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.

Not so good. Low-budget mess.

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.

Not so good. Low-budget mess.

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.

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.

Everything I hate in a film-noir are explored here. Low-budget nonsense.

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.

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.

One murderous hitch-hiker. Two hostages. And that's it. Sort of weak.