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20 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Tightly-wound thriller, based on true events, 20 December 2004

Author: Libretio

THE DESPERATE HOURS

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (VistaVision)

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white)

The patriarch of a middle-class suburban family (Fredric March) is forced to take action when they're held hostage in their own home by three escaped convicts, one of whom (Humphrey Bogart) is an experienced lifer with nothing to lose...

The first and only pairing of superstars Bogart and March is a tightly-wound thriller, written by Joseph Hayes (based on his novel and stageplay, inspired by actual events), and directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, distancing himself from the 'women's pictures' he had helped to popularize during the 1940's (THE LITTLE FOXES, MRS. MINIVER, THE HEIRESS etc.). Photographed in gleaming deep-focus VistaVision by Lee Garmes (SCARFACE, THE PARADINE CASE), the movie wrings incredible tension from the claustrophobic settings and frequent stand-offs between staunch family man March and embittered con Bogart. The movie's themes are fairly conservative and the outcome is never really in doubt, but this is a top-drawer thriller from Hollywood's 'golden age'. Also starring Arthur Kennedy, Martha Scott, Dewey Martin and Gig Young in crucial supporting roles. Unmissable.

NB. Though nowhere near as dreadful as most critics would have you believe, Michael Cimino's remake DESPERATE HOURS (1990) isn't a patch on the original.

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14 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
home invasion 1955 style, 29 May 2002
Author: bengleson from British Columbia

The randomness of the home invasion portrayed in THE DESPERATE HOURS must have been a chilling experience for cinema goers in the mid fifties. This is a solid movie that unfolds well with each roll of the arbitrary dice. Bogart acquits himself nicely as the head heavy although he looks weary and shows signs of the illness that killed him a couple of years later. Fredric March is a shade too long in the tooth to be the father of that obnoxious little boy but he gives a sterling portrayal of a man protecting his home. Always amusing are the jurisdictional disputes that arise amongst competing police agencies. Stay away from the Mickey Rourke clone.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Bogie's No Rourke and Yes That's a Good Thing, 6 January 2001

Author: Eric Chapman (caspar_h@yahoo.com) from Pittsburgh, PA

A lot of loopy comments out there about this one. "Predictable" is a very over-used adjective that I've certainly been guilty of myself, but what exactly is supposed to happen in a hostage-taking, domestic thriller like this? Are aliens supposed to land in the Hilliards' back yard and vaporize everyone? Is Bogart's escaped con supposed to dress up in drag at some point and decide he wants to become a chorus girl? Would that satisfy those who find this movie predictable?

"The Desperate Hours" keeps you on the edge of your seat; it more than passes the test as a thriller and it most certainly has not mellowed over time. The script is fine, intelligently examining how the respectably middle class but somewhat complacent father (Frederic March) draws strength and courage from the love of his wife and kids in handling the ordeal. Though each family member is formulating their own strategy for how best to resolve the crisis (their brains are always going "clickity-clickity-click" as Bogart mockingly keeps reminding them) they recognize March as the father and as such the captain of the ship. They look to him for leadership and he responds. It's telling that when the young son disobediently puts his ill-conceived plan into action, it undermines the father's nearly successful tactic. Though he had earlier suspected his dad of being cowardly for not taking a more aggressive stance, from this point on he begins to appreciate all the variables he must take into account and looks up to him once more. The idealized, but by no means wildly unrealistic domestic situation reflects the mood of the time. Why on earth would it possibly reflect cynically 90's attitudes and sensibilities, as some reviewers seem to desire?

There are casting decisions pertaining to age differences which raise an eyebrow, but do not seriously detract from William Wyler's (as masterful and dependable a director as Hollywood has ever cranked out) otherwise polished production. At 42 of course, Gig Young seems a tad old for the family's 19 year old daughter (beautiful Mary Murphy) but he's still youthful enough looking and he puts an interesting spin on what is usually the thankless role of the boyfriend who stumbles into things. One of the beauties of B&W photography is that it can always be used to make actors look as many as 5-15 years younger than they are. This comes into play with Bogart's character as well, as he's asked to be the older brother of 32 year old Dewey Martin, and it's something that I didn't have too hard a time buying. It's difficult to believe this was one of his last films, as he seems quite vigorous and robust in the part.

Tense, exciting, well-acted and directed; this is indisputably far superior to Michael Cimino's bloody and botched 1990 Mickey Rourke "star" vehicle remake.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrific suspense, 22 January 2004

Author: perfectbond

This is yet another feather in the incomparable Bogart's cap. Terrific tension is generated in the hostage taking and the need to cover it up (I know it's wrong but I wanted the Griffin boys to succeed). The supporting cast is perfect in depicting a typical American family of the period. Kobish, the dimwitted but violent felon, was a great character and Dewey Martin, as the younger Griffin (he was also in another Bogart film, Knock on Any Door), probably had the most poignant line in the whole movie when he responds to his older brother, who said he "taught him everything," by replying "except how to live in a house like this." One thing I can't remember is whether or not we see Griffin's girlfriend onscreen at all. Well anyway, terrific movie, 9/10.

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11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
The Badges Of Madison County, 23 December 1999
Author: Michael Coy (michael.coy@virgin.net) from London, England

Dan Hilliard and his family are perfect Americans, corresponding admirably to the bourgeois ideal. The two children are bright, good-looking and obedient. Cindy is about 20 and is going steady with an attorney who owns a sports car. Ralphy is eight or so, all plaid shirts, jeans and attitude. He has a baseball mitt and a bicycle. Ellie, Dan's wife, runs their spotless home with quiet efficiency. Everything is in its place. Trash collectors call at fixed times. Breakfast is a serene family ritual. The Hilliards' home life is as balanced, as regular and as dull as the barometer on the wall. As for Dan Hillier himself, he has attained that mythic status to which all 1950's bourgeois males aspired - he is an executive. The middle classes don't want adventure in their lives, they want predictability. And this is the perfect, dream-like state in which the Hilliards pass their anodyne existence, secure in their suburban womb - until the American Nightmare is unleashed upon them.

What if members of The Underclass, with their dirty, unshaven physicality and their sagging, torn clothes should irrupt into the suburbs? What if, by some catastrophic failure, the police and the prison service can't keep The Underclass in its designated containers? How will nice folks like the Hilliards cope if confronted by these alien beings?

There has been a jailbreak. The citizens of Indianapolis have been warned to watch out for three desperadoes - the two Griffin brothers and their accomplice Kobish. Little do the Hilliards realise as they go about their tranquil suburban lives, but the fugitives are about to choose the Hilliard home as a place to hole up ...

Like "Suddenly", made a year earlier, this is a 'bad guys invaded my home' movie. The downside of bourgeois affluence is the fear that the disenfranchised masses will come to take away your goodies.

Humphrey Bogart was in his late 50's and clearly ailing when he played the part of Glenn Griffin, the leader of the fugitive trio. He would make only two more films in the short time that was left to him. Dewey Martin, 26 years his junior, plays his kid brother Hal.

More than anything, "The Desperate Hours" is a film about social class. "You can't play ball with savages like that," opines a Madison County detective. Glenn holds his social superiors in equal contempt, calling them "smart-eyed respectable suckers". He warns Hal not to expect any favours from the class enemy: "Guys like Hilliard ever give you a fair shake?" Much play is made of linguistic markers which separate the educated from the rest ('whom' instead of 'who'), and contrasts in table manners between the refined Hilliards and their thuggish captors. Glenn lashes out against the tea tray, that emblem of middle-class gentility, and the virginal Cindy, whom he urges Hal to 'take'.

Dire though the Hilliards' predicament may be, they are not alone. They are exactly the kind of people the forces of law and order exist to protect and serve, and it is not long before Madison County's finest and the FBI are closing in on the fugitives. And the cops have science on their side. They can tap the phone of Glenn's girlfriend in Pittsburgh, and tail her across America as she heads for the rendezvous. In the police station, the humming wires never rest as technology narrows down the bad guys' options.

Middle-class sensibility is all-pervasive. Chuck and Cindy argue near the sports car, but break off abruptly when two people pass by. No matter how deeply the emotions may run, it isn't seemly to fight in front of the neighbours. Dan's secretary can tell, from nuances of his behaviour, that something is very wrong. Similarly, the trashman senses that things are amiss with Ellie by the quality of her chat. We see Cindy admiring her curves in front of the hallway mirror, because it is important that she be sexually desirable (so that the fugitives will regard her as a chattle). Chuck, however, has to remain sexually thwarted, because his behaviour is bound by rigid bourgeois restrictions. We see him raise the arm-rest in his sports car in the hope of a grappling session with Cindy, then lowering it dejectedly when he realises that his luck is out. Dan's wave to Chuck to cross the threshold is a symbolic acceptance of him as a son-in-law. He has made it into The Family.

Light represents goodness. Cindy comes home after another chaste date with Chuck and is bathed in bright light on the doorstep. Dan and Ellie declare their love for each other, their bodies lit intensely in an otherwise black bedroom. The searchlights of the police, and the bad guys' vain attempts to eradicate them, show us figuratively what we yearn to see - that good will always triumph over social disruption.

The overpowering of Ellie, the smashing of Ralphy's toy plane and the collapse of Cindy all happen on the same spot and are all filmed from the same low angle. These dramatic incidents show the Hilliards at bay, and the unusual vantage-point stresses the 'wrongness' of what is happening.

Implausibilities abound throughout the movie. How likely is it that the front door would be left unlocked, that Chuck would reach the house ahead of the cops, or that Dan would insist on carrying a gun, then empty its clip? Why would he hesitate to call the police in, once he got the upper hand? Why would everyone leave the family unattended, moments after the conclusion of a violent and dramatic siege?

And yet it works. Glenn's love of his brother breaks through his tough-guy facade, and after he gives his guns away he undergoes a tragic 'King Lear' moment of self-realisation. These are powerful moments in a powerful film.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Bogey's return to the Thirties, 10 October 2005

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Humphrey Bogart got his first real notice on the silver screen in The Petrified Forest, repeating a role he did on Broadway. As Duke Mantee, criminal on the run, he held the occupants of a diner hostage for several hours.

Here in The Desperate Hours, Bogey takes over a role that Paul Newman originated on Broadway. Bogart, Dewey Martin and Robert Middleton play three escaped convicts who drive to Indianapolis because Bogart wants to kill the officer that arrested him. Dewey Martin is Bogart's younger brother and Robert Middleton is their brutal partner in the escape.

Given the age difference between Bogart and Paul Newman, I'm sure the role of Glenn Griffin was played quite differently by Newman on stage. Similarly Karl Malden played Dan Hilliard on stage and Fredric March plays him for the screen. March is no hero here, he's just an ordinary family man trapped with his family in a terrible situation.

Rounding out the Hilliard family is wife Martha Scott, daughter Mary Murphy and son Richard Eyer. Martha Scott had appeared with March before as his wife in One Foot in Heaven. She does well here also, but I do wonder where the real Mrs. March was, Florence Eldridge. It seems like a good joint project for both of them.

The Desperate Hours is a good suspenseful thriller that will keep you glued to your seat. These are real people here, not some Hollywood type situation comedy family. You will care about what the eventual outcome will be.

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11 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
A finely honed narrative with exquisite twists that are all too believable..., 1 January 2007

Author: Roger Burke (mayapan1942@yahoo.com) from Australia

Bogie had done films like this one before: The Petrified Forest (1936), High Sierra (1941), Key Largo (1948) and We're No Angels (1955) – all with Bogie as a gangster or victim of a gangster, in a desperate setting (although the last one is a comedic spoof). Desperate Hours, however, is different – this time out, Bogie (as Glen Griffin) has a whole suburban family as hostage as he tries to complete his run for freedom from the law. Is this the first such home invasion type movie? Perhaps Suddenly (1954)?

The story is simply superb. Every good narrative succeeds because of certain literary aspects: a believable story line, down-to-earth dialog that supports it, a good measure of irony at appropriate turning points, just the right amount of coincidence that can intrude on anybody's daily experience, a dogged police officer who just won't give up in the search for what he believes, and a family – an ordinary family – that finds within itself the courage, imagination, and strength to persevere in the face of the real threat of death.

I saw this film long ago when just a lad, so I didn't recall much of the story at all. But, being a Bogie fan, I looked forward to seeing it again when I got a hold of a DVD recently. I don't recall what movies were in the running for the Oscars that year, but I think this should have been a contender (apparently, it wasn't).

The cast was well chosen. Bogie, of course, was "made" for this part, having done so many like it in the past – and that's not a side-swipe at typecasting; Robert Middleton almost steals the movie with his portrayal of the psychopathic Kobish -- a chilling portrayal; Dewey Martin as Bogie's brother, Hal, provides a sense of decency that the other two lack, the only jarring note for me: why should he? He's on the run, and drops all pretense of humanity when he decides to cut and run by himself. And, we know what happens to anybody who cuts and runs, right? Frederic March as Dan Hilliard ably shows what can happen to your principles and behavior when lives are at stake: most of life's niceties go out the window as he tries to save his family. Understandable, given the desperate situation. Martha Scott as his wife and Mary Murphy as his daughter (Cindy) are suitably frightened most of the time, but they also summon the courage to oppose the bad guys when possible. The guy who isn't used so much is Arthur Kennedy as deputy sheriff Bard, but his role is pivotal in bringing the story to a satisfactory ending. Pity, because Kennedy was as fine an actor as Bogie or March. Gig Young, as Cindy's suitor, rounds out the main cast – he playing the puzzled hopeful who just won't go away when Cindy pleads with him to "stay away". It's just as well that he didn't...

The setting in small town America is just right, the picture perfect home of the Hilliards standing for the American dream that is about to threatened and even destroyed. Which gives rise to one of the best lines in cinema history, spoken by March near the end: "Get out – get out of my house!" he nearly screams at Bogie, thus cementing forever in film the idea of a man's home as his castle. Bogie visibly wilts before the stern and righteous wrath of March – but not only because of that does Bogie give it all up. You'll have to see the film to understand why.

Most of the action is within the confines of the Hilliard house (having been a stage play first, that makes sense) and the cinematography takes full advantage of all those nooks and crannies to enthrall the viewer and keep the suspense running. I liked particularly the reasonably long take of the camera behind the bad guys while they watch the old trash collector do his work and who seems to miss the presence of their stolen car in the garage. It's a priceless piece of work as the escapees faces keep looking at each other and then at the old man – and the viewer stays on edge, all the time, wondering: will he react?

The final showdown is simply a tour de force. It's fast and furious, ranging all through the ground floor, up the stairs and into the bedrooms, and then back again, as the protagonists fight it out for supremacy; I was reminded of Dustin Hoffman's running fight with the bad guys in Straw Dogs (1971). In the hands of an inept director, it would have been farcical but Wyler turns on the suspense and the irony as March overcomes his adversary – Bogie – in one of the coolest ways imaginable. No, I won't tell you, because that would spoil it for you.

As the credits rolled by at the end, my immediate thought was that this type of story is so believable, it could happen to me, or you...

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
The Desperate Hours, 31 May 2007

Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Simply outstanding, genuinely suspenseful thriller about a group of escaped convicts terrorizing a suburban family as they hole up in their home. It's a game of cat-and-mouse as Dan Hilliard(Fredric March, just terrific)must find a way to keep his family safe against gruff louse Glenn(Humphrey Bogart, unshaven carrying a scowl and sneer most of the film's duration),his mild brother Hal(Dewey Martin, clearly portraying a brother whose life suffered because of the influence of his hood brother)and unhinged, unpleasant, child-like Kobish(Robert Middleton, playing him with quite a few screws loose)while they await money at Midnight from the lead hood's dame. That dame is being tailed by Deputy Sheriff Bard(Arthur Kennedy)who has a history with Glenn. Bard receives cooperation from the FBI through agent Carson(Whit Bissell). Glenn warns Dan that if he even sees coppers near the house the family gets it. Soon, though, Glenn's plans on receiving the cash from his dame at Midnight doesn't go according to plan meaning an extended amount of terror towards Dan and his family. Through it all, Dan must match wits with his captors somehow contacting the police without Glenn and his cronies knowing.

The tension in this film is so thick you could cut it with a knife..gripping from the very moment Bogie begins his takeover of the home until the end when he must face the music, this film caused me to bite my nails to the quick. With a masterful director like William Wyler calling the shots behind the camera and the caliber of March as the heroic father and Bogie as the chief hood, you just can't go wrong. Gig Young has a crucial role as lawyer Chuck, Dan's daughter's boyfriend.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
"Clickety - Clickety - Clickety - Click", 11 October 2005

Author: theowinthrop from United States

The original THE DESPERATE HOURS is one of the best true suspense films that were ever made. The incident happened in upstate New York in 1953, when three escaped convicts invaded a private home, and then terrorized the family until they were captured and killed by the police. In fact, the story became a successful Broadway play that this film is based on (the family in the original incident brought an unsuccessful lawsuit against the dramatist for invasion of privacy).

Humphrey Bogart, his brother Dewey Martin, and that marvelous villain Robert Middleton play the three convicts, who having escaped prison take the Hilliard prisoners. Bogart is awaiting his girlfriend who is supposed to bring money and a car for their total getaway. In the meantime Bogart is doing his best to make the Hilliards as unhappy as possible. Not too difficult, as Martha Scott, Mary Murphy, and Richard Eyer are facing three thugs who are armed. And Fredric March is the family head, frightened at the most hideous prospect possible (his family being wiped out), but struggling to maintain his courage but also his head - he hates Bogart but must not do anything that will antagonize him. Bogart fully returns the dislike. A poor guy all his life, he turned to crime to make a living. When the younger and softer Martin tries to speak out for March/Hilliard, Bogart snarls out, "And what did the Hilliards ever do for you?" In truth not much, which is what this particular Hilliard is paying for now. After awhile, watching March's careful thinking of what to do, Bogart starts taunting him as though he's a machine he sees through - saying the line in the "Subject line" above.

There are several problems that gradually increase the tensions: 1) Richard Eyer is brave as a little kid who does not understand that guns can kill. He thinks his father is the bravest man in the world, and cannot understand why he doesn't take on and destroy the bad guys.

2) The family has to maintain the aura of normality - Bogart and Murphy have to go out to their jobs and act without stirring any notice. Hard in normal situations, it is driving Murphy to insanity because she can't talk to her boyfriend, Gig Young. And Young is beginning to wonder why.

3) If the surface is to look normal, you have to keep anything unusual hidden. The original getaway car is in the Hilliard garage (now closed). But the local garbage man (Walter Baldwin) finds it accidentally - leading to an ugly tragedy.

4) Bogart and Martin are brothers, but Martin is attracted to a normal life, not one of violence. He may eventually want not to stick to Bogart.

5) Middleton came along, but he really is not trusted by Bogart - and he has a weapon of his own.

6) Bogart's plans include killing the officer who sent him to prison, Arthur Kennedy. Kennedy and the state police are coordinating the entire search, and keeping a tight lid on top of the escaped prisoners (making their temporary safety more claustrophobic).

All of these elements build the pressure up and up and up until the last twenty minutes. The results are quite explosive and impressive, and memorable. This was Bogart's last film as a bad guy, and he made the most of it. It was also his only film with Fredric March, and the tension in their scenes together grows until it shatters at the conclusion. Martha Scott, Gig Young (whose character's independent actions throws the convicts' plans out of wack), Middleton (quite chilling), and Kennedy give first rate performances. Martin's performance is also good, and ultimately tragic. No lover of suspense films will be disappointed by THE DESPERATE HOURS.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
"....and Humphrey Bogart......as "The Thiever!", 31 July 2006

Author: happipuppi13 from Phx. Arizona ("Arizona Smells Funny"!- Homer Simpson)

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Okay,okay....I couldn't resist that obvious "Leave It To Beaver" in joke!

Joking aside now,my local library recently put this into it's collection and I watched it last night (7/30/06) and I have nothing but the utmost praise for this movie! I also have one question....why in my entire 38 year life have I never seen this on TV?

No question that Bogart's best films of the 30's & 40's are classics (as well as 1950's,"African Queen".) I cannot fathom just how it is this has gone under the radar for so long. Being that its from late in his career (his 2nd to last film),I was expecting a dud,again,since I'd never heard of it.

Some folks can easily joke that since the exterior is the Cleaver house,the film is then unintentionally funny. Amazingly,it was this very aspect that made it all the more engrossing! I actually think it is an unintentionally brilliant idea!

What this does for the film is demonstrate that,while in some ways the '50s were the "innocent" era,it also shows that like in any time in history,things are not "perfect". There was crime then as there's crime now. There's just (unfortunatley) more excuses for it today. It really was like watching on of those squeaky clean B & W TV families get shaken up! Again,that really made it more exciting.

Why? Because,instead of just letting these thugs hold complete sway over their home,they fight back and scheme,even though it could mean the worst! It really dis-spells what TV shows back then were saying about the American family.

I've only seen Fredric March in one other film;"The Best Years Of Our Lives". Which he was also good in but here,he's one of the few actors that gets to defeat Bograt,when he's playing a bad guy. I knew Bogart and his motley crew would be defeated in the end but the exciting part was sitting through to see how this otherwise gentle but strong family would emerge unharmed (except for Bogart hitting March over the head.)

I don't see how anyone can say Bogart and March's acting was less than great. Humphrey Bogat does what he does best when he's the villain and March is just electric in his role! (..and you rarely hear "that" about an actor from the old days. Each actor in this film,however big or small their role,does their fair share as well.

Someone called this a '50s time capsule. Well,that's what some folks make time capsules for....to be opened and revisit another era. In the case of,"The Desperate Hours",I not only think it's worthy in that way,I think it's original print should grace the Library of Congress!

(..and no,I do not exaggerate.) That's just my brain at work...clickety-click! (END)

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