The Desperate Hours

The novel begins "Out of the fog they came..". Indeed. I remember this movie as being just a terrifically suspenseful ride, from the opening POV shot canvassing the neighborhood for a suitable hideout to the final clash between the two family... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

"The Desperate Hours" is a towering achievement in suspense films… It was cast to perfection, written and directed by a meticulous, serious artist… Its basic situation – of a family trapped in their home for 36 hours by an utterly... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

Based on the novel and play by Joseph Hayes, which in turn was inspired by an actual event, The Desperate Hours is the prototypical "family-trapped-by-criminals" drama. ... Full Article