An unusually disturbing noir from a director better known for more
mainstream fare like High Noon and From Here to Eternity, Act of
Violence focuses on a WWII veteran haunted by his past. A film that was
close to the director's heart, he said that it represented "the first
time that I felt confident that I knew what I was doing and why I was
doing it." Van Heflin stars as Frank Enley, a contractor living a
peaceful life in a small California town, when Joe Parkson, a man who
served in the army
with him, arrives in the
area, intent on killing him. He follows Frank to a lake where he's
fishing but is unable to kill him.
When a lakeside bartender tells Frank
that a man with a limp is looking for him, Frank is frightened,
realizing why he has come. He tells his wife, Edith (Janet Leigh), that
Joe is a man who spent time with in a Nazi POW camp, who is now mentally
ill, and that he intends to avoid him. When Frank goes to Los Angeles
for a business convention, Joe arrives at his house and tells his wife
that her husband is responsible for his injury and for the deaths of a
number of men. Fearing for her husband's life, Edith heads for L.A. with
Joe not far behind. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi
