Act of Violence

A film noir set in postwar America. Frank lives in a small town. He is a builder; he has a house, a wife and a baby, and standing in the town. He was a pilot in the war and was taken prisoner. One morning a man with a limp gets off a bus. Joe is looking for him. The two were in the same camp. There was an escape plan there and it failed; the group that tried was killed. Joe is the only survivor and he knows who informed. Frank runs. He tells his wife nothing, gets into the car and drives to the city. From there the film is a flight across one night: a bar, a hotel, a tunnel, a railway station. Frank meets other people on the way and each wants something from him. What the narrative is interested in is not revenge but justification: Frank keeps trying to defend what he did, and every sentence makes him look worse. The film clears him at no point, and does not make Joe right either. Two women carry the story. Frank's wife learns the truth and has to decide; the woman with Joe tries to talk him out of it. Van Heflin plays Frank and Robert Ryan plays Joe. Janet Leigh and Mary Astor are in the cast. Fred Zinnemann directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1940s noir and postwar stories of guilt. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a clear hero; both sides are dirty and the narrative does not tidy that up.