The Hitch-Hiker
1953 Directed by Ida Lupino
Synopsis
When was the last time you invited death into your car?
Two carefree young travellers make the mistake of their lives when they pick up a mysterious, and slightly psychotic, hitch-hiker who never closes his right eye -- even when he sleeps!
Cast
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I realize this is by no means a great film noir, but I rather enjoyed it. It's a straight ahead story of two fishing buddies who are forced through the Mexican desert at gunpoint by a loony hitchhiker. William Tallman is good as the titular hitcher, but it's a shame that the character rarely delivers anything near crazy. He's mostly just a big dick. And his hostages have no personalities or discerning characteristics. But still, it's fun enough.
It seems the film is mostly of note for being directed by actress Ida Lupino, who was one of the rare female directors at the time. Actually, I guess she still counts as one of the rare female directors.
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Tight B-movie noir, famous for being the first mainstream film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino, and she sure knows what the hell she's doing behind the camera - this film holds the tension over its run time extremely well, and looks great too - the noir aesthetic is utilised both in the claustrophobic car interiors and the expansive deserts - both seem oppressive and harsh, with the titular hitch-hiker a very menacing and effective villain (and given a wonderful entrance, reminiscent of Harry Lime in The Third Man). Lupino also wrote the screenplay, which manages to stress the importance of the twin protagonist's bromance without it seeming sappy and the villain is given just enough of a backstory…
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Not so good. Low-budget mess.
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An unusual desert setting for the film noir genre. The camerawork does the great landscapes justice and the cast are particularly good, but they're given very little of note to work with. Despite being a brief 70 minutes in length, it seems to drag. There's entertainment t be had in the way these performers interact, but there's a resounding dullness to the narrative, a staid sort of immobility that keeps it from ever being at all captivating.
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Not so good. Low-budget mess.
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Tight B-movie noir, famous for being the first mainstream film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino, and she sure knows what the hell she's doing behind the camera - this film holds the tension over its run time extremely well, and looks great too - the noir aesthetic is utilised both in the claustrophobic car interiors and the expansive deserts - both seem oppressive and harsh, with the titular hitch-hiker a very menacing and effective villain (and given a wonderful entrance, reminiscent of Harry Lime in The Third Man). Lupino also wrote the screenplay, which manages to stress the importance of the twin protagonist's bromance without it seeming sappy and the villain is given just enough of a backstory…
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Rating: 8.5/10
Ida Lupino’s THE HITCH-HIKER [1953]: one of the few Classic Noirs to have been directed by a Female Director; Ida Lupino’s THE HITCH-HIKER holds a very special place in the history of the Hollywood Noir. Years before Rutger Hauer made audiences think twice about picking up Hitch-Hikers in the 1986 film THE HITCHER; this film had already thrilled audiences with a similar story. Inspired the real life mass killing spree of Billy Cook who had posed as a hitchhiker, THE HITCH-HIKER is one great cult noir thriller.PLOT: On a spur of the moment fishing trip near the Californian US/ Mexican border; friends Roy (Edmond O’Brien) and Gilbert (Frank Lovejoy) pick up a stranded motorist. The Hitch-hiker then…
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Starts off with one of those annoying overdramatic gestures (YOU could be next!), which paired with the alarmist subtext (fear of hitchhiking as a microcosm of fear of the Other), seems to promise a lousy bit of fearmongering B fluff. But Lupino changes gears quickly in the stylish introduction, with the ruthless killer transforming from a gliding shadow to a bug-eyed distillation of condensed malice in one static shot. The material may be functional at best, but her steady handling of the tension and sprinkling of little gestures to humanize the characters make this better than the average Poverty Row thriller. Plus it’s always great to see noir lighting in a desert setting.
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I realize this is by no means a great film noir, but I rather enjoyed it. It's a straight ahead story of two fishing buddies who are forced through the Mexican desert at gunpoint by a loony hitchhiker. William Tallman is good as the titular hitcher, but it's a shame that the character rarely delivers anything near crazy. He's mostly just a big dick. And his hostages have no personalities or discerning characteristics. But still, it's fun enough.
It seems the film is mostly of note for being directed by actress Ida Lupino, who was one of the rare female directors at the time. Actually, I guess she still counts as one of the rare female directors.
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Everything I hate in a film-noir are explored here. Low-budget nonsense.
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Of interest mainly because it was directed and co-written by fine noir actress Ida Lupino, forging a way for female genre directors before Kathryn Bigelow hurt her locker and zero'd her dark thirty. For the most part it's a pretty clumsy tale, based on actual events but hamstrung by some lumpy dialogue and hefty overacting. William Talmann doesn't make a particularly convincing psychopath, he plays Myers more like a two bit thug, shouting and grimacing throughout and generally missing the menace that would have made some of the claustrophobic car scenes tenser. Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy are fine as the fishing buddies caught up in the killer's escape plan, but are fairly uninteresting, underwritten "ordinary joes". On the plus side - it looks great - the location shooting in the Mexican deserts and empty highways really works in stark B&W. Worth a look if you're a fan of American Noir.
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Certainly builds up a decent atmosphere of dread for the first hour but it doesn't really quite conclude in a manner that is too satisfactory.
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One murderous hitch-hiker. Two hostages. And that's it. Sort of weak.