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Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A really good, dramatic, suspenseful crime-thriller. In a way, this film is comparable to the 1963 film The Sadist with a sadistic madman with a gun holding others hostage until he is finished dealing with them. But I have to say that both films are completely different from one another.The Hitch-Hiker deals with a violent escaped convict that hitches a ride with two fisherman heading on their trip. Naturally he holds them hostage at gun point and taunts the two men and ends up forcing them to drive into Mexico. The police are after the escapee and has word in Mexico this man is dangerous and most likely armed. This is one long trip the two men will not forget for a very long time.8.5/10

-The Hitch-Hiker (1953) by John Vizzusi"Marking the 4th Major Motion Picture for Superstar Ida Lupino as a Director, she paved the way for Females in a Industry dominated by men! Lupino also pens this strange and true tale of a serial killer on the loose. With a entire Male Cast, Ida sets forth on-loan by Warners to RKO, she shot the entire Picture on-location. Beginning to finish a breathtaking 71 minutes, Lupino comes in under-budget and several days early. Hollywood forgetful of its hugely successful past of Female Directors and Screenwriters such as the incredible Francis Marion (The Big House), Lupino is scorned upon and RKO acts like they are hiding from this production. A Limited Release does not help box office totals although the Movie does make its money back. She had a very slim budget of $400,000 and had to invent rotoscope camera movements for the Camera Automobile shots because of lack of equipment available. Surely influenced by the drama she herself displayed on the screen as the Star opposite Humphrey Bogart in "High Sierra" she Directs with complete confidence and a totally believable natural reality driven style and turns the killer Emmet Myers (William Talman) into one of the most vicious murderous monsters the screen had ever seen. But there is something else happening as well; -Ida gives the film a sense of purpose and sensitivity even with all the madness going on throughout...In an interview Talman recalled an incident that happened shortly after the release of The Hitch-Hiker (1953), in which he gave a chilling portrayal of escaped murderer and serial killer Emmett Meyers. He was driving his convertible in Los Angeles with the top down, and he stopped at a red light. Another driver in a convertible who was stopped next to him stared at him for a few seconds, then said, "You're the hitchhiker, right?" Talman nodded, indicating that he was. The other driver got out of his car, went over to Talman's car and slapped him across the face, then got back in his car and drove off. In recalling the story, Talman said, "You know, I never won an Academy Award but I guess that was about as close as I ever will come to one."The Hitch-Hiker is instrumental is guiding the fantastic career of Ida Lupino whom was a beloved Star of the golden era of Hollywood's Silver Screen. And moved forward to Producing and Directing right into the golden age of Television. There was nothing Lupino could not do and do well. Ida Lupino was the first woman to Direct Film Noir although the word Classic here may not totally apply to The Hitch-Hiker but for a Industry that today only employs a tragic 1% of Females we should look closer of the Film's that early Hollywood based Women Directed, Wrote and Produced. You may be surprised at what you find!

Two friends on a fishing trip (Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy) pick up a hitchhiker (William Talman). That turns out to be a huge mistake as this guy is a psycho who's left a trail of bodies behind him. Now he holds the two men hostage at gunpoint and forces them to drive into Mexico.Based on real-life hitchhiking killer Billy Cook, this is an excellent film noir thriller directed and co-written by Ida Lupino. It might be the best movie she directed, although I'm partial to On Dangerous Ground. Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy are both fine but Lovejoy gets a little more to work with. Which is funny since O'Brien was the bigger star of the two. William Talman, best known as the district attorney who always lost to Perry Mason, is great here. There's a creepiness to his performance that separates the character from just another thug with a gun that was commonplace in movies, even in 1953. It's a taut thriller with fine performances and excellent direction. Short runtime is a plus. Years of more graphic movies with similar plots may dilute the impact of this some but I think it's still a strong film.

I'm reminded of an early episode of TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED where each episode was introduced by Roald Dahl where he recounted a time when he gave a lift to a couple of young men with long hair . One of them pulled out a knife held it to Dahl's throat and told him to get out the car . Dahl complied and the men drove off in his car . He explained after that incident he never stopped to give lifts to young men with long hair and that it inspired him to write his 1977 short story The Hitch Hiker . You have to wonder how much embellishment there is to the story because if Dahl had seen this relatively unknown movie it'd be a warning to anyone picking up hitch hikers This has a simple premise of a raving psycho hitching a life from a couple of hard working regular guys and deciding to kill them when their usefulness is over . That's it , not deep psychological character exploration is meant and the characters and performances are decidedly one note , the psycho played by William Talman is a violent psychopath because the story needs a villain and Roy and Gilbert played be respectively Edmund O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy are likable guys because the film needs a victim THE HITCH HIKER is a melodramatic thriller . You can guarantee at every dramatic moment there will be a blast of very menacing music . It's a relatively low budget film and yet none of these things are in any way a criticism . What it does it does very well . There's not a lot of ambition but this is not needed or wanted in a very tight screenplay . There's a small element of having seen it all before but it's a fairly enjoyable crime thriller that deserves to be better known