Rating: 
Summary: "Do you have a gun anywhere in the house...?"
Review: Bogart as a bad guy in the middle of a badder guy and a good bad guy. This is an excellent unknown movie from a time when takeover home robberies were unheard of. What a cast. The very best in every role. Some of the names won't be familiar, but if you ever watched "My Three Sons," there is Beverly Garland, and Gig Young who also has a nice role in Clark Gable's "Teacher's Pet." This is a "What if?" film that is believable. It is not for fans of Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee. These are real people with real weaknesses and strengths. What does Bogey do if the teenage daughter of his victim has to go to a school dance or it may arouse suspicion? This is a nail biter. If you don't mind black and white and 50s cars try this one. Another totally different "House" movie is "Bad Ronald." Tom Willett
Rating: 
Summary: Filmed In DesperationVision
Review: Boring, boring, boring ...That's really all that can be said for this William Wyler "thriller." While the performances of all of the principles (with the notable exception of Humphrey Bogart) are almost laughably unconvincing, even Bogart's magic isn't enough to elevate this drama filmed in DesperationVision to anything above passable ... yes, even for cinema's golden years. Perhaps if they had given Bogey more screen time, I might feel different, but, that fact aside, HOURS plays out like hours ... upon hours ... upon hours ... upon hours ... ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .....
Rating:
Summary: Filmed In DesperationVision
Review: Boring, boring, boring ... That's really all that can be said for this William Wyler "thriller." While the performances of all of the principles (with the notable exception of Humphrey Bogart) are almost laughably unconvincing, even Bogart's magic isn't enough to elevate this drama filmed in DesperationVision to anything above passable ... yes, even for cinema's golden years. Perhaps if they had given Bogey more screen time, I might feel different, but, that fact aside, HOURS plays out like hours ... upon hours ... upon hours ... upon hours ... ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .....
Rating: 
Summary: Vintage Bogie
Review: Consistent with so many Bogie roles, Humphrey Bogart plays a prison escapee, who along with his brother and a strongarm (small brain) take a suburban family hostage in their home. While this may sound very similiar to many of Bogart's earlier roles, there is alot to say for this film. Bogart is surrounded by a very good cast and was handed an excellent script (although there are a few questions that pop in your head as you watch the movie). Bogart does well portraying a man whose over-confidence and absolute reluctance towards going back to prison muddles his descisions and clouds his judgement. The DVD is simple. Good quality picture and adequate sound. The extras are..well....not much extra at all. But the movie collector and Bogart fan must grab this DVD for your collection. Good quality DVD, great story, and a very reasonable price
Rating:
Summary: Bogart at his best
Review: Humphrey Bogard was great at playing private detictives like in maltese falcon and Desperate Hours shows that he can play the opposite of a private decective- a criminal. Desperate Hours is a really great suspenful movies about a group of convicts that hold a family hostage in their home. Desperate hours really keeps you guessing until what happens next.
Rating: 
Summary: Only a 50's paranoia
Review: I am such a fan of Bogie and Wyler, but although the production is impeccable, the screenplay is so boring, and the typical "happy 50's family" is so square, that I was begging at the end of this feature, "C'mon Bogie, kill'em all! Kill'em all!".Unfortunately, he didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Great Players, some awkward dialogue, great ending
Review: I have been a Bogart fan all my life. He was that rare Hollywood breed so seldom seen today - and actor AND a movie star. In this "little" movie, Bogart and March lock wills - each knowing that the other is dangerous and desperate, each knowing that they both have more than their own lives to lose. They take the conflict to the edge, their hands, virtually at each other's throats in nearly every scene and then find a way to back off to live another day or another hour. In the quiet moments, March stares away from the camera several times, effectively showing the "wheels turning," an action not lost on Bogart. When he catches him at it he says "click-ity, click-ity" and warns him not to try anything. Advice, you know he'll never heed. This movie may not appeal to viewers who have grown up watching shoot-em-ups but movie fans and fans of good acting will find plenty to hold their attention. A few of the bit players, especially the cops, are saddled with hokey 1950's dialog but you'll get over it. The ending is all you could ask for. I suggest you give it a shot.
Rating:
Summary: "Get out . . . Get out of my house . . . "
Review: If I remember correctly "The Desperate Hours" was originally a stage play that was based on a true story. A photo-magazine ran a spread on either the play or the film with pictures of the "real" house and the family sued for invasion of privacy; one of their lawyers was Richard Nixon. Humphrey Bogart gets top-billing in "The Desperate Hours" as gangster on the lam Glenn Griffin, but this is really Frederic March's film. March plays businessman Dan Hilliard, who discovers his home has been invaded and his family taken hostage by Griffin's little band of criminals, which includes his kid brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and the brutish Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton). That morning Hilliard's biggest concerns had been Chuck Wright (Gig Young), the boyfriend of his daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy), the refusal of young sun Ralphie (Richard Eyer) to kiss his old man goodbye, and what wife Eleanor (Martha Scott) is going to make for dinner. Now he has to find a way to keep his family alive in a world where the police are perfectly willing to gun down unarmed criminals. This is a taunt drama, carried mostly by the desperation of March's character, who fails every time he tries to prove the hero. Bogart's performance is notable because it is a return to the tough guy role that made him a star, only this time showing more restraint than we had seen two decades earlier. This 1955 film also stands as a testament to how much things have changed in Hollywood, because they would never allow for this clean of an ending to this situation, a point that would be obvious even without the horrible remake of this film with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins, which gives into the perceived need for sadistic violence. Ultimately what makes this film work is that the climax exceeds our expectations given the set-up. You have to admire how a man can walk into a house with an unloaded gun and save the day. The final confrontation between Hilliard and Griffin is powerful because it speaks to not only the fact that you can hurt somebody without killing them, but also that even confronted with barbarians there is still virtue in being a civilized man. I still watch the ending of this film every time I stumble across it on television. In fact, I just did.
Rating:
Summary: "Get out . . . Get out of my house . . . "
Review: If I remember correctly "The Desperate Hours" was originally a stage play that was based on a true story. A photo-magazine ran a spread on either the play or the film with pictures of the "real" house and the family sued for invasion of privacy; one of their lawyers was Richard Nixon. Humphrey Bogart gets top-billing in "The Desperate Hours" as gangster on the lam Glenn Griffin, but this is really Frederic March's film. March plays businessman Dan Hilliard, who discovers his home has been invaded and his family taken hostage by Griffin's little band of criminals, which includes his kid brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and the brutish Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton). That morning Hilliard's biggest concerns had been Chuck Wright (Gig Young), the boyfriend of his daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy), the refusal of young sun Ralphie (Richard Eyer) to kiss his old man goodbye, and what wife Eleanor (Martha Scott) is going to make for dinner. Now he has to find a way to keep his family alive in a world where the police are perfectly willing to gun down unarmed criminals. This is a taunt drama, carried mostly by the desperation of March's character, who fails every time he tries to prove the hero. Bogart's performance is notable because it is a return to the tough guy role that made him a star, only this time showing more restraint than we had seen two decades earlier. This 1955 film also stands as a testament to how much things have changed in Hollywood, because they would never allow for this clean of an ending to this situation, a point that would be obvious even without the horrible remake of this film with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins, which gives into the perceived need for sadistic violence. Ultimately what makes this film work is that the climax exceeds our expectations given the set-up. You have to admire how a man can walk into a house with an unloaded gun and save the day. The final confrontation between Hilliard and Griffin is powerful because it speaks to not only the fact that you can hurt somebody without killing them, but also that even confronted with barbarians there is still virtue in being a civilized man. I still watch the ending of this film every time I stumble across it on television. In fact, I just did.
Rating:
Summary: "Get out . . . Get out of my house . . . "
Review: If I remember correctly "The Desperate Hours" was originally a stage play that was based on a true story. A photo-magazine ran a spread on either the play or the film with pictures of the "real" house and the family sued for invasion of privacy; one of their lawyers was Richard Nixon. Humphrey Bogart gets top-billing in "The Desperate Hours" as gangster on the lam Glenn Griffin, but this is really Frederic March's film. March plays businessman Dan Hilliard, who discovers his home has been invaded and his family taken hostage by Griffin's little band of criminals, which includes his kid brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and the brutish Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton). That morning Hilliard's biggest concerns had been Chuck Wright (Gig Young), the boyfriend of his daughter Cindy (Mary Murphy), the refusal of young sun Ralphie (Richard Eyer) to kiss his old man goodbye, and what wife Eleanor (Martha Scott) is going to make for dinner. Now he has to find a way to keep his family alive in a world where the police are perfectly willing to gun down unarmed criminals. This is a taunt drama, carried mostly by the desperation of March's character, who fails every time he tries to prove the hero. Bogart's performance is notable because it is a return to the tough guy role that made him a star, only this time showing more restraint than we had seen two decades earlier. This 1955 film also stands as a testament to how much things have changed in Hollywood, because they would never allow for this clean of an ending to this situation, a point that would be obvious even without the horrible remake of this film with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins, which gives into the perceived need for sadistic violence. Ultimately what makes this film work is that the climax exceeds our expectations given the set-up. You have to admire how a man can walk into a house with an unloaded gun and save the day. The final confrontation between Hilliard and Griffin is powerful because it speaks to not only the fact that you can hurt somebody without killing them, but also that even confronted with barbarians there is still virtue in being a civilized man. I still watch the ending of this film every time I stumble across it on television. In fact, I just did.
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