"Desperate Hours" is a 1990 remake of William Wyler's psycho drama of the same name from 1955 featuring Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March as original cast. Michael Cimino directed this story of a blood-thirsty gang raiding an upper class suburb house on their run from the police after a series of ambitious big projects like "Heaven's Gate", "Year of the Dragon" and "The Sicilian" in the eighties.
In this remake, it is Mickey Rourke's turn to play Bogart's leading role, and he turned Bogart's coolness into a portrait of a psychopathic gentleman gangster whose violent dominance is about to erupt like a volcano every second. His counterpart is lawyer Anthony Hopkins, an upper-class citizen and head of a broken family. Both men are fighting against each other in every possible way, starting with psycho duels and witty conversations to hard fights and pure wars of nerves.
Most of the plot takes place in Hopkins' house, and as soon as the story is settled out of this apparent suburb paradise hell breaks out, starting from Rourke's violent escape from a courthouse prison in the beginning of the film to the final showdown when the police arrives.
Cimino's direction works well with his whole ensemble often placed in the living room like actors on a static theater stage, and the camera views the psychological warfare often from a very distant ankle like in a documentary. The great cast of all actors featuring Mimi Rodgers, Kelly Lynch, Elias Koteas and David Morse and the minimal and seducing sound track score by David Mansfield add much tension to this well-dome remake of a great fifties crime drama.
In this remake, it is Mickey Rourke's turn to play Bogart's leading role, and he turned Bogart's coolness into a portrait of a psychopathic gentleman gangster whose violent dominance is about to erupt like a volcano every second. His counterpart is lawyer Anthony Hopkins, an upper-class citizen and head of a broken family. Both men are fighting against each other in every possible way, starting with psycho duels and witty conversations to hard fights and pure wars of nerves.
Most of the plot takes place in Hopkins' house, and as soon as the story is settled out of this apparent suburb paradise hell breaks out, starting from Rourke's violent escape from a courthouse prison in the beginning of the film to the final showdown when the police arrives.
Cimino's direction works well with his whole ensemble often placed in the living room like actors on a static theater stage, and the camera views the psychological warfare often from a very distant ankle like in a documentary. The great cast of all actors featuring Mimi Rodgers, Kelly Lynch, Elias Koteas and David Morse and the minimal and seducing sound track score by David Mansfield add much tension to this well-dome remake of a great fifties crime drama.