Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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.

Richard Fleischer may never have made it into the very front rank of the great directors but he did make some terrific films and "Violent Saturday" may be his masterpiece. It's a heist movie, (and it's an excellent heist movie), but one with a difference since fundamentally this is also another 1950's small town melodrama of the 'Peyton Place' variety. We get to know, not only the trio of bank robbers, (Stephen McNally, Lee Marvin and a superb J Carroll Naish), intent on robbing the Bradenville bank, but also a number of the town's inhabitants, (Victor Mature, Richard Egan, Virginia Leith, Sylvia Sidney, Tommy Noonan, Margaret Hayes), all of whom are destined to be caught up in some way in the robbery. It's a brilliantly paced movie, beautifully written by Sydney Boehm and impeccably directed by Fleischer, making superb use of the Cinemascope format. Largely dismissed at the time of its release it is now, deservedly, considered something of a classic.

Violent Saturday is directed by Richard Fleischer and adapted to screenplay by Sydney Boehm from the novel of the same name written by William L. Heath. It stars Victor Mature, Richard Egan, Lee Marvin, Stephen McNally, J. Carrol Naish, Tommy Noonan, Ernest Borgnine, Virginia Leith and Sylvia Sidney. Music is by Hugo Friedhoffer and cinematography by Charles G. Clarke. Stand Pat and Resist Evil. A simmering powder keg of criminality told in beautiful De Luxe and CinemaScope, Violent Saturday is one of the definitions of a slow burn movie that pays off with explosive aplomb. The town of Brandenville is the scene of a planned bank robbery by a trio of baddies led by Harper (McNally). The narrative has the trio arrive in town and plan for the robbery, as they move about the populace, a whole bunch of sub-plots pop up to maintain maximum interest and to of course set up the drama involving the robbery and the subsequent attempts at a getaway. I don't blame him – she moves like a Swiss watch. The characters are prime noir dwellers, they range from thieving dames and tramp wives, to a peeping tom, a drunkard husband and also a guilt ridden father, and this before we even get to the villains! Who, with Marvin in prime Benzedrine sniffing scumbag mode (he thinks nothing of hurting children), are truly shifty operators personified. The Arizona locale is beautifully utilised by Fleischer and Clarke, belying the harsh side of the human condition that comes roaring out the Brandenville traps as the pic enters the final third. There's some murky moralising in said last third that irritates, more so when it involves a badly miscast Borgnine as a Quaker! While one character strand is annoyingly left dangling. So it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. In fact some of the cast were less than enamoured with either their work on the film or the attitude of others around them. Yet, and while understanding the reticence of some to not afford it film noir status, it has the requisite characterisations and nasty bite to keep noiristas very happy indeed 7.5/10

Violent Saturday is a surprisingly entertaining film that mixes classic bank heist movie elements with the kind of over-done social melodrama like Douglas Sirk used to direct.Instead of coming up with a feathered fish, director Richard Fleischer almost creates a new genre, the Woman's Weepie Heist Picture. I don't know how he pulled it off, but he did.Describing the plot for Violent Saturday will not help anyone who may be intrigued by my earlier statements, but here goes.A group of three men arrive in the small California town of Bradenville intending to rob the bank. They have thoroughly cased the joint and their plan is to hit the bank on Friday, just before it closes at noon.Meanwhile, we get to meet the different towns people including Tommy Noonan as a pervert bank manager (this is probably more common than we like to think), the town floozy (Margaret Hayes) who is married to a rich drunk (Richard Egan) and a man who never served in WWII and feels guilty about it played by Victor Mature.Toss in Sylvia Sydney as a purse-stealing librarian (yes, you read that correctly), Virginia Lieth as a sultry nurse of the "Hubba Hubba" type and finally Ernest Borgnine as Stadt, a simple Amish farmer committed to non-violence.To paraphrase Bill Murray in Tootsie, Bradenville is one nutty town. But then the gangsters arrive beginning with the brains of the outfit played by Stephen McNally, followed later by safe-cracking expert J. Carrol Naish and finally the brawn of the gang played with gleeful malice by Lee Marvin.I don't know why people just don't run when they see Lee Marvin approach, for he almost always means bad news. This is demonstrated rather wonderfully early in the film when a young boy bumps into Marvin, knocking his inhaler out of his hands.As the boy apologizes and bends over to pick up the inhaler, Marvin steps on the boys hand and grinds it painfully into the pavement. Great touch!Like most heist films, this one has an intricate plan that depends on proper timing and no slip-ups to work. Our villains have earlier scoped out Borgnine's farm as a safe place to reconnoiter after the robbery where they can divide up the money and escape.The first bit of bad luck occurs when McNally car-jacks Victor Mature who is already smarting because his son does not think he's a hero because of his lack of service in WWII, so Mature is just itching for a chance to prove his mettle.Then Tommy Noonan, the Peeping Tom bank manager turns out not to be such a wimp after all. Grabbing the gun he has hidden in his desk he trades gunfire with the crooks and gets wounded.There is one other casualty however, the town floozy. Even though she has reconciled with her husband and is at the bank to get some Travelers Cheques for a trip, the fact remains she did have an extramarital affair with another man. They even had sex!The punishment for a woman who commits adultery in an old Hollywood film is harsh. Nothing less than a painful, embarrassing death will suffice. The punishment for the man, well, not so harsh.Even with the plan falling apart at the bank, the thieves get away with the money and race off to Borgnine's farm where the crooks have tied up Mature and Borgnine along with his solemn little Amish family.The crooks luck deteriorates further because Mature is able to get himself free from his rope and when they arrive at Borgnine's Amish Farm (I just love the sound of that), Victor Mature is waiting for them.This all culminates in a final shootout that is more violent than I thought possible, but it gets even better. Although Borgnine is completely dedicated to non-violence, after his five year old boy is shot in the cross fire, (kids have it tough in this movie), he is enraged enough to fight back.So, with an act of violence that is shocking, even today, Ernest Borgnine dispatches Lee Marvin by ramming a pitchfork in his back. There were loud cheers from the audience at this point, reminiscent of what happened when the shark got blown up at the end of Jaws.If this all sounds contrived and unbelievable, rest assured it would be if the filmmakers and actors were not so skillful. As Walter Huston once said of his acting, "I'm not paid to make good lines sound good, I'm paid to make bad lines sound good." Indeed, the most improbable of lines are rendered believable by the actors.For example, during the bank robbery, to keep a boy quiet (again with the kids!), J. Carrol Naish hands the boy some hard candy and says, "Stick these in your kisser and go suck on them". Be forewarned, this is a line I am just dying to use in real life.But acting aside, the whole structure of the film very deftly mixes the melodrama of these small town lives with the genre requirements of the bank heist film. I urge young screenwriters to study this picture to learn how to plant narrative bombs that come to fruition later on in the plot without seeming cliché.Violent Saturday was shot in Cinemascope and the wide screen is wonderfully utilized to make this little town seem very sinister, even though almost the entire film occurs during the day under the harsh Southern California sun.If it ever arrives on DVD, definitely rent it.