Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

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.

seymourblack-1 "The Desperate Hours" is a tense drama about the ordeal that an ordinary family goes through when their home is invaded by a group of convicts who have just escaped from prison. Their predicament and the desperation that they feel is immediately understood by audiences everywhere and this is what gives the movie so much power and potency. The family understandably feel indignant, violated and quite helpless but also recognise that they need to be resourceful and co-operative if they are to have any hope of survival.Joseph Hayes' well written screenplay was adapted from his own novel, which was in turn inspired by a real-life incident that received a great deal of press coverage in 1952. The knowledge that this type of hostage situation actually took place gives "The Desperate Hours" added credibility and despite the strict censorship standards that applied at the time, this movie undeniably still packs a powerful punch.When a group of three escaped convicts travel through a respectable suburban estate in their stolen car, their leader Glenn Griffin (Humphrey Bogart) notices one home with a child's bicycle outside its front door and decides that this is the ideal type of residence for the men to hide out in because, if the residents have children, they will obviously be easier to control. The gang members break into the house in which housewife Eleanor Hilliard (Martha Scott) is busy at work and park their car in the Hilliards' garage.Glenn, who's accompanied by his younger brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton), is armed and orders Eleanor to disclose where her husband keeps his gun. Hal then takes charge of the husband's gun and Glenn forces Eleanor to make a telephone call to his girlfriend Helen Miller, to arrange for her to deliver some money to the house later that night. When Dan Hilliard (Fredric March) and his grown up daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy) return from work and ten-year-old Ralphie (Richard Eyer) returns from school, they walk into a horrific situation and all immediately become hostages.Glenn and local Deputy Sheriff Jesse Bard (Arthur Kennedy) had crossed swords in the past and because of this, Jesse is put in charge of the manhunt. Glenn tells Dan that the gang will leave as soon as his girlfriend arrives with the money. Police checks identify where Helen is and Jesse arranges for her to be followed, so that she can lead them to the convicts. These arrangements go wrong when Helen gets stopped for committing a traffic violation and the Hilliards' plight from that point on, gets progressively worse.Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March both give strong performances as two men who are polar opposites and regard each other with nothing but contempt. Bogart, as the vicious criminal, shows the level of strain he's under as he tries to evade the attentions of the police whilst also having to control not only his hostages but also his other gang members who both become unpredictable and dangerous at times. March is very believable as the conventional department store executive who's frightened by the predicament he's in and determined to protect his family at all costs. The quality of the acting by the supporting cast is also extremely good and contributes greatly to the success of this very intense and claustrophobic thriller.

Daniel Kincaid "The Desperate Hours" first introduces a typical 1950s nuclear family before their home is invaded by three gangsters hiding from the police. From there the film chronicles the tensions in the invaded home and the police search to find the gangsters.Humphrey Bogart reprises his role as "tough guy" with his usual skill as the leader of the gangsters. Federic March's talents aren't on display as often as the father of the family, but his performance near the end talking to the sheriff and entering the house was excellent. Robert Middleton developed an interesting character in the feebleminded and boorish Sam Kobish and the supporting performances are fine as well.This film does have some moments of tension and it is effective in developing a sense of paranoia amongst the gangsters near the end. The story on the whole is nothing profound, though, and makes this a less than interesting crime thriller. However, the ending is very well-developed with tension and the final moments with Bogart and March were gripping. Personally I found "The Petrified Forest" (1936) to be a much more interesting iteration of the "hostage situation" style of film with Bogart as a gangster.

thefilmfiend The Desperate Hours: a title and a film suggesting a condition quintessential to existence. This film is essentially about class distinctions and the burdens that accompany each social stratum. Wyler belatedly begins his interest in the common man in this noir-ish thriller, The Desperate Hours. However, Wyler does not completely renounce his previous bourgeois subject; rather, The Desperate Hours interestingly merges both white and blue collar characters in a psychological battle of wills. The two main characters Dan C. Hillard played by Fredric March and Glenn Griffin played by Humphrey Bogart are the presiding representatives of their class. Whereas the characters are introduced as strict representations of good and evil, their interaction with each other creates enough friction to shatter conventional character molds. The hours of desperation begin when Griffin takes refuge at Hillard's house and forces his family under house arrest after escaping from prison. While Griffin and his two other inmate fugitives have found a haven from the police, they provide little refuge only duress for Hillard and his family. However, Griffin's primary goal is not misogyny, rather money for escape. Anxiety begins for the Hillard family when Griffin trespasses upon their house, and thereafter only accentuates for everyone when the money sent by Griffin's girlfriend is impeded. Interestingly Wyler reveals that this kidnapping was not a product of mere fate. Hillard and Griffin acknowledge a past, personal relationship, yet Wyler withholds revealing their history and or the specific crimes committed by Griffin. These omissions of plot details suggest that the film is ultimately about the character struggle between Hillard and Griffin. The environment of desperation first debilitates the father and then the escapee, Griffin. While the father is reduced to submission in his own house, Griffin loses his will to dictate arbitration when his options are limited by an encroaching police force. The Desperate Hours differs from most thrillers by giving the leading man only one scene to demonstrate his emotion strength as protagonist and patriarch. While previous films have blurred emotional desperation with righteousness, few films have expressed the similarities between the good and bad pathos. Each character perceives the other as invasive and proceeds to out-smart the other. While this battle could potentially end peacefully as Bogart first promise, Wyler early on indicates that this battle will only result in tragedy. The threat of capture for Griffin and the desire for escape for March without an obvious end in sight strangles compromise and composure of these characters. Both characters despise each other, yet they reach that conclusion from using differing paths of rationale.Hillard's lucid articulation of hate towards Griffin only further confuses the role of the protagonist. Even without Hillard's misanthropic actions, Griffin seems less villainous than a typical Anthony G. Robinson character. While Griffin kidnapped and threatened the Hillard family, he never physically abused or stole from them. His reasons (albeit which are not expressly stated in the film) for using Hillard's home for a safe house seem justified as if Hillard had unduly betrayed Griffin in the past. Furthermore, Griffin refuses money Hillard attempts to give him as if he considered it bribery. Even when Griffin accepts some money he chivalrously bequeaths it to his fellow inmate brother (Dewey Martin) attempting to make a break-for-it. Unlike the tough-guy roles Bogart played in the past, Griffin is demanding, yet also weak and fearful. Despite these weak character traits, Griffin proudly states the rules of the house and the requisite punishments for violations. Griffin only on one occasion reneges on his word, yet he defends his dishonesty by citing the fallacies and lapses of integrity of his counterpart, the upper-class. Finally, The Desperate Hours uses Humphrey Bogart's star power to confuse the viewer's own moral obligation. The viewer almost has an intuitive response to support Bogart's interest. Besides the later Treasure of Sierra Madre, Bogart had only previous appeared as the tough guy protagonist instead of the antagonist. Bogart's screen familiarity and the lesser-known Fredric March progresses this film into a film-noir direction with the viewer siding with villain, yet Griffin never reaches the anti-hero status of Wilder's Walter Neff in Double Indemnity. In fact, Wyler deviates from typical film-noir tendencies by focusing on the protagonist (family) narrative rather than the prison-escape narrative. The film begins and concludes with the family narrative, while additionally exploring a few more family subplots. Moreover, the film does not glorify or sympathize with the criminal. As previously stated, this film is essentially about class distinction with the criminal representing the lower-class and the family man representing the upper class. However, Wyler does not forward any more insight into the nature of class beyond this simple categorization. The film is littered with remarks about economic subjugation, yet the film does not explore or reveal the past grievances of discrimination against Bogart's character; therefore, one is left without a historical foundation for warranting his exoneration. Without a record of harmful societal discretions against Griffin's class, one is unable to drawl a more present or significant meaning from the conclusion of the movie. Moreover, the film does not deviate from Hollywood interpretations of society- i.e. good versus evil with good prevailing in the end. Without a prior narrative to support the characters' motivations, the actors compensate the truthfulness with their performance. The film ultimately proves to be a classic story about family values and the role of the patriarch. Nevertheless, whereas the film fails to provide the audience with a more connotative meaning, the film does deliver good performances. The Desperate Hours through Wyler's direction may be perceived as a film concerned with more than just patriarchal society. Since the film revolves mostly around the characters, the film eventually becomes about the solidification of family ties not class distinctions. Ultimately the film chronicles the two main characters' ability to cope within a stressful environment. Eventually, this controlled experiment ends and yields to the pressures of the outside environment.