Reviews
John Chard

John Chard

July 9, 2018
7.0
The Man With The Rope Scar On His Neck! Three Hours to Kill is directed by Alfred Werker and written by Richard Alan Simmons, Roy Huggins and Maxwell Shane. It stars Dana Andrews, Donna Reed, Stephen Elliott, Richard Coogan and Dianne Foster. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr. As solid as a boulder in Death Valley, Three Hours to Kill is a most satisfying Oater for genre fans not expecting boundary pushing. Plot has Andrews as Jim Guthrie, who is wrongly accused by the town folk of murder and promptly condemned to death by lynch mob. Escaping the rope by the skin of his neck, Guthrie bides his time for three years before heading back to the town to clear his name and nail the real murderer. His friend, the Sheriff, gives him three hours to complete his task before the law intervenes. What unfolds is a whodunit led by Andrews as he interrogates and puts the squeeze on a number of the town's denizens. There's a deliberately downbeat tone that serves the story well, with lost loves, unfulfilled lives and haunted memories of past doings permeating the narrative. The psychological undertones and risque aspects of the story are tantalisingly -frustratingly so - left to just simmer, but mood befits question marks in the plotting to keep one engaged. Action scenes are in the main no more than competently handled, but a couple are quite striking to raise the pulses. When the pic moves out of the confines of the town, the locales (Lake Sherwood, Sherwood Forest, Hidden Valley in Calif) are most striking and leave you hankering for a more airy picture as a whole. Cast are fine, Andrews toughs up for good perf, but as lovely as Reed and Foster are (in fact Foster is socko gorgeous), they are undone by standard writing and Reed comes off as looking bored. The ending carries a nice surprise, two fold in fact, to close the deal on what is an above average Oater to be enjoyed as easy sampling by genre fans. 6.5/10

Recommendation Movies

5.9
Western
View
5.9
The Stalking Moon
The Stalking Moon1968
6.8
Western
View
6.8
Nevada Smith
Nevada Smith1966
8.4
Drama
View
8.4
Fight Club
Fight Club1999
8.3
Action
View
8.3
Inception
Inception2010
8.1
Crime
View
8.1
Joker
Joker2019
7.7
Crime
View
7.7
The Untouchables
The Untouchables1987
7.5
Drama
View
7.5
Ex Machina
Ex Machina2015
8.3
Crime
View
8.3
Léon: The Professional
Léon: The Professional1994
7.6
Horror
View
7.6
The Others
The Others2001
8.4
Horror
View
8.4
Psycho
Psycho1960
8.1
Romance
View
8.1
Call Me by Your Name
Call Me by Your Name2017
8.1
Mystery
View
8.1
Vertigo
Vertigo1958
7.8
Thriller
View
7.8
Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive2001
6.7
Action
View
6.7
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith2005
8.1
Drama
View
8.1
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket1987
8.4
Comedy
View
8.4
Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful1997
8.1
Fantasy
View
8.1
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal1957
7.8
Crime
View
7.8
Fargo
Fargo1996
8.1
Comedy
View
8.1
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Grand Budapest Hotel2014
8.1
Drama
View
8.1
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects1995
© 2024 MoovieTime. All rights reserved.Made with Nuxt