The action wasn’t only on the big screen Saturday evening at the Ward Entertainment Center, where a real-life drama unfolded on the sidewalk outside the busy movie theater complex.

Bystanders captured a 24-year-old Makiki man who allegedly snatched a 53-year-old woman’s purse.

Police said the man used force to take the purse from the woman who was sitting on a bench about 6:45 p.m.

The man tried to run, but witnesses who saw the commotion caught and detained the man until officers arrived.

Police arrested him in front of the Bucca di Beppo restaurant for investigation of second-degree robbery.