The Desperate Hours (1955)

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.

Fmovies: Trio of escaped convicts, led by Humphrey Bogart, take Fredric March and his family hostage in their own home. A well-acted thriller directed by William Wyler that, unfortunately, doesn't have as much edge as it should. This doesn't even seem particularly gritty by 1955 standards and it's certainly tame in comparison to the decades of far more brutal home invasion movies. It is interesting and the cast does a good job for the most part, but it's lacking that extra something to give it the proper amount of tension it needs. I didn't even find these guys all that menacing. Plus the characters do things that just seem to make no sense other than to keep the plot going in the way the writer needs it to. It's certainly not a bad movie, and I would probably watch Bogart and March read the phone book, but I just can't help but feel that this doesn't quite click. At least for me. I really think it would have been much better if it had more of a film noir style and edge to it. As it is, it has no visual style at all and the only menace comes from threats and tough guy talk.

I noticed one reviewer say "Bogey does it again". While I would agree that Bogart did a great job in the picture, I really feel the outstanding role was actually played by Frederick March. Bogey was menacing and that's certainly nothing new. But March, playing a sort of "every man" role who unexpectedly rises to the occasion in the end really stood out for me. It was a sort of metaphor for the capacity within us all to stand up to injustice and look for our own inner strength.

The plot is VERY simple. An evil gang takes a family hostage while hiding from the police. However, what makes the film stand out is the exquisite writing and acting that follows. This film really gives you a lot from such a simple plot.

Be sure to watch the ending--it really delivers!

The Desperate Hours fmovies. 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.

Frederic March, Martha Scott, Humphrey Bogart and Arthur Kennedy are just a few of the people who endure "The Desperate Hours," a 1955 film, based on the stage play and directed by William Wyler. On Broadway, the play was directed by Robert Montgomery and starred Karl Malden in the Bogart role and Paul Newman played his brother, here played by Dewey Martin. The film also stars Gig Young, Mary Murphy, Richard Eyer, and Robert Middleton.

Having just seen Bogart in the 1936 "The Petrified Forest," it was interesting to see him still taking hostages 19 years later - and in fact, looking like he'd spent the last 19 years on the run from the law. He was clearly ill during the making of this film. Though Dewey Martin looked 30 years younger than Bogie, he was in fact only 20, making the fact that they were brothers a tiny bit more plausible.

I also had recently seen "The Star Witness," a 1931 Warner Brothers film with a similar plot, which won an Oscar for best original screenplay. By 1955, it wasn't original any longer, but the execution of the story is compelling. Martha Scott is a housewife, Ellie Hilliard, alone in her suburban home when three escaped criminals (Bogart, Martin and Middleton) take over the place. Glenn Griffin (Bogart) wants to murder the Deputy Sheriff (Arthur Kennedy) who put him in prison, and he needs to wait for the delivery of some money to make good his escape. Dan Hilliard (March) and his daughter Cynthia (Murphy) walk into the situation, followed later by the Hilliard's little boy (Eyer). You'll be wondering why the son isn't knocked off - by his parents - given the trouble he causes.

The money is delayed, and of course, the police have no idea where the gang is, as Griffin has put his car in the Hilliard garage. So the hours turn into overnight. Although March and Cynthia are allowed to leave the house for work, and Cynthia has to keep a date with her boyfriend (Young), they're too terrified to say anything for fear the mother and boy will be killed. Basically the gang as well and the family become prisoners as the hours drag on.

Wyler gives us lots of frightening and suspenseful moments as the tension builds in the house, and he never lets the pace drag. Supposedly he made March and Scott do a goodbye scene for take after take because he thought March was "acting" and wanted to tire him out. An accomplished stage actor of the old school, March consistently had a great presence but didn't always emotionally connect with his characters - he does here. March and Bogart make powerful adversaries, March hitting just the right note as an angry father afraid for his family, but not afraid to talk back to Griffin. Bogart's Griffin is shrewd and admires brains and bravery in others; the family impresses him with their guts.

Bogart is marvelous in the role - though tired out, his character is determined to keep the gang together and free; he's resentful of the middle classness of the family and how out of place he and his gang are in a nice home. Unlike his Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest", Bogart's Griffin doesn't seem to have a sense of the hopelessness of his situation until the very end; also unlike Duke Mantee, he has a vulnerability that he demonstrates at the end.

Robert Middleton gives a scary performance as a witless member of the gang, and Martin, as Hal, displays Hal's disillusionment with the situation, his attraction to Cynthia, and the realization that

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.