'Act of Violence' is a mediocre noir about a man struggling to come to terms with the guilt of betraying his comrades in the war. Van Heflin plays Frank, who is constantly haunted by the fact that he took food from his captors after the rest of his men had been murdered. Unbeknownst to him, his former best friend Joe (Robert Ryan) also survived and is determined on payback. Frank's wife knows nothing about the situation, whilst Joe's girlfriend knows everything but cannot convince Joe to let sleeping dogs lie.
The stand out performance has to be Mary Astor as a bedraggled, past her prime prostitute who tries to help Frank out of his predicament. Van Heflin is a good actor too, and the more I see him in the more I like him. I wouldn't rate this noir at the top, but it's better than average.
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