In Utah, Nancy Breyers is a defense lawyer who is inexplicably in love with client Michael Bosworth, an intelligent and sociopathic convict. During a break from a courtroom hearing, Nancy sneaks a gun to Bosworth. After Bosworth snaps a guard's neck, Bosworth and Nancy slip away.
Bosworth tears at Nancy's clothing and leaves her behind, where she will tell authorities Bosworth held her at gunpoint during his escape. He speeds off in a car with his brother Wally, and their partner, the hulking, half-witted Albert, then changes cars with one Nancy has left for him in a remote location.
In the meantime, decorated Vietnam veteran Tim Cornell arrives at his former home with his ex-wife Nora, who has two kids—15-year-old May and her 8-year-old brother Zack. Tim and Nora separated due to his infidelity with a younger woman, and Tim shows up trying to reconcile with Nora, with whom he is still in love.
Needing a hideout until Nancy can catch up with them, the Bosworth brothers and Albert settle on the Cornells' home with a "For Sale" sign which is seemingly picked by Bosworth at random. Bosworth picks up intimate details of the Cornells, and one by one all of them find themselves the prisoners of the Bosworth brothers and Albert.
Nancy's innocent act does not fool FBI agent Brenda Chandler, who puts surveillance on her every move. Nancy eventually cuts a deal with Chandler to have charges against her reduced by betraying Bosworth.
As young Zack tries to escape through a window, their real estate agent, who has come to discuss the closing, meets him. Bosworth makes the realtor enter the house by force, and as they talk, Bosworth shoots him, then makes Albert dispose of the body as Albert gets anxiety-ridden and decides to go off on his own. As Albert leaves while covered in blood, he intercepts two college girls, who expose his presence to a small gas station owner. The owner calls the authorities who chase after Albert. Albert ignores their order to surrender and is killed by the police on a river bank.
Nancy begs Agent Chandler to give her a gun, but unbeknownst to Nancy, Chandler removes the bullets. As she goes to the Cornells' house, the house gets surrounded, and as a shootout starts by Bosworth, Wally is fatally wounded in a barrage of FBI bullets and falls on top of a shocked Nancy. Wally's gun is taken away by Tim. Bosworth holds a gun on Nora and is prepared to use it if Tim interferes. He is unaware that Tim has removed the bullets. Tim then drags the criminal outside, where Bosworth ignores the FBI's order to surrender, and is fatally shot.
According to some official sources, director Cimino's original two and a half-hour cut of Desperate Hours was mutilated by the film's producers, resulting in a very badly edited film filled with plot holes. The only known proof of any deleted scenes are some stills which seemingly show just a few of them.[1]
In 2005, at the Cinemateca Portuguesa, Cimino described how he had directed Kelly Lynch and Lindsay Crouse in an outdoors confrontation scene that was removed from the final cut of the film at his behest:
"[After] they finished the take, I went and kissed them both, I said 'God, what a brilliant, amazing scene!' So I look Lindsay aside, who's the more serious actress and I told her, 'I need one more take. When you hear me say roll camera, I want you to take Kelly, Kelly's face in your hand, I want you to bring her face to you and I want you to just come down to her mouth and give her the most passionate kiss you've ever given anybody in your life.' She says, 'Okay.' And Kelly didn't know what was coming! So, the two girls are ready. Now, just as we start this last take, these big, fat white snowflakes start coming down. It was like a miracle... [These] white mountains, and these big, fat snowflakes would just stick like flowers, like snow flowers on their hair and their wardrobe. And, so, I said 'Roll camera' and Lindsay took Kelly's face and she kissed her so passionate. Kelly... she was immobilized, she was in such shock, you know. And, in that moment, I [whispered] 'Action!', and Kelly, I mean, Lindsay starts to speak. And, the result was mind-blowing! I mean, the whole crew was standing one feet [sic] off the ground. We could, we knew that was the moment of transcendence, we knew we had achieved something, and God is giving us these snow flowers, you know."[7]
Reception
The film was a commercial disappointment and received split reviews. Critic and movie historian Leonard Maltin referred to the film as "ludicrous... with no suspense, an at-times-laughable music score, and Shawnee Smith as a daughter/victim you'll beg to see cold-cocked."[8]
The film holds a 29% "rotten" rating on the reviews aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews.[9]
Christopher Tookey, reviewing the film for the Sunday Telegraph called Desperate Hours "one of those films which should never have been released, even on parole - a danger to itself."[10]
^D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN9781423605874.
^Michael Cimino at the Cinemateca Portuguesa. May 6, 2012 [November 2005]. Retrieved November 1, 2024 – via YouTube. Director Michael Cimino at the Cinemateca Portuguesa (Portuguese Cinematheque) in November 2005, describing a deleted scene from his movie, "Desperate Hours".
