A LITTLE BIT OF THE ULTRA-VIOLENCE

Violent Saturday

Melodrama abounds in Richard Fleisher’s Violent Saturday, the incessantly amusing 1955 noir screening this week at Film Forum, but it’s basically a red herring. Much like Dog Day Afternoon did two decades later, Violent Saturday gives the bank robbery an ensemble touch, with a story set in the kind of petite town that opens up nicely to vignettes. Most of the movie consists of build up, but the payoff makes it worth the wait. The residents struggle with soap opera woes, but the glorious Cinemascope—and the threat of something major lurking around the bend—elevate their plights. The would-be robbers, lead by a calculated Stephen McNally and the hilariously mean-spirited Lee Marvin, have concocted the perfect plan. It’s only fitting that they’re eventually thwarted by the innocence they hope to outwit.

Read the rest of the review in New York Press...