Fred Zinnemann made "Act of Violence" in 1948 before the solid, literary adaptations that made his reputation. It's a terrific piece of work, a truly taut thriller and yes, you could say very Un-Zinnemann like. The act of violence of the title is two-fold. It could refer to Robert Ryan's desire to kill Van Heflin or it could equally refer to the act of violence that Heflin was responsible for when a number of his men, during the war, were murdered by the Nazis after he betrayed them. Heflin now lives a life of almost desperate respectability in a small Californian town with wife Janet Leigh and it's to there that Ryan tracks him down.
This is a morally complex film that was never the success it deserved to be. Both Heflin and Ryan are superb and Leigh, too, is excellent as the wife trying to come to terms with her husband's past. There is also a terrific, and sadly neglected, supporting turn from Mary Astor as an ageing prostitute. It was shot magnificently and on actual locations, in black and white, by Robert Surtees and it remains one of Zinnemann's very finest films.
This is a morally complex film that was never the success it deserved to be. Both Heflin and Ryan are superb and Leigh, too, is excellent as the wife trying to come to terms with her husband's past. There is also a terrific, and sadly neglected, supporting turn from Mary Astor as an ageing prostitute. It was shot magnificently and on actual locations, in black and white, by Robert Surtees and it remains one of Zinnemann's very finest films.