Pun Salad

The movie's title does not lie. There is an Act of Violence, although you have to wait until the very end of the flick for it. Up until then, it's atmosphere, dialog, suspense, and perspiration. And shadows. Lots of shadows.

Van Heflin plays Frank Enley, a veteran settled into his postwar real estate developer life in sunny Santa Lisa, California with wife Edith (hey hey, it's Janet Leigh!) and a bratty kid. But off in another city, Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan with a bad limp) has noticed Frank's picture in the paper—apparently they routinely highlighted small-town California real estate developers in the papers back then—and immediately packs his .45 and hops a Greyhound for Santa Lisa.

It turns out that Joe and Frank were in the same German POW camp, and Joe blames Frank for his limp, and a lot more. Frank is justly terrified, and goes on the lam to evil old downtown LA. But that only delays the confrontation, and Frank falls in with a bad crowd, typified by Pat, a hooker with a heart of charcoal, played by Mary Astor.

Speaking of Ms. Astor: This movie was made only seven years after she played Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon, and you can compare and contrast. It was a rough few years for Mary, or maybe she was just a great actress.