Grade: D+
Synopsis: An escaped killer (William Holden) takes a psychologist (Lee J. Cobb) hostage.
The Dark Past is a familiar story. If you’ve seen The Petrified Forest or The Desperate Hours, you’ve seen better versions of the same story. Sure, this one has the twist that the hostage is a psychologist that works through the convict’s “dark past”, but really this twist doesn’t add much flavor. Instead we get a lot of out-dated psycho-babble only serves to drag down the film’s third act.
Bottom Line: Cobb and Holden are watchable, but that’s about it. Watch The Petriefied Forest or The Desperate Hours instead.
