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IMDbPro

Trois heures pour tuer

Original title: Three Hours to Kill
  • 1954
  • Approved
  • 1h 17m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
992
YOUR RATING
Dana Andrews and Donna Reed in Trois heures pour tuer (1954)
Period DramaDramaWestern

Framed for murder, Jim Guthrie barely escapes lynching by the town mob, becomes a wanted fugitive for three years but returns to find the real killer.Framed for murder, Jim Guthrie barely escapes lynching by the town mob, becomes a wanted fugitive for three years but returns to find the real killer.Framed for murder, Jim Guthrie barely escapes lynching by the town mob, becomes a wanted fugitive for three years but returns to find the real killer.

  • Director
    • Alfred L. Werker
  • Writers
    • Richard Alan Simmons
    • Roy Huggins
    • Maxwell Shane
  • Stars
    • Dana Andrews
    • Donna Reed
    • Dianne Foster
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    992
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Alfred L. Werker
    • Writers
      • Richard Alan Simmons
      • Roy Huggins
      • Maxwell Shane
    • Stars
      • Dana Andrews
      • Donna Reed
      • Dianne Foster
    • 29User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos14

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    Top cast61

    Edit
    Dana Andrews
    Dana Andrews
    • Jim Guthrie
    Donna Reed
    Donna Reed
    • Laurie Mastin
    Dianne Foster
    Dianne Foster
    • Chris Palmer
    Stephen Elliott
    Stephen Elliott
    • Sheriff Ben East
    Richard Coogan
    Richard Coogan
    • Niles Hendricks
    Laurence Hugo
    • Marty Lasswell
    James Westerfield
    James Westerfield
    • Sam Minor
    Richard Webb
    Richard Webb
    • Carter Mastin
    Carolyn Jones
    Carolyn Jones
    • Polly
    Charlotte Fletcher
    • Betty
    Whit Bissell
    Whit Bissell
    • Deke
    Felipe Turich
    • Esteban
    Arthur Fox
    • Little Carter
    Francis McDonald
    Francis McDonald
    • Deputy Vince
    Ada Adams
    • Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    Elsie Baker
    Elsie Baker
    • Townswoman
    • (uncredited)
    George Bell
    George Bell
    • Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    Arthur Berkeley
    • Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Alfred L. Werker
    • Writers
      • Richard Alan Simmons
      • Roy Huggins
      • Maxwell Shane
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews29

    6.4992
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    Featured reviews

    8moonspinner55

    Terrific sagebrush saga

    Dana Andrews is right at home in this tumbleweed revenge-drama about a cowboy accused of murder, hiding out in the desert before going back to clear his name. Maybe not as well known as "3:10 To Yuma" or "Bad Day At Black Rock", but certainly just as good. Andrews is excellent, of course; he never exuded much of an animated personality, but he's strong and reliable, you trust him, and the fools in town who want to string him up look even sillier for not believing his story. A taut little western, nicely-made and with a good supporting cast.
    6hitchcockthelegend

    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
    8bkoganbing

    The Rope Burn Scar To Prove It.

    Three Hours To Kill casts Dana Andrews as a man on the run for the murder of Richard Webb which he did not do, but for which he was nearly lynched. Andrews has the rope burn scar to prove it.

    Four old friends of his who also knew the victim were the ones yelling loudest for the lynching. Andrews zeroes in on them for the answers. There's also saloon girl Dianne Foster who has a thing for Dana and the sister of Richard Webb who was violently opposed to her marrying Andrews who is played by Donna Reed fresh from her Oscar win for From Here To Eternity.

    This western plays like a noir mystery even though it's set in the wide open spaces. Andrews is one grim western hero and hardly the role model for a cowboy hero. Still in the end he solves the mystery and he does it when all four of those he seeks are brought into the saloon and compare notes. All could not have been more neatly revealed by Hercule Poirot himself.

    One of Dana's best films.
    dougdoepke

    A Sagebrush "Whodunit"

    Dour little Western (just count the smiles) that still manages a few surprises. So, who killed Carter. Not Jim Guthrie (Andrews), even though an over-eager lynch mob thinks so, leaving him with a permanent neck burn and a smoldering desire for revenge. It looks like a lot of folks hated Carter, so now, three years later, Guthrie's sleuthing work is cut out for him. A grudgingly sympathetic sheriff gives the innocent man three hours to nail the real culprit. So, it's a suspenseful countdown to sundown. Can he do it.

    Can't help noticing this tale of a driven man's revenge was produced by Harry Joe Brown who later produced the thematically similar Randolph Scott cycle of Westerns (The Tall T {1957}; Comanche Station {1960} et al.). There's a strong similarity in the character and temperament of the leads, which suggests producer Brown had both a definite point of view and at least some influence on the screenplays.

    Director Werker gets a lot out of LA area locations and a mixed cast of veterans like Andrews and newcomers like Foster. The unstable relationship between Andrews and Reed is more interesting and complex than in most Westerns. But I did have some difficulty keeping track of the four prominent ladies, a more crowded field than in most oaters. Anyway, the movie is a neat combination of whodunit and sagebrush that'll keep you guessing, without the usual clichés.
    6Chase_Witherspoon

    Prime suspect

    Durable leading man Dana Andrews stars in this B-side western about a fight between Andrews and Richard Webb that ends in Webb being murdered - but despite appearing to be caught red-handed, is Andrews actually the culprit? After a near-summary execution by some over-zealous locals, Andrews narrowly escapes returning several years later to clear his name.

    Familiar plot has surprising depth in the female casting for a film of this ilk, alongside Donna Reed as Andrews' former beau is Dianne Foster as the versatile and open-minded admirer Chris, while Carolyn Jones and Charlotte Fletcher play a pair of damsels who've both fallen for card shark Laurence Hugo, one of many on Andrews' hit list.

    Good also to see Stephen Elliott who later garnered fame in films like "Arthur" and "Beverly Hills Cop", in his film debut in the key supporting role of Ben, the town's new sheriff who's friendship with Andrews affords him three hours grace to catch the killer or be tried for murder (hence the title).

    There's a simmering tension that prevails the full eighty-odd minutes, with a particularly taut scene in which veteran Whit Bissell (playing the town's ubiquitous barber) takes a razor to Andrews' throat, as he nervously fends off accusations that he is the real killer. Pretty decent whodunit western that no doubt some armchair sleuths will solve before the climax, nevertheless, it's a bittersweet ending that rejects the typical clichés making this overall, a better-than-average yarn.

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    Western

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Opening credits: The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious. and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional.
    • Goofs
      After Guthrie disarms the arresting Marshal and takes his horse to ride back into town, he arrives on a totally different horse. The horse he arrives on is much darker with distinctly different coloration.
    • Quotes

      Jim Guthrie: Did you know we were going to get some cattle with the place?

      Laurie Mastin: Cattle? How many?

      Jim Guthrie: Two. We're going to be cattle barons.

    • Soundtracks
      Beautiful Dreamer
      [Heard playing by musicians at the dance.]

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    FAQ13

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 24, 1955 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Three Hours to Kill
    • Filming locations
      • Lake Sherwood, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 17m(77 min)

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