The Desperate Hours

In 1950s suburban America, three convicted criminals break out of federal prison and force their way into the home of the Hilliard family, planning to hide there until money arrives to fund their escape. The household is held hostage, with the intruders posing as ordinary visitors so that nothing looks out of place to neighbours. The leader of the gang, Glenn Griffin, has an old score to settle with the deputy sheriff who arrested him years earlier, and as the standoff drags on, the family's father, Dan Hilliard, faces difficult choices about how to protect his wife and children without provoking violence.

William Wyler directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by Joseph Hayes. It was Wyler's fifteenth feature in a directing career that ran between Roman Holiday in 1953 and Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Humphrey Bogart plays Glenn Griffin and Fredric March plays Dan Hilliard; Arthur Kennedy, Martha Scott, Dewey Martin and Gig Young are among the credited cast of thirty-six. The film is a crime thriller running 112 minutes, produced by Paramount on a budget of about two million dollars, and it took roughly three million dollars worldwide.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.4 from around twelve thousand votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7 out of 10 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 7 out of 10 from eight reviews sits close to the audience scores, suggesting broadly consistent assessments across both groups.