🎥 Review: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

"You wanna be all over that windshield. You haven’t got a chance. You guys are gonna die, that’s all. It’s just a matter of when.” – William Talman in The Hitch-Hiker (1953).

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to seeing the riveting film noir- The Hitch-Hiker (1953). Directed by Ida Lupino, it was the first American mainstream film noir directed by a woman. The heat of the Mexican sun and the isolation of a desolate highway form the backdrop for this masterful noir. Roy Collins (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert Bowen (Frank Lovejoy) two longtime friends whose lives are consumed by war and marriage, set off on an adventure, looking to reclaim their masculinity. But it all turns out wrong when they run into the crazed and creepy Emmet Myers (William Talman), an ex-con who threatens to shatter their emerging freedom.

Lupino never relaxes the tension for a second, making The Hitchhiker her finest film. Based on Billy Cook's true-life road trip murder spree, this suspense thriller speaks eloquently about the psychological effects of confinement.

Instead of hiking in Arizona's Chocolate Mountains, they travel to Mexico for a fishing vacation and possibly more. Bowen pretends to be sleeping in order to avoid temptation, whereas Collins appears to be planning a night of drinking and women in Mexicali. Their escape from domesticity, however, places them in a newly constrained role when Myers turns his gun on them, forcing them to submit to his will.

"I'd love to see more women working as directors and producers."


Ida working with Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy on the set of The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

On the Set with Edmond O'Brien, William Talman & Director Ida Lupino

Co-written by Lupino, her former husband Collier Young, and Robert L. Joseph. Based on a story by blacklisted Out of the Past screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring. I highly recommend you check it out!

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