Main Cast: Mickey Rourke, Anthony Hopkins, Mimi Rogers, Lindsay Crouse, Kelly Lynch
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The Desperate Hours directed by Michael Cimino, is an attempt to remake the Humphrey Bogart classic of the same name with indifferent results. Bosworth (Mickey Rourke), a brutal criminal on the run with his partners, takes over a house occupied by an unhappily married couple Nora (Mimi Rogers) and Tim (Anthony Hopkins) and their young son and daughter. Bosworth has escaped from jail with the help of his defense attorney Nancy Breyers (Kelly Lynch). The film focuses on the interactions of the family and Bosworth as he plans his escape to Mexico. Cimino wastes little time in developing the characters or explaining the implausible premise that Bosworth would chose an occupied house and hold an innocent family captive when the logical choice would be to lay low and wait for his chance to escape. Both Hopkins and Rourke, usually excellent actors, give wildly over-the-top performances, aided by the lurid, over-written dialogue of the screenplay and the badly paced, ill-conceived direction by Cimino, which instead of creating tension and suspense, simply confuses the already muddled and incomprehensible plot. The Desperate Hours is a pale example of the original with little to recommend it. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Review
The 1955 original version of The Desperate Hours, directed by the incomparable William Wyler, juxtaposed the volatile bond between a fraternity of on-the-lam criminals with the powerful but bloodless ties of staid '50s family life. This 1990 adaptation attempts a similar contrast between a more modern breed of murderer and a disaffected yuppie clan. Unfortunately, the updated subtext is of little interest when the storytelling itself proves so lackluster. Directed by Michael Cimino of The Deer Hunter fame and Heaven's Gate infamy, The Desperate Hours offers up a tremulous Anthony Hopkins in place of steely patriarch Fredric March and a scenery-chewing Mickey Rourke in place of hard-nosed Humphrey Bogart. The cast also includes such talents as Mimi Rogers, Lindsay Crouse, and Elias Koteas, but the script is so hackneyed that they have little to work with. Even worse, the screenwriters have needlessly complicated the tight economy of the original plot to include such half-baked characters as Kelly Lynch's crooked defense attorney. Although it's shorter than its predecessor, the remake feels much longer, its pallid suspense sequences as tense as a worn-out elastic waistband. By about halfway through, audiences may well be rooting for Hopkins and company to stage a massacre so the credits can roll. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Elias Koteas - Wally Bosworth; David Morse - Albert; Shawnee Smith - May Cornell; Danny Gerard - Zack Cornell; Gerry Bamman - Ed Tallent; Matt McGrath - Kyle; Brian James Anderson - Coroner; Kenneth Bass - Repairman; Ron Bird - Reporter; Matthew Rangi Brown - Security Guard at Bank; Robert Condor - Trooper; Peter Crombie - Connelly; Christopher Curry - Chabon; Daniel Cussiter - SWAT Team Member; Alexis Fernandez - Reporter; John Finn - Lexington; Richard Hernandez - SWAT Team Member; John Jones - Neff; Bradley Leatham - Police Detective; Brittnew Lewis - College Girl; Ellen McElduff - Bank Teller; Dean Norris - Maddox; Mike Nussbaum - Mr. Nelson; Jeff Olson - Coogan; Ellen Parker - Kate; Gary Parker - SWAT Team Member; James Rebhorn - Prosecutor; Robert Rowe - Sniper; Elizabeth Ruscio - Judge; George Sullivan - Sniper; Lise Wilburn - College Girl; Michael Flynn - Ornitz; Barry Primus; Ralph Waite; Stanley White - Devereaux; Cate Praggastis; Mary Colquhoun; Bob Evans - Reporter; James Thornton - SWAT Team Member
Credit
Patricia Klawonn - Art Director, Mary Colquhoun - Casting, Ray Birge - Consultant/advisor, Harvey Giss - Consultant/advisor, Stanley White - Consultant/advisor, Michael Cimino - Co-producer, Dino de Laurentiis - Co-producer, Charles de Caro - Costume Designer, Michael Cimino - Director, Christopher Rouse - Editor, Martha Schumacher - Executive Producer, David Mansfield - Composer (Music Score), David Mansfield - Songwriter, Alberto Fava - Makeup, Robert Mills - Makeup, Ed Ternes - Makeup, Victoria Paul - Production Designer, Douglas Milsome - Cinematographer, Mel Dellar - Producer, Martha de Laurentiis - Producer, Tom Lindblom - Set Designer, Crispian Sallis - Set Designer, Allan A. Apone - Special Effects, Thomas Fisher - Special Effects, Makeup & Effects Labs, Inc. - Special Effects, Billy Burton - Stunts, Michael Runyard - Stunts, Joseph Hayes - Screenwriter, Lawrence Konner - Screenwriter, Mark Rosenthal - Screenwriter, Joseph Hayes - Book Author, Robert "Bobby Z" Zajonc - Pilot
