VividSimon Simply Perfect

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

jimbo-53-186511 The Desperate Hours is an early example of a 'home invasion' thriller and has clearly proved influential on more recent examples of the genre (such as Panic Room). Whilst it is a 'reasonable' film there are some quite severe flaws to this film which are difficult to overlook....The premise for this film suggests that it's going to be a tense affair between some escaped convicts and an unsuspecting family. Whilst this film does offer some tension and some menace I found that it didn't do this consistently enough. It lost points immediately for me when I started to learn that the captors were allowing family members to leave the home for varying reasons. In what world would captors allow their hostages to roam the streets willy-nilly? OK the father was on errands for Griffin so I could buy him being allowed to venture outside (just about), but the daughter seemed to disappear off out with her boyfriend and served no real benefit to the captors by being out and about. These are quite severe flaws and Bogey muttering such lines as "He won't go to the police, he's not that stupid" are all well and good at attempting to create tension and menace, but make absolutely no logical sense. Sure he always has one member of the family there as an incentive for the family not to go to the police, but why take the risk??? Home Invasion films generally have rather thin plots which don't usually necessitate a long-running time and this shows here. At around the 105 minute mark, this film is far too long and the strain starts to show towards the end - it does become repetitive and tedious at times. It's around the 90 minute mark before the police are able to track the gang down and seem to make very little effort to find them at any other time during the feature - the two strands of the film don't seem to mesh well and only really come together in the final few minutes (the finale is both silly and exciting resulting in a mixed reaction from this viewer).I also felt that the direction could have done with being a bit tighter; a more claustrophobic feel to the film would have certainly made it a little bit more intense.As far as performances go then I'm afraid it's not a great story on that front; Bogey fares the best here, but many of his co-stars and rather weak and made very little impression on the picture. His co-conspirators fall into the usual clichés; a large overbearing, clumsy oaf who challenges for leadership and a weak-willed convict who is never sure whose side he wants to be on.As an early example of the genre then this is definitely watchable and is certainly worth watching. However, the scripting issues and far-fetched plot elements do drag it down somewhat making it an OK film, but not the brilliant film that many are suggesting it to be.

Hot 888 Mama . . . or a polemic against America's militarized police? THE DESPERATE HOURS end thanks to Dan's revolver being registered when it's found near Hal. They also end because as far back as 1955 (when DESPERATE came out) American cops could ape the East German border guards at the Berlin Wall at the drop of a hat. Within minutes any neighborhood in the U.S. could be cordoned off and turned into a killing box, complete with Kleig lights, snipers, and machine guns. I just heard on the news today about a 95-year-old WWII hero being gunned down in his nursing home this week by a trigger-happy cop. Since HE wasn't safe, NONE of us are. One of the doomed men in THE DESPERATE HOURS is mentally retarded, and mostly wants to play with toys. Another just desires a girl; the third, a cigar. It's not hard to sympathize with this hapless have-not trio. I read that if the names of all the Americans rubbed out by the police who "protect and serve" us were inscribed somewhere, that memorial would have to be nearly SIX times as big as the Vietnam War Wall, and the needed size expands daily. Many of these snuffed names would be those of "surviving" Vietnam War heroes. So it goes.

knucklebreather In "The Desperate Hours", we have Humphrey Bogart in his second-to-last film as hardened criminal Glenn Griffith, who has escaped from prison with his brother and a brute named Kobish. They happen upon the typical American family, the Hilliards, and invade their home with great brutality for a 1955 film."Man must protect his family" has become a very long-lived genre to this very day, and this movie is a fine entry in it. Fredric March's Dan Hilliard is realistic and even inspiring, in an early scene he explains to his son that he is afraid, and he's not ashamed of it. Through his dialogue and thoughtful acting, we are able to believe in Dan Hilliard as an honest everyman doing the best he can in a difficult situation, which keeps these sorts of movies from become unrealistic flights of fantasy. The pacing is very good, with nary a dull moment as the desperate hours tick by. Bogart's tremendous acting kill any chance of audience boredom, as you see his character's interesting clash between the desperate honest man and the desperate criminal. The soundtrack is almost nonexistent, rare for Hollywood in this era, but it's quite welcome, as it adds to the gritty, desperate feel of the film.This is really a very fine thriller that has stood the test of time. It may not have explosions or death-defying stunts, but the emotional conflict is what these movies are based on, and this movie has it in spades.

jpdoherty One of the last of the great film noirs came in 1955 in the shape of THE DESPERATE HOURS. Although it was filmed in Paramount's own widescreen process of Vista Vision it at once established itself and maintained its arresting noir look through its stylish use of black and white cinematography - courtesy of the great Lee Garmes - and masterful direction of William Wyler. Adapted by Joseph Hayes from his novel and play the picture also boasts a terrific cast headed by Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March and Arthur Kennedy. With a nod to his Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest" (1936) Bogart, in his next to last film, is superb in the kind of role he knew so well, that of the hard boiled criminal.Three escaped and armed convicts, led by notorious Glenn Griffin (Bogart), take over a house in middle class suburbia and hold the Hilliard family at gunpoint until the mail arrives the following day containing their getaway money. In the meantime the terrorized family must carry on with their everyday routine without arousing anyone's suspicions. With the police hotly on the gang's trail and closing in - the family little by little - begin to make attempts to outwit their unwelcome guests, gain the upper hand and thwart their plans. After two of the convicts are shot dead by the police the picture ends in a stunning sequence with the husband (March) confronting and fooling Griffin with an empty gun before the police marksmen, under huge arc lights, gun him down in a hail of gunfire in Hilliard's own front lawn.Thanks to Wyler's adroit direction, his genius for camera angles and set-ups, brilliant crisp cinematography and great performances THE DESPERATE HOURS is more than a neat little thriller. Suspense is maintained throughout at a very high level. Wyler's film proceeds with commendable energy and intensity. Mesmerizing is Bogart as the unshaven dishevelled sneering and dangerous leader of the three fugitives. His Glenn Griffin is one of his great and most underrated performances and should have at least earned him a nomination. Excellent too is the wonderful Fredric March as the beleaguered husband and father Dan Hilliard (Spencer Tracy was originally slated to play this part but neither he nor Bogart would accept second billing). Also good is Martha Scott (Judah Ben Hur's mother in Wyler's 1959 epic) as the wife and mother, the likable and ill-fated Gig Young as the boyfriend of Hilliard's daughter (played by pretty Mary Murphy). And there's an extraordinary performance from the rotund Robert Middleton as Kobish the violent, unscrupulous and giggling puerile convict.One disappointing aspect of the picture though is the sparse music score by composer Gail Kubik! There is an impressive raw pounding theme over the titles but no more music is heard then until towards the end of the picture. Kubik, a noted conductor, violinist and teacher was more akin to scoring shorts and documentaries and had scored only one other feature "C-Man" in 1949. It is quite extraordinary that Wyler didn't use a more established movie composer. He had always made great use of music in his films i.e. Max Steiner for "Jezebel" (1938), Alfred Newman for "Wuthering Heights" (1939), Hugo Friedhofer for "Best Years Of Our Lives" (1946) and of course later with Jerome Moross for "The Big Country" (1958) and Miklos Rozsa for "Ben Hur" (1959). THE DESPERATE HOURS must be Wyler's shortest and least involving score. However the minimalist score not withstanding his DESPERATE HOURS remains a stunning evocation of the best that ever there was in crime movies. Taking the picture's main premise Michael Comino remade the movie in 1990. It was a valiant effort spoiled by the excessive and over stylized performance by the irritating Mickey Rourke in the Bogart role - diminishing the fine portrayals of Anthony Hopkins as the husband and the excellent characterization by David Morse in the Kobish role. Ultimately though the picture, lacking the required tension and atmosphere, was little more than a pale imitation of the original.