Violent Saturday
Reviews
John Chard
The Brandenville Broth. 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
CinemaSerf
This isn't really a film about an heist, it's more a rather effective observation on small town American life. "Harper" (Stephen McNally) arrives in town with his two partners - the rather nasty "Dill" (Lee Marvin) and "Chapman" (J. Carrol Naish) and starts casing the bank. Their attentions go largely un-noticed by the bank manager "Harry" (Tommy Noonan) who has some interesting nocturnal activities, nor by the successful but frequently drunk "Boyd" (Richard Egan) who is trying to rekindle his marriage with "Mary" (Margaret Hayes) whilst interfering nurse "Elsie" (Sylvia Sidney) spots an opportunity. Meantime "Martin" (Victor Mature) who stayed at home during the war to ensure continuing copper production wants to convince his son "Steve" (Billy Chapin) that there was no shame in that. There's a bit of debt-induced petty thievery and a family of neighbourly Amish led by "Stadt" (Ernest Borgnine). These interconnected threads are all played out succinctly as we head to a denouement that tests the mettle of "Martin" and the faith of the Amish when it comes to the ultimate exercise in self-preservation. It moves along quickly with plenty of plotting, a minimum of romantic clutter and provides for some characterful performances. Worth a watch.
Movie Recommendation
The Dirty Dozen1967-06-1512 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.More...
Caged Heat1974-04-19A young woman is convicted on drug offenses and sent to a women's penitentiary run by a repressed and oppressive female warden. When the prison's sadistic doctor begins conducting illegal "therapeutic" experiments on the inmates, the ladies plot their revenge.More...
Rear Window1954-08-01A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.More...
Parasite2019-05-30All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.More...
Marriage Story2019-09-28A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.More...
Shaun of the Dead2004-04-09Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threatened when the dead return to life and make strenuous attempts to snack on ordinary Londoners.More...
12 Angry Men1957-04-10The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.More...
Back to the Future1985-07-03Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.More...
The Shawshank Redemption1994-09-23Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.More...
Lady Bird2017-09-01Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her upbringing are questioned and tested as she plans to head off to college.More...
Joker2019-10-01During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.More...
Superbad2007-08-17Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.More...
Home Alone1990-11-16Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.More...
Deadpool2016-02-09The origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.More...
Psycho1960-06-22When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.More...
Ready Player One2018-03-28When the creator of a popular video game system dies, a virtual contest is created to compete for his fortune.More...
Alien1979-05-25During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.More...
Fight Club1999-10-15A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.More...
The Others2001-08-02Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.More...
Tenet2020-08-22Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.More...
Similar Movies
Witness
1985-02-08While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.An Uncommon Grace
2017-02-12An army nurse returning from Afghanistan discovers her purpose in a rural Ohio farm community, along with a deep connection with a neighbor whose conservative Amish sect strictly forbids relationships with those outside his church community.Hazel's People
1973-01-21An NYU student visits a Mennonite friend in Lancaster, Pennsylvania after a fellow Mennonite is killed while protesting the Vietnam War.An Amish Sin
2022-10-29Rachel is an Amish teen who refuses to obey her parent’s command that she marry the man who abused her as a child. When she attempts to run away, she is caught and sent to a “rehab” for Amish girls who don’t follow the rulesThe Frisco Kid
1979-07-06Rabbi Avram arrives in Philadelphia from Poland en route to San Francisco where he will be a congregation's new rabbi. An innocent and inexperienced traveller, he is tricked by con men to pay for the trip to go west, then they leave him and his belongings scattered along a deserted road. He is befriended by a stranger, Tommy, who is a bank robber and have many adventures during their journey.Expecting Amish
2014-07-19Expecting Amish tells the story of 18-year-old Hannah Yoder, who is ready to join the Amish Church and marry her boyfriend Samuel. But things change when she goes to Hollywood and gets a glimpse of the world beyond.Amish Grace
2010-03-28When a gunman killed five Amish children and injured five others in a Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania schoolhouse shooting in October of 2006, the world media attention rapidly turned from the tragic events to the extraordinary forgiveness demonstrated by the Amish community.Saving Sarah Cain
2007-08-19When Sarah Cain, a self-involved big-city newspaper columnist, travels to Pennsylvania for the funeral of her Amish sister, she soon discovers that she is the legal guardian of her five Amish nieces and nephews. Rather than choose to move to Lancaster County to finish raising them there herself, or let them be separated by the foster care system, Sarah decides to take them with her back to Portland where she believes she can make a new life for them. However, she soon realizes that the modern world has forced them to compromise who they are, and that she has moved them there for all the wrong reasons - a motive which is soon exposed - because secrets can really never be kept secret. In order to find her own redemption, she knows she must make a choice to give them back their lives in Amish Country. And whether she remains part of their lives will have a lot to do with how much she has grown to love them.Love Finds You In Sug...
2014-06-01Will a mysterious stranger's past wreak havoc on a quiet Amish community after they've opened their doors -- and hearts -- to him and his son?Love Finds You in Cha...
2015-06-06A young Amish woman, who isn't satisfied with her path at home, visits a cousin for the summer. Over the summer, she is exposed to another world, finds friendship and more. Soon she must choose and come to terms with the life she wants.Plain Truth
2004-10-04An unmarried 18 year-old Amish girl is charged with the murder of her infant child.The Shunning
2011-04-16Beautiful Katie Lapp has always felt something missing in her simple Amish existence -- until a mysterious "Englisher" comes to Lancaster County looking for the baby girl she gave up for adoption 19 years ago.The Confession Musica...
2023-02-20Two worlds collide when a young Amish girl discovers she was adopted by a wealthy family. As she seeks her birth mother, overcomes the obstacles of a lost fiance, and a crafty gold-digger who seeks the fortune of her birth mother.Christmas at the Amis...
2023-12-10After leaving her Amish community in her youth, a New York book editor finds herself in desperate need of a new cookbook to save her job. With Christmas on the horizon Sarah heads back to her family farm to reconnect. But with the presence of a handsome local—an outsider, but one that is friendly with the Amish community—he and Sarah sense chemistry and work together to save her family’s Amish bakery (developing an Amish Christmas Cookbook in the process).Amish Affair
2024-07-06Hannah moves in with a charismatic Amish leader, Aaron, to help with his ailing wife. Seeking refuge after leaving her Amish community, Hannah is grateful to Aaron and his wife for opening their home to her and giving her work but as she tends to her household chores, the spark between her and Aaron is undeniable. Hannah knows their secret relationship has them both living in sin, so she decides to end it but when Aaron’s wife suspiciously dies, she finds herself framed for murder and fighting to prove her innocence.Harvest of Fire
1996-04-21In a small Amish community, three barns are burnt down almost simultaneously. FBI agent Sally Russwell is sent in to investigate this possible hate crime. What she finds however is a community that little trust for outsiders or "The English" as they call them. However, in her investigations, Agent Russell makes friends with one entrepreneurial widow, Annie Beiler who has her own curiosity about this stranger. Together, Annie introduces Russell in-depth to this close knit community bearing many appealing attributes. However, as Sally's investigations continue, she discovers secrets that reveal uncomfortable truths about the religious community that are linked to the arson attacks.An Amish Murder
2013-01-06The Amish farming community of Painter’s Mill, Ohio, is shattered when a series of brutal murders leaves the town with a sense of frailty and loss of innocence. Among the most affected by the tragedy was Kate Burkholder, a young girl who survived the terror and, as a result, left the Amish life behind. Fifteen years later, Kate returns to Painter’s Mill as its Chief of Police. Certain she’s come to terms with her past, Kate’s renewed life in her hometown is shattered when a murder investigation triggers deep-seated emotions from her childhood and exposes a dark secret that could destroy her.The Reckoning
2015-10-11Katie Mayfield is now the mistress of Mayfield Manor. In her new world she finds herself torn between two worlds and grieves for her plain Amish life. Does Katie choose her new life or the simple heritage she left behind?Beverly Lewis' The Co...
2013-05-11Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman who goes on a journey in search of her identity - only to find herself embroiled in a mystery that must be solved before she can be reunited with the "Englisher" mother who gave her up to adoption 20 years earlier.Blinding Light
2024-06-27After losing his title belt, a fallen star in the boxing world seeks advice from an Amish technician to get his career back up.