ACT OF VIOLENCE (1948)

[Update 02/16/2022: Need to fix the screenshots.]

Van Heflin is living the ideal post-WWII life. He has a beautiful young wife, a little baby, a growing business and the respect and admiration of his fellow small town citizens. But it all came at a price: a bad decision he made in a Nazi prison camp. Only one other person in the world knows about what he did...and that man has finally come for his revenge.

At only 82 minutes, ACT OF VIOLENCE moves along at a brisk pace. Add on top of that the impressive cast, director Fred (FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) Zinnemann and the only noir by legendary cinematographer Robert Surtees and you've got a pretty good movie.

Rumor has it that Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck were originally going to be the leads and that would have been awesome, but I really like the way things turned out. I'm a big fan of both Heflin and Ryan and it was a lot of fun watching Ryan charging around like the Terminator stopping at nothing to kill the increasingly unstable Heflin who resorts to more and more desperate measures to outrun his past when actually the real danger is the guilt inside of him.

Mandatory viewing for film noir fans.

Film crew visible in reflection.

THE NAKED SPUR (1953)

I have a theory that every movie where Millard Mitchell has a substantial role is going to be an excellent film. So far my theory has held up - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THIEVES' HIGHWAY, WINCHESTER '73 - and now THE NAKED SPUR.

Jimmy Stewart is on the trail of a killer (Robert Ryan). He's tracked him to Colorado and with the help of two strangers (Ralph Meeker and Millard Mitchell) he captures the killer and his girlfriend (Janet Leigh). The killer quickly figures out that Stewart didn't tell the others about the $5,000 reward so he spills the beans in order to create a rift between his captors. The two want their part of the reward, so now these three armed men, one vicious killer and one confused female set off from the Rocky Mountains to Kansas.

The direction by Anthony Mann is great and the cinematography by William C. Mellor (A PLACE IN THE SUN, GIANT) is beautiful. Nothing life changing, but still a highly entertaining Western.  Double-feature with ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE.

Mann - Stewart westerns:

WINCHESTER '73 (1950)
BEND OF THE RIVER (1952)
THE FAR COUNTRY (1954)
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955)