Movies
“The Hitch-Hiker” Lays Foundation As Entertaining Short Thriller
“The Hitch-Hiker” Lays Foundation As Entertaining Short Thriller
“Two fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.”
Director: Ida Lupino
Writers: Collier Young, Ida Lupino, Robert L. Joseph
Stars: Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman
Release: March 20, 1953
IMDB
We are doing back-to-back older movies here at Stanko’s Stance. Hope everyone is okay with that.
The Hitch-Hiker (1952) is a psychological thriller made in a typical 1950s format that manages to be entertaining on its own while also providing inspiration for more violent followers. If you have seen The Hitcher, either the 1986 or 2007 version, you can trace the inspiration for those story’s back to Ida Lupino’s early 1950s rocky road trip.
Roy Collins (Edmond O’Brien) and Gilbert Bown (Frank Lovejoy) are two friends taking an extended fishing trip, but their weekend away turns into a nightmare when a stranded hitch-hiker baits them into picking him up. Turns out that the man Roy and Gilbert pick up is Emmett Myers (William Talman), a man wanted for numerous violent and deadly crimes.
Emmett holds Roy and Gilbert hostage, forcing them to drive him to various locations all in the hopes of reaching freedom by way of Baja, California. Emmett doesn’t hold back that both Roy and Gilbert are marked dead men. They have seen the proverbial black spot, and the gun-wielding gets off applying this sadistic pressure. The Hitch-Hiker is the story of Roy and Gilbert trying to navigate their captivity while hopes and making it out alive become dimmer with every highway mile they drive.
William Talman is damn fantastic as the serial killer. The man most known as the original Perry Mason has the crazy eyes that act like high beams and freeze you in your tracks. Talman’s task is to emulate the killings of Billy Cook, a real life killer in the 1950s who kidnapped a deputy and killed a traveling salesman before trying to flee to Mexico where he was eventually taken into custody without instance. Talman assuredly put a lot pannash to the role, adding in the flourishing speeches and peculiar eccentricities with the eyes and such.
The killing spree The Hitch-Hiker took place in the 1950s, the sentencing of Cook came in 1952 and there was a story written by Daniel Mainwaring written very shortly after. Mainwaring was not given a writing credit because he was blacklisted by Hollywood, but it was his work that was adopted by Robert L. Joseph and written for the screen by Collier Young.
Young was the former husband of director Ida Lupino, who is a remarkably interesting individual in her own right. She took it upon herself to speak with the two individuals who were kidnapped by Cook in order to get as much proper information as possible. She got official releases from the two men, as well as Cook himself, to bring as much truth into The Hitch-Hiker as she can.
How many female directors were there in the 1950s? Not many at all. According to American film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon, “When Ida Lupino directed the low-budget suspense film ‘The Hitch-Hiker,’ she was the only woman working as a director in Hollywood.”
Lupino began her career as an actress but expanded into producing and directing. She spent more working television, but alas she was busy until she ended her career in the late 1970s. Lupino is seen as a pioneer for women filmmakers. She was just the second woman to be admitted to the Director’s Guild. Lupino also has two films in the National Film Registry and Library of Congress.
The Hitch-Hiker is a simple film without a lot of ingredients. Sometimes it’s the simplest of recipes that lead to the most satisfying of watches. The Hitch-Hiker has the patented newspaper spiraling into frame with the headlines and radio hosts supplying exposition. It has all the traits of an old-timey quick 77-minute adventure that makes it appealing. The added appeal of The Hitch-Hiker is its history and the foundation it laid for direct spin-offs as well inspired works.
The Hitch-Hiker is streaming on Amazon Prime. It’s only 77 minutes and well worth a watch if you have time.
STANKO RATING: B
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