MovieChat Forums > The Desperate Hours (1955) Discussion > Listen to the man/men of the house!!!

Listen to the man/men of the house!!!

posted 19 years ago by thao
10 replies | jump to latest

Even though I'm a great fan of Film Noir and Crime movies I have to admit that gender roles and too “healthy” message irritate me sometimes. This great classic is a good example. The message of the film seems to be that children should always listen to their parents and women should always listen to the man/men of the house (husband, father, boyfriend) and if not them, then at least the police. All disobedience threatens the security of the family, right from the beginning when the son leaves the bike in front of the house to the very end when his wife refuses to lock herself inside the room with the son.

Did this irritate anyone else?

- This comment is most likely authentic and fairly close to what I intended to say -

[–] byoolives 19 years ago

I hardly know where to start. I havn't seen this film in a very long time. I guess that's because of the programming geniuses of today. They, because of ignorance or whatever, prefer to show the same things over and over. What I do remember is how tense and exiting it was, and of course the acting between Fredric March and "Bogie" is exeptional. Rarely do we get the chance to be priveleged enough to see a great star such as Bogart be involved so desperatley with the great actor, March. It really is something to see. The final scene, which is built up to the entire length of the movie, is as wonderful as they come. I refer to the scene upstairs when March tells his son to run away. Bogart then actually shoots at the child only to realize that there are no bullets and that March has a gun with bullets. The looks on both of their faces reveal that now the shoe is on the other foot, and how desperate "bogie" looks indeed. On the other hand March's expression is beautifully played and is the look of the ultimate victor. He has succsessfully used his wits to outdo the homicidal maniac who has tortured him and his family. I could probably write 5 pages on those two looks alone, but enough about that. I assure you that this film has no such message of the type you referred to. It is about a struggle of life and death. In such a struggle someone has to take charge of the situation. That is all it's about.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] E_D_N 18 years ago

Don't forget this movie took place and was made in the 50's, before feminism and the women's movement came along.

Exactly. THough some of it may appear dated to you, the characters, the stories, etc, are very much products of the time the film is set in -- the height of the conservative Eisenhower years

You can't -- rationally-speaking -- possibly expect these characters to act and behave as we do today.

Superb film all the same!

THE FREDRIC MARCH ARCHIVE
http://www.geocities.com/fredric_march/march01.html

[–] heebie_jeebies 18 years ago

No. The thing that irritates me is when people think that today's society is somehow more enlightened than the thousands of years that preceded it. If you look throughout history you will find that almost all socities have been patriarchial and based upon the authority of elders. That has been the case all throughout history until the 60s. Now that we've finally broken free of the "shackles" of traditional gender/age roles and morality, look what has happened to our society - it's a mess! The society of this film makes me long for the days when (not all, but many) families really were as happy and perfect as the one depicted in that film. The children didn't dye their hair green, stick bits of metal in their faces and become drug pushers by the age of 14; the girls didn't get banged up and end up pushing a pram around by their 16th birthday. Gender roles; age roles...It's all about order. Saying that children and women can do whatever they want without having to consider legitimate authority figures is like saying that the privates in the army can disobey orders from their commanding officers. The army requires strict order and discipline or it will become an unworkable mess. Society requires strict order or people's hedonism and passions will take over and the people will degenerate into the undisciplined, uncouth animals that most of us are today. I understand why it would be difficult for you to understand why women should obey their husbands/fathers but do you truly believe that children should follow their own whims rather than obey their parents?

[–] thao 18 years ago

Are you saying that women are like children, and need to be guided just as children?

- This comment is most likely authentic and fairly close to what I intended to say -

[–] MissMargoChanning 17 years ago

Dear heebie jeebies,
Your name gives me just THAT! As a veteran, I can understand the chain of command, and taking orders. As a former child, and as a mother, I can understand the guidance of a good parent. As a wife of 27 years, I value my husband`s wisdom, as he does mine. Each of us has our weakness`s and streangths, and we work together as a team. My parents and my husband`s parents felt the same way. While I completely understand the way things were at the time this film was made, I think that your assesment of marriage is terrible! The whole point is that you and your spouse want the same things in life, and you want to work toward those goals together.
By the way, I did have to smile while reading your post..... Our son DID have green hair in the mid 90`s while in his junior year. We hated it, but never said a word. He got tired of it by his senior year, and today, he is a very succesful young man. He never asked for our help, or moved back home after hs education.
Yes! you have your "mess." It has nothing to do with gender roles. Now days, I beleive it may have more to do with couples not putting in the time and effert, as a TEAM, to guide their children. We live in a different world now. Things are far different from when I was born, which is about the time this film was made. It`s also very different from the way it was when our son was born. I think marriage is a TEAM EFFORT! I thought that was depicted in this film, so what are you talking about?

[–] Devans00 17 years ago

I agree with you thao. I was thinking of the restrictive womens clothing when the daughter bit the hand of the bad guy and was wrestling with him. She could hardly move with that stiff girdle, high heel shoes and tight clothes she had on. She never stood a chance.

I hate bratty, annoying kids in movies. So I would try to ignore the boy whenever he came on screen. I felt he was more obnoxious and in the way than heroic.

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

[–] digital_groove 16 years ago

While related to the topic but not getting into how women/children were treated. I think the film mainly focused on the feeling of what a home is and the protection you should place over your family. When the father demanded his wife to get in the room at the end, it wasn't "you silly woman don't you know I have a plan!" it was more "get in your room, I'm the husband I will do anything necessary to protect you and our children from harm." It's a fascinating film about the limits and the expectations middle class families would have growing up in the 50s on how to act.

That said I think most families would still follow these general interests. A man or woman with a family would try to rise to the occasion of a proposed dire situation as this with intentions of safety that might not come off so during the real-time setting.

[–] Adler-99 16 years ago

"Are you saying that women are like children, and need to be guided just as children?"

Sadly, this was a prevalent attitude decades ago. Read "The Feminine Mystique" for an interesting perspective on women's roles and attitudes toward them in different decades of the 20th century.

[–] Tchoutoye 15 years ago

Even though I'm a great fan of Film Noir and Crime movies I have to admit that gender roles and too “healthy” message irritate me sometimes. This great classic is a good example.

The Desperate Hours is not a Film Noir at all. With its healthy suburban message it is precisely the opposite and the nemesis of Film Noir. That's why Bogey, the embodiment of Film Noir, had to die in the end.