Set in a fictional mining town in Arizona, the film depicts the planning of a bank robbery as the nexus in the personal lives of several townspeople.

Filmed on location in Bisbee, Arizona, the supporting cast was particularly strong, with Lee Marvin, Sylvia Sidney, and Ernest Borgnine.

His associate Shelley Martin has a happy home life although his son believes that he is a coward because he did not serve in World War II.

Harry Reeves, the manager of the local bank, is a peeping tom, and librarian Elsie Braden resorts to larceny to escape her debts.

The New York Press said: "Violent Saturday seems rooted in tradition, but as an exciting pulp story with a profound center, it manages to break all the rules."

George Robinson of Cine-Journal wrote, "With the possible exception of The Narrow Margin, this is Richard Fleischer's best film ... Great, nasty fun."