I noticed the name of Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in the cast and I said to myself that I'll see a good thriller with a bank robbery. I was wrong. The film is a great drama, actually there are three different stories that intertwine. One is that of those who rob the bank. Then the story of the family of Shelley Martin(Victor Mature), who manages to kill 3 of those 4 gangsters. Then the story of the family of Fairchild Boyd(Richard Egan), whose wife is murdered during the robbery. Intelligent script, well played. Victor Mature in certain frames seems a clone of Sylvester Stallone. Marvin and Borgnine have smaller roles, the film is made in 1955, they are not yet the stars of the 60s, 70s or 80s. By the way, Borgnine, an Amish who hates violence, kills the gangster of all gangsters, Mister Lee Marvin, with a hayfork. Enjoy!

As a school kid, my Grand-dad took me to see this picture, and it stayed in my mind. BUT, only for the rather undesirable nastiness. Revisiting it again years later, it's hard to believe we managed to stay awake back then! (my wife quite justifiably fell asleep within the first 20mins) This was Hollywood in decline.When television took off and theatres began to close, 20th Century Fox foolishly decided that all their productions would be in CinemaScope and garish DeLux color...even when the subject did not call for it! This decision would see many of their 50s-60s productions filled with artless images ~ this is just one of them. What might have been a tight little B/W crime melodrama gets 'Lost in Gloss' and GIANT screen vistas (mostly shot in pokey little hotel rooms!) The unfortunate Director of Photography: veteran, Charles G. Clarke, and Director: the checkered careered, Richard Fleischer (son of famous Animator Max) had to place and actor in each corner of the room, with one in center just to fill the unnecessary spaces. This often gave many films an empty feel.Then came the change in writing style. Film companies were looking towards TV production for fast profits on small budgets, and because everything made for cinemas would end up on TV, they began making 'BIG' screen TV style movies. Many movie makers and writers had crossed over to TV anyway, and sooner or later it would all look the same. Many viewers didn't seem to know what constituted quality, so on it went.Now we have 'modern' critics looking for all kinds of hidden meaning in these cheaply scripted 50s works ~ along with 'modern' movie makers copying the so-called 'new trend' in violence. Mostly, it simply added up to 'cheap and fast'. 'Violent Saturday' was also treated to overwrought 50s style mellow-drama, a style largely made famous by W.B. TV, and other endless series like Peyton Place, etc, etc...As for performances, we have the capable Stephen McNally wasted in yet another type cast thuggish role ~ Tommy Noonan playing an outlandishly wimpish perv of a bank Manager --a role so hokey it creaks!-- Richard Egan again type cast in a part he's played endlessly ~ Acting honors probably go to veteran Sylvia Sidney in a part that amounts to little more than an unnecessary sub plot. The rest of the women do what they can with thankless roles ~ Victor Mature does what he does best...with a character who talks to his son about 'fear being nothing to be ashamed off', and 'decorated heroics' as not essential in general life --who is then made 'hero' to the towns kids for having killed the most villains-- Lee Marvin just plays Lee Marvin all over again, this time, showing delight in being violently cruel to kids. So this was the so-called bold new 'adult' approach to film-making. This same juvenile 'adult' approach, has continued to fester in movie making today. Screenplay Writer: Sydney Boehm had done better with Fritz Lang just two years earlier with "The Big Heat". Forget "Saturday" look to the "Heat" if you want a better example of low cost 50s Noir that largely still holds up today. Disc quality note: The Bounty DVD copy I bought a few years ago, has poor image quality, regardless of having the Fox logo on the cover. Subsequent re-issues may be better (?)

I liked it. Those '50's melodramas/dramas-they were so great. Lee Marvin is always interesting. I liked his monologue about his "skinny ex-wife, her colds, and his inhaler." By the way-my small hometown Ohio bank was open until noon on Saturday up until the mid-seventies-until ATMs, of course. They were closed on Wednesdays. So a "Violent Saturday" (when most people did their grocery shopping, made deposits, etc.) made sense then. Some of the characters were strange; the librarian, and the Tommy Noonan character for sure. The nurse is very forgiving of him. I've always liked Richard Egan and thought his last scene was well-acted. Victor Mature is not one of my favorite actors, but this is one of his better roles. If you like '50's dramas/melodramas, check it out!

Actually, I came upon this movie on a blah Sunday morning... and got immediately "sucked into it. I was very surprised at how well made it was, with an excellent cast, wide-screen image, good location filming in Bisbee, Arizona, very limited use of sets and the location filming always attracts me. I'd never seen or heard of this movie before today, and I recommend it to any film addict. The sub-plots are also well thought out...this type of film seemed predominant in the 50's and this one in particular reminded me of other 50's films such as "Bad day at Black Rock". Can't wait to see it again.Rich O