A Tarantino flick before they existed
An intelligent sociopathic convict (Mickey Rourke) escapes custody in Salt Lake City and meets up with his brother (Elias Koteas) and their hulking, dull-witted collaborator (David Morse). They need a place to hide out until the mastermind’s defense lawyer can catch up with them (Kelly Lynch) and so randomly choose the Cornell’s abode in the suburbs due to its "For Sale" sign (Anthony Hopkins & Mimi Rogers).
“Desperate Hours” (1990) is a quirky crime thriller by Michael Cimino that updates the book/play/movie from 1954-55.
Some people don't 'get' this flick. It walks the balance beam between seriousness and parody or black humor. Lindsay Crouse's amusingly over-the-top FBI chief is a good example. The two random college girls in ridiculously short shorts is another, not to mention the big lug thug in clothes covered with blood stains. What "Timmy" (Hopkins) does to a certain character at the end is yet another. Then there's the incongruous orchestral score by David Mansfield.
Remember, director Michael Cimino's first movie was "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974), a Tarantino flick two decades before he shot to fame with “Pulp Fiction.” Like those films and “The Gauntlet” (1977), “Desperate Hours” is quasi-believable mixed with glaring exaggerations. For instance, remember the shot-to-hell house collapsing in “Gauntlet”? It’s similar with this one, just a little more low-key.
Shawnee Smith was 20 during shooting and looks great as the 15 year-old daughter. Meanwhile Brittney Lewis and Lise Wilburn play the aforementioned “college girls.” Shorts like theirs wouldn’t come into style until almost 40 years later.
The movie runs 1 hour, 46 minutes, and was shot in Utah: Salt Lake City, Echo Junction, Orem, Zion, and Capitol Reef; as well as Telluride, Colorado.
GRADE: B
