Violent Saturday | |
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Theatrical lobby card
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Directed by | Richard Fleischer |
Produced by | Buddy Adler |
Written by |
Sydney Boehm William L. Heath (novel) |
Starring |
Victor Mature Richard Egan Lee Marvin Stephen McNally Sylvia Sidney |
Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
Cinematography | Charles G. Clarke |
Edited by | Louis R. Loeffler |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date
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Running time
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90 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $955,000 |
Box office | $1.25 million (US rental) |
Violent Saturday is a 1955 American crime drama directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Victor Mature, Lee Marvin, Richard Egan and Stephen McNally. The film, set in a mining town, depicts the planning of a bank robbery as the nexus in the personal lives of several townspeople.
Prominent actors Sylvia Sidney and Ernest Borgnine are in supporting roles. Violent Saturday was filmed in color, on location in Bisbee, Arizona.
Harper (Stephen McNally) is a bank robber posing as a traveling salesman. He arrives in town, soon to be joined by sadistic benzedrine addict Dill (Lee Marvin) and bookish Chapman (J. Carrol Naish).
Boyd Fairchild (Richard Egan) is manager of the local copper mine, troubled by his philandering wife (Margaret Hayes). He considers an affair with nurse Linda Sherman (Virginia Leith), though he truly loves his wife. His associate, Shelley Martin (Victor Mature), has a happy home life, but is embarrassed that his son believes he is a coward because he did not serve in World War II.
Subplots involves a peeping-tom bank manager, Harry Reeves (Tommy Noonan), and a larcenous librarian, Elsie Braden (Sylvia Sidney). As the bank robbers carry out their plot, the separate character threads are drawn together. Violence erupts during the robbery. Fairchild's wife is slain and bank manager Reeves is wounded. Martin is held hostage on a farm with an Amish family. With the help of the father (Ernest Borgnine), he defeats the crooks in a savage gunfight. In the aftermath, Martin becomes a hero to his son, and Linda comforts Fairchild as he grieves for his wife.