The Desperate Hours (1955)

"Bogie-licious"

This "edge of your seat" suspense drama is Bogie at his best. I have seen it many times and can always watch it again. Bogie can do evil so well--an evil that you cannot ever completely hate, you always feel a tiny sympathy for his misdirected malcontent as an evil character. The original "suicide by cop" film. Time has shown what a truly terrific actor Humphry Bogart was. We miss you Mr. Bogart. September 9, 2008

Tense

A tense film that follows a home invasion and hostage situation. It might be a little dated for some younger watchers, still it has fine performances from Bogart and Fredric March. March 22, 2008

Enjoyable suspernser

This is a very well done, suspenseful film. Bogart and March are excellent in the leads. What is especially fascinating is that, even though Paramount was the studio, the exteriors of the film were filmed on the Universal lot, and one can clearly see the Hillard's home as the same as the one in Leave it to Beaver. Lots of shots of the Universal lot where Desperate Housewives is filmed now, more than 50 years later. October 15, 2007

Tension from start to finish!

What a pair: Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March face to face as mortal enemies. Good vs. evil. We know who will win but we don't know how. The excellent twists and turns keep us forever surprised. Spencer Tracy originally declined the role opposite Bogart because he refused second billing.

All acting is superb, though a bit of overkill with the 2 hysterical women captors. The child actor is a marvelous spunky character who never rose to deserved fame as did other kid actors.

As one reviewer wrote, What indeed would we do in this same situation, where Bogart & his 2 prison cronies hold a suburban family hostage. Fredric March, with his "clickety-clickety" mind, as Bogey calls it, is constantly trying to outwit the brutal escaped convicts once they escape from their jail like uncaged lions.

This is actually a great family action film where true loyal family values dominate, unlke today, and the starring family actually sits down for meals together and lovingly communicate with one another.

As a point of interest, the story is loosely based on the eponymous novel. The original story was covered in Time Magazine. The family held hostage sued Time - apparently there was never a settlement - but the lawyer representing the family was none other than Richard Nixon, an attorney in private practice between campaigns.

April 28, 2007

Terrible!

Unlike many other reviewers, I found this movie TERRIBLE! If it were newly released today, I think people would laugh at it, as I often did during its playing time.

The story is HIGHLY contrived, and, unless you leave your brains somewhere else, you can't help see the countless illogical occurrences in it. These contrivances make the story increasingly unbelievable--so much so that you can't suspend your belief that this is a movie. It's one plot hole after another--characters being forced to do this and that to obtain a particular effect. And on and on of the same foolishness.

The acting is pure ham--especially bogart, who is a highly overrated actor, who does not act. He just plays himself and presents what he believes the character should sound like. He does not, and cannot, enter deeply into any character he plays (except those who resemble his own life character). In other words, he presents a stereotype or charicature of a character, never really understanding it. His tough guy personna is the same old Humphrey but with a tough-guy tone and accent. It's laughable. Even the lowest level TV actor on the soaps today is far better.

The other actors are just as characaturish--the brave, concerned mom, the tough dad, the cutsy kid, the pretty daughter. Just a perfect household of nice goody-goody people who don't have a flaw in them, supposedly making them worthy of being rooted for. They don't feel their lines but try to act them, as if they were reading from a script. This makes them non-credible, hollow, distant. I felt no relationship with any of these so-called victims and didn't care if the cops saved them or not.

The directing was formulaic to the max, far below today's director standards. The name WYLER doesn't automatically mean good movie direction. There was nothing unique, awesome, or compelling about his style of moving from scene to scene.


DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS--IT IS HIGHLY OVERRATED. In its time it may have had some pizzaz or sparkle, but by today's standards it's an insult to anyone who uses even the least intelligence to follow the story. March 13, 2007

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