The Desperate Hours (1955)

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Daniel C. Hilliard (Fredric March) is the head of a suburban nuclear family. Ellie is the stay-at-home mom. Teen Cindy is dating Chuck Wright. Ralphie is the rambunctious son. Escaped convict brothers Glenn (Humphrey Bogart) and Hal Griffin along with the destructive Simon Kobish find Ellie home alone and take over. As the family returns, they are all taken hostage as Glenn waits for his money and girlfriend. The situation gets extended into days as the police net widens and the gang blackmails the family to maintain an outward appearance of normality.Bogie often played vicious gangsters or roguish heroes. In this one, he plays the criminal comfortably. March as the father is a little too outwardly defiant even as he submits to Glenn. It's hard to believe that Glenn doesn't tie the boy and the mother up especially after the first revolt attempt. That part kept gnawing at me all the way through the movie. Overall, this is workable thriller with solid actors.

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.

Humphrey Bogart's final take on a crook's role is his finest as such and in a way closes the circle that opened almost twenty years earlier as Duke Mantee in 'The Petrified Forest'. A rare opportunity for an actor to show his gathered experience and professionalism so vividly and a treat for viewers. Some doubts have always been made about him to be maybe too old for the role but I don't think so. All I see is great acting and a believable bad guy. He is smart and ruthless in his wheeling and dealing. He provokes and observes, loves to control the situations and the family. While trying to fix himself money to resume the escape his time of hiding starts to seem like a twisted analysis of what makes an ordinary family tick. A kind of family he has obviously never had and feels betrayed and angered about it. He does have a younger brother and a half-witted partner with him, but they do not connect except on the means of escaping the law. In the end I got a feeling that during the time spent in the house in his own way he has already got a small portion of the sort of freedom he always wished for. With that point of view the final fast close shot of his face is thought provoking. A flashing example on effects of Bogart's expressive face and little gestures of his that were able to make grand suggestions to the scenes.March is almost equally impressive in his ways as a man running his family gently but firmly, a total opposite to Bogart's Griffin. He can also be equally menacing in defending his home specially in the last scenes. But his urge to use violence and brutality are strictly controlled by his care for his family. That love becomes his power as well as his weakness at handling the desperate incident. During the growing tension his role becomes something like a family man version of Jekyll and Hyde, of him being forced to adapt himself some aspects of his worst enemy to overcome the situation. Just watch March's and Bogart's expressions changing to and fro as they exchange threats. One can sense signs that in other circumstances the places could in fact change rather easily in their battle of wills. Although it's the acting that most impresses me in this movie, the director's work must also be very much appreciated. Wyler has used the house and its two floors with setups, camera angles and lighting effectively to stage and express the power play and threat. The tension keeps growing up by building situation upon situation and it never lets go, even when we're elsewhere out of the house or seeing what the law enforcement is up to at the same time.An excellent crime and hostage drama that hasn't lost none of its power in 52 years. A family unit as a representative of normal society colliding with outside terror is, after all, still a very active and contemporary subject.

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 he can never have someone like her if he continues down his brother's road. Gig Young is somewhat wasted as Cythia's boyfriend - it's unnecessary star casting. Martha Scott does a terrific job as the harried wife and mother. The wonderful Arthur Kennedy gives another good performance as the sheriff determined to catch Griffin.Highly recommended for its suspenseful story, fine direction, and top performances.