MovieChat Forums > Desperate Hours (1990) Discussion > Excellent over the top female performanc...

Excellent over the top female performance by Lindsay Crouse

posted 18 years ago by GregP89
26 replies | jump to latest

I came across this movie two weeks while flipping channels, and I must say although Mickey Rourke role is a similar demonic gangster role that he has
done well over the years, I was astounded by acting performance of Lindsay Crouse. I had never seen a 'over-the top dominant' female in the role of a
police detective,,,except for TV's Cagney & Lacey, and Kathleen Turner. After
this movie I am surprised she did not reach star status. Acting legend Anthony
Hopkins was excellent in this movie, and most definitly copied some of Mickey
Rourke's demonic acting style for his later 'Silence of the Lambs' 2 years later. Several other actors including Mimi Rogers..gave superb performances as
well.

[–] imblue-1 17 years ago

I've been a fan of Ms. Crouse ever since I first saw her in "House of Games".
Loved her in this one too.

A man's got to know his limitations.

[–] jacksommersby 17 years ago

I've never been a fan of Crouse's -- she italicizes every emotion and comes down on her line readings appallingly rough.

[–] JustCallMeAndy 16 years ago

I thought she was really aweful in this movie.
I dont know if it was on purpose or not, but she was completely plastic.
It was an insult to the intense performances by most of the other cast.
Hopkins was absolutely sterling in his role, and Rourke did what was asked of him perfectly.
Lindsay Crouse treated this movie like something akin to a paraody, showing a scary error of judgement.

[–] Chrieraux 16 years ago

I could not stand her acting in this movie. It was over-dramatic, plastic and absurdly arrogant. I haven't disliked a character as much since the mother in The Exorcist.

---------------------------------
I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery, forever.

[–] mister-rube 16 years ago

She was awful and not to mention ugly and this whole movie was terrible
man o man was this a terrible effing movie... I was hoping she'd catch
a slug. And this came from the guy that gave us the deer hunter?
What in the hell happened here?

'Dim X as Integer = 0'

[–] tv_misfit 12 years ago

I agree with everyone who said they did not like Lindsay Crouse's performance in this movie. Way too overbearing, somewhat phony and very annoying. I just watched it and think overall, it's a pretty good 105 minutes of viewing.

"Youth is wasted on the young." - W.C. Fields

[–] always_keep_fighting 15 years ago

I really like this movie, but I'd have to disagree vehemently with the OP. Ms. Crouse did a horrible job here, which really surprised me, because I've seen her on other movies and like her very much. That phony voice...Just made me wish my TV had a character-specific selective mute button.

You know the sound of wind rushing through treetops? That's my signature.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] terrywatt69 15 years ago

I'd have to disagree that Crouse was "excellent". She certainly was, however, "over the top". Found virtually everything about her performance in this movie irritating, particularly the way she chose to speak her lines. She has done good work in other films, but not this one.

[–] Brandestoc 15 years ago

For a while I thought this was going to be a joke/sarcastic post by the OP because I actually thought the opposite.

[–] bastasch8647 14 years ago

Close your eyes and listen to Crouse's dialogue... and tell me that you've heard that voice before: Piper Laurie as Carrie's mom. Dead (vocal/audio) ringer.

[–] parisel 13 years ago

You can't possibly mean what you say. Lindsey Crouse's performance was literally the worst I've ever seen. No exceptions...It was beyond belief. How could the director not have fired her.

I guess it's like looking at clouds. You see one thing and I see another. Peace.

[–] timhatridge 13 years ago

This post must be a joke, right? I just watched this movie and had to come here and comment on how terrible of a performance this was. Truly dreadful!

[–] EveryDayFriend 13 years ago

Agree with timhatridge. 'Just got done watching, too. Stunned. Came here to comment on dreadfulness as well. "Over the Top"= Over Acted. But in retrospect, let's cut Miss Lindsay some slack. Her marriage to Mamet is on the rocks 'bout this time...

Hey! What about that incredibly melodramatic score, bordering on parody? Leonard Rosenman circa Marcus Welby MD? No. Shocked to see culprit was original member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Stupefied.

Yet I was transfixed, like seeing a five-car pile-up.

Tony-Mickey...with Mimi. Carried the movie.

The story?
Essentially...this was a Western.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] miamicane3269 11 years ago

She was hilarious. Loved her in this and "Only one ass is on the line. And what's so ugly about it? and Are you hurt? Only my ego. LMAO.

Even though I love Mickey and Anthony, she made it watchable.

[–] tommymax 10 years ago

"Request denied. Your orders are to wait for me to give you more orders"

[–] Dan_Garten 9 years ago

Interesting.

[–] manram24 8 years ago

I thought her character was kinda interesting, yes over the top but for some reason I got a kick out of it. I liked how Rourke was this bad guy with manners lol.

Y'know, I could eat a peach for hours

[–] Stratego (29249) 2 years ago

Please, everything about her was way too over-the-top. That accent, that hair, those outfits...

[–] Wuchak (8108) 2 years ago

She just played the part as scripted & directed. If you think it's too over-the-top, it's not her fault.

The flick is a quirky crime thriller by Michael Cimino that updates the book/play/movie from 1954-55 and walks the balance beam between seriousness and parody or black humor. Lindsay Crouse's over-the-top FBI chief is Exhibit A. The two random college girls in ridiculously short shorts is another example, not to mention the big lug thug in clothes covered with blood stains. What "Timmy" (Hopkins) does to a certain character at the end is yet another. Then there's the incongruous orchestral score by David Mansfield.

Bear in mind that Cimino's first movie was "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974), a Tarantino flick two decades before he shot to fame with "Pulp Fiction." Like those films and "The Gauntlet" (1977), "Desperate Hours" is quasi-believable mixed with glaring exaggerations. For instance, remember the shot-to-hell house collapsing in "Gauntlet"? It's similar with this one, just slightly more low-key.

[–] Stratego (29249) 2 years ago

"If you think it's too over-the-top, it's not her fault."

Her horrible accent that doesn't sound like anything that exists in the real world is her fault...

Yes, those scenes are ridiculous as well. It's really a bad film. Hopkins is also terribly miscast.

[–] Wuchak (8108) 2 years ago

It depends on if the viewer 'gets' it or not. It's the same thing with "The Gauntlet" and "The Hateful Eight." You either embrace the over-the-top quirkiness and roll with it or you don't. I did and found the flick entertaining.

I'd watch "Desperate Hours" any day over "The Deer Hunter" even though the latter is deemed a masterpiece by most cinephiles.

[–] Stratego (29249) 2 years ago

"It depends on if the viewer 'gets' it or not."

Come on, that's a bit pretentious, isn't? It has nothing to do with "getting it". The tone was completely inconsistent. If the whole movie had the quirky, tongue-in-cheek vibe of Pulp Fiction, I could've gotten with it. Even Cimino wasn't happy with the end result.

The Deer Hunter is terrible. I would only choose this movie because of the shorter running time.

[–] Wuchak (8108) 2 years ago

Yeah, I thought it was pretentious when I wrote it, sorry.

For me, though, the flick worked because Cimino kept signaling the amusing absurdities, like the incongruent score, Crouse' FBI Chief, the the two college gals with the ridiculously short shorts (which didn't come into vogue until the late 2010s) and the big lug walking around with blood-stained attire like it's perfectly normal.

[–] Stratego (29249) 2 years ago

That whole bit with David Morse was so weird.

It was just too inconsistent for me, just like Rourke's performance.