> W.L. Heath's VIOLENT SATURDAY (1955) is fine stuff.
It's been mentioned a
> couple of of times before on the list, and I see
that Mr. Beaver and Mr.
> Clinton liked it. It's short, and I'd recommend
reading it in one or two
> sittings--it's divided between Friday night and
Saturday afternoon.
>
> Three hoods pull into a small Alabama town, ready to
rob the bank the next
> day. About ten people are introduced in detail--a
bellhop, some
> businessmen, their wives, a librarian--and they're
all somehow involved in
> the robbery. Heath does a great job of showing life
in a small southern
> U.S. town in the 1950s. There's a sense of trouble
building as soon as
> the hoods arrive, and after that, a lot goes wrong.
I can see why people
> put Heath in with country noir, and why Ed Gorman in
his introduction
> compares it to the Florida social history that John
D. MacDonald covered
> in his books from the same time.
>
> One interesting thing is that the bank robbery,
which is shown being
> planned and put in motion, is then almost left out
of it. Heath lets a
> couple of people tell what they saw happen, but he
never describes it in
> the main narrative. Other events, and reactions,
prove to be more
> important. It's not what I expected.
There's a very nice film version, with Victor Mature and
Sylvia Sidney, and with Lee Marvin as one of the bank
robbers. The robbery is depicted in the film, but as Bill
said, other events and reactions prove to be more important.
I'm really rather inordinately fond of the movie--can't quite
say why, but I like it a lot. It's why I read the book (not
the other way around).
Jim Beaver
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