Act of Violence

Van Heflin on the run near the long gone Los Angeles funicular

I'm usually bored stiff by the films of Fred Zinnemann, but Act of Violence, from 1949, is one of his better pictures. Zinnemann is at his best when he can devote his solid craftsmanship to the mechanics of a well articulated and dynamic plot, such as with The Day of the Jackal. When he directs adaptations of plays (as with A Man For All Seasons or A Hatful of Rain) or musicals (Oklahoma!), his lack of visual dynamism makes the film a slog. Act of Violence opens, without the usual credits, in slam bang fashion as we witness gimpy Robert Ryan rush into a tenement apartment and hurriedly pack a rod. Robert L. Richards screenplay, from a story by Collier Young, has Ryan's character bent on vengeance towards a former buddy he knows betrayed him during the war which left him with a bum leg and vengeance on his mind.

The trauma of wartime experience hangs heavily over Act of Violence. Ryan's former buddy is played by Van Heflin who is living happily in a Southern California town with his wife (Janet Leigh) and small child. Heflin's character was in a POW camp in Europe with Ryan during the war. Heflin finked on Ryan and some comrades to the camp commandant just before an escape attempt. Heflin says he had good intentions, he believed the attempt was foolhardy, but his actions were a betrayal of trust and had fatal results. As soon as Ryan shows up, Heflin knows he has murderous intent and goes on the run to Los Angeles in order to save his skin. Zinnemann and cinematographer Robert Surtees (Ben Hur, The Graduate) give us ominous shots of Heflin darting about the tawdrier sections of nighttime LA. Heflin falls in with a crowd of scofflaws whose assistance brings about tragic consequences.  

One of the main reasons this film works so well is that its main players are all adroitly cast. Even at this early stage of his career, Robert Ryan was playing as many steely eyed villains (as in Caught) as he was playing heroic leads. He is perfect for this angry Ahab of a character who is solely bent on revenge. Heflin tended to be cast as characters undermined by weakness or over sensitivity in contrast to traditionally stolid leading men. His roles in Tennessee Johnson and Shane and in this film are prime examples of this. Leigh's role as an anxious spouse is hardly taxing, but she makes it heartfelt and memorable. The film has an impressive gallery of rogues populating the underworld of Los Angeles: especially Berry Kroeger as a gunsel and Taylor Holmes as a crooked lawyer. Best of all is Mary Astor in an unlikely casting coup as a bedraggled and down at her heels hooker who befriends Heflin. I won't soon forget her bragging to all concerned and no one in particular, "I get my kicks."

Mary Astor and Van Heflin

For what its worth, Act of Violence has much the same climax and is a better film than the over praised High Noon. There is a final showdown and even a shot of a ticking clock in Act of Violence's finale. The tragic denouement attempts to wring some sense of poetic justice out of the material. I'm not sure it succeeds, but I prefer it to Carl Foreman's attempts at profundity in High Noon.