Nitro Video Rating:
PURCHASE THE DVD: Desperate Hours (1990)

Poor, poor Michael Cimino. He hit pay-dirt and artistic success with 1976’s The Deer Hunter, and then continued to besmirch his reputation more and more with each subsequent movie he brought to the screen. The bottom of his barrel? This 1990 laugh-fest, a remake of a somewhat well regarded 1950’s movie about a psychopathic killer (Mickey Rourke) who holds a not-so-ordinary family hostage while waiting for the lawyer he’s romancing to join him. Perhaps looking for revenge for the way Rourke unceremoniously left her behind during a chase earlier in the movie, the lawyer, (played by a fetching but continuously put-upon Kelly Lynch) strikes a deal with a FBI agent to lure her lover into their grasp.

It doesn’t sound half-bad, but overwrought acting and a bizarrely slow pace make this a botched thriller that’s damn hard to watch despite some usually excellent talent in the cast. Rourke knows his way around the slimy villain caricature, thus all is well there, but both Mimi Rogers and a sneering Anthony Hopkins leave very little scenary unchewed as the parents of the family held hostage. Alas the standout performance of the movie for sheer wackiness is Lindsay Crouse’s over-the-top portrayal of the FBI agent obsessed with nabbing Rourke. During her screen time, one would be hard pressed to either identify her accent or understand exactly what she is trying to say, though it’s hard to miss the absurd number of profanities she hurls at he subordinates.

Cimino gave many the impression he was a one-trick pony long before this disaster hit the screen, but with it, he cemented the argument of his critics.

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: April 16, 2002
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• US Theatrical Release Date: October 5, 1990