many different forms.
Shelley's boss, Boyd Fairchild (Richard Egan), doesn't have a happy marriage. Boyd's imperious wife Emily (Margaret Hayes) openly cheats on him. Emily has her reasons. Her character isn't just a *****. Boyd has had enough. He's thinking divorce and maybe having some fun with the intelligent, perceptive, and oh yes sexy nurse Linda (Virginia Leith). Boyd can't wait too long. Every man has noticed Linda.
Three men arrive in town. They claim to be travelling salesmen but are actually bank robbers. Harper (Stephen McNally) is the leader, planner and front man. The calm older Chapman (J Carroll Nash) handles details and logistics. Dill (Lee Marvin) is the dapper unstable muscle, who likes to snort amphetamines. The men case the bank and make their plans.
The bank manager Reeves (Tommy Noonan) is a sexual deviant. The town librarian Elsie (Sylvia Sydney) isn't flying right either. Ernest Borgnine appears as a righteously religious Amish farmer who opposes all violence, even in self-defense.
These storylines all come together in the movie's final third. I enjoyed how the director turned up the tension, often just by changing perspective. Lee Marvin was cool, as always. The film was set in and shot in Arizona. So there's lots of sun but very few shadowy streets, constant rain, or neo-gothic architecture. This was an entertaining movie with some modern attitudes about the dance of life between men and women.
