Violent Saturday (1955)
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67% of critics liked it
(6 reviews) -
54% of users liked it
(145 ratings)
Three bank robbers (J. Carroll Naish, Lee Marvin, Stephen McNally) case a small Arizona mining town prior to pulling a holdup. The audience get to know the various townsfolk as they're scrutinized by the crooks. Victor Mature plays a man who is a disappointment to his son because he didn't… More Three bank robbers (J. Carroll Naish, Lee Marvin, Stephen McNally) case a small Arizona mining town prior to pulling a holdup. The audience get to know the various townsfolk as they're scrutinized by the crooks. Victor Mature plays a man who is a disappointment to his son because he didn't serve in the war. Tommy Noonan is a meek bank manager with a habit of spying on a pretty customer as she undresses in her second-story bedroom. Sylvia Sidney is a petty thief who has deposited her stolen funds in the bank. Margaret Hayes is the cheating wife of a local leading citizen, who is killed in the holdup. And Ernest Borgnine is a pacifistic Amish farmer, forced to take violent action when his children are threatened by the criminals (Borgnine's pitchfork-wielding scene was reproduced for the print ads of this film, leading some critics to assume that he was the villain!) The hero of the day turns out to be the "unheroic" Mature, who after being kidnapped by the crooks frees himself and prevents their escape. Violent Saturday is based on a novel by William I. Heath. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Richard Fleischer
- Written By
- Sydney Boehm
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Apr 1, 1955 Wide
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox
Critic Reviews
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Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Uneven small-town thriller.
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Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice
The cast is a museum exhibit on the nigh-extinct art of scaled-in American bit acting, with the magnificent Sylvia Sidney as the daughter of a prominent family brought low, her flashing pridefulness intact, and Tommy Noonan as a peeping poltroon.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
... Ernest Borgnine as a pacifist Amish farmer plunging a pitchfork into the back of the devil character played by Lee Marvin ....
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Eric Kohn, New York Press
Violent Saturday seems rooted in tradition, but as an exciting pulp story with a profound center, it manages to break all the rules.
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Cast
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Victor Mature
as Shelley Martin
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Richard Egan
as Boyd Fairchild
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Stephen McNally
as Harper
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Virginia Leith
as Linda
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Lee Marvin
as Dill
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Tommy Noonan
as Harry Reeves
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Sylvia Sidney
as Elsie
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Maggie Hayes
as Emily
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J. Carrol Naish
as Chapman
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Dorothy Patrick
as Helen
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Billy Chapin
as Steve Martin
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Brad Dexter
as Gil Clayton
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Raymond Greenleaf
as Mr. Fairchild
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Donald Gamble
as Bobby
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Harry Carter
as Bart
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Ann Morrison
as Mrs. Stadt
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Kevin Corcoran
as David Stadt
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Donna Corcoran
as Anna Stadt
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Noreen Corcoran
as Mary Stadt
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Boyd 'Red' Morgan
as Slick
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Richard Garrick
as Mr. Dooden
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Dorothy Phillips
as Bank customer
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Virginia Carroll
as Marion
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Ralph Dumke
as Sidney
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Robert Osterloh
as Roy
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Helen Mayon
as Mrs. Pilka
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Mack Williams
as Drug Clerk
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Harry Seymour
as Conductor
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John Alderson
as Amish farmer
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Robert Adler
as Stan
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Ernest Borgnine
as Stadt
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Sammy Ogg
as Amish Children
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Esther Somers
as Amish woman on train
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Jeri Weil
as Amish child
- Pat Weil
