Act of Violence (1949)

Taglines: The man hunt no woman’s kisses could stop!

Act of Violence movie storyline. Joe Parkson is a disabled war veteran who is out for revenge. The target of his wrath is his former commanding officer, Frank Enley, who he blames for what happened to him. They flew 25 missions together and were shot down, ending up in a German POW camp. As the senior officer in their hut, Enley tried to dissuade the men from trying to escape.

They were all starving however and Parkson and the rest of the crew felt they had no choice. Enley made a pact with the devil however and has been haunted with his choices ever since. None of that dissuades Parkson who follows Enley after he goes on the run to Los Angeles. Once there, a distraught and drunken Enley makes yet another deal that he is unable to live with.

Act of Violence is a 1949 American film noir directed by Fred Zinnemann and adapted for the screen by Robert L. Richards from a story by Collier Young, starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan and featuring Janet Leigh, Mary Astor and Phyllis Thaxter. The film was one of the first to address not only problems of returning World War II veterans but also the ethics of war.

About the Story

After surviving a Nazi POW camp where comrades were murdered by guards during an escape attempt, Frank Enley (Van Heflin), returns home from World War II. He is respected for his fine character and good works in the California town of Santa Lisa, where he, his young wife and baby had settled after moving from the East.

What his wife does not know is that Frank moved them in an attempt to escape his past. His nemesis is Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan), once his best friend, who lived through the ordeal, but was left with a crippled leg. In exchange for food, Frank had alerted the Nazi camp commander to the prisoners’ escape plans, thinking wrongly that the men would not be punished. Joe is now determined to exact justice on Frank, whose location he has learned from a newspaper story commending Enley for his civic endeavors.

Frank’s wife Edith (Janet Leigh) is completely in the dark about his past, and Joe’s girlfriend Ann Sturgess (Phyllis Thaxter) knows everything about her man, but cannot dissuade him from his passion to set past wrongs right by seeing Frank dead. Frank must confront the truth about his actions

Doggedly pursued by Joe, who stalks Frank’s family at their house, Frank goes to a trade convention at a Los Angeles hotel, where Joe finds him, and they scuffle. Frank runs through downtown Los Angeles, ending up on Skid Row, where he is picked up by Pat (Mary Astor), who introduces him to a shady lawyer, Gavery (Taylor Holmes) and a hitman, Johnny (Berry Kroeger). A drunken Frank gives Johnny the information he needs to lure Joe into an evening meeting at Santa Lisa to kill Joe, the gunshot to be muffled by the noise of a train.

Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter, Berry Kroeger, Taylor Holmes, Harry Antrim, Will Wright, Connie Gilchrist, William Bailey, Barbara Billingsley
Screenplay by: Robert L. Richards
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Robert Surtees
Film Editing by: Conrad A. Nervig
Costume Design by: Helen Rose
Set Decoration by: Edwin B. Willis
Art Direction by: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters
Music by: Bronislau Kaper
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Loew’s Inc.
Release Date: January 22, 1949 (New York City)