The Hitch-Hiker

Rating:
Summary: Loosely based on real character
Review: The Hitch-hiker movie is loosely based on the William "Billy" Cook killing spree in 1951. Billy Cook wore a leather jacket and had a drooping right eye same as William Talman's charater. Cook murdered six people including the Mosser family shooting the husband and wife and their three chil dren. Dumping their bodies in a mine shaft outside Joplin Missouri, even shot the family dog. Billy Cook was finally apprehended and was executed in the San Quenten Gas Chamber in 1952. William Talman puts in an excellent characterization. .

Rating:
Summary: Tight, tough, terrific
Review: The only film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino's Hitch-Hiker benefits from her great decision to pare the movie down to its final length of 71 minutes. This makes it a tightly wound thriller that does exactly what it should---and makes you wish she had directed more films in the same genre.

Two middle class working guys go on a fishing trip and make the mistake of picking up a wacko hitch-hiker, convincingly played by William Tallman, who quickly proceeds to force the two at gunpoint to take him to a remote town in southern California where he can hide out safely, he thinks. The wacko is a convicted killer who's wanted in a few states for murdering unsuspecting motorists.

The interplay of the three characters is what gives the film its punch and is a powerful, non-cliched take on why you should never pick up a stranger. This is also one of the first American films to feature characters speaking in Spanish (although a brief scene, it lends some intrigue; the Spanish is not translated), that unfortunately contrasts with the Mexican police officials whose English is so perfect you know they're American actors.

Nevertheless, this is a great entry in the film noir canon and worthy of seeing, if not owning, if you're a film noir buff.

Rating:
Summary: Tight, tough, terrific
Review: The only film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino's Hitch-Hiker benefits from her great decision to pare the movie down to its final length of 71 minutes. This makes it a tightly wound thriller that does exactly what it should---and makes you wish she had directed more films in the same genre.

Two middle class working guys go on a fishing trip and make the mistake of picking up a wacko hitch-hiker, convincingly played by William Tallman, who quickly proceeds to force the two at gunpoint to take him to a remote town in southern California where he can hide out safely, he thinks. The wacko is a convicted killer who's wanted in a few states for murdering unsuspecting motorists.

The interplay of the three characters is what gives the film its punch and is a powerful, non-cliched take on why you should never pick up a stranger. This is also one of the first American films to feature characters speaking in Spanish (although a brief scene, it lends some intrigue; the Spanish is not translated), that unfortunately contrasts with the Mexican police officials whose English is so perfect you know they're American actors.

Nevertheless, this is a great entry in the film noir canon and worthy of seeing, if not owning, if you're a film noir buff.

Rating:
Summary: GRUELLING
Review: This is one of the most gruelling thrillers I've ever watched, it's 70 minutes of two people being psychologically tortured by a psychopath. Talman and O'Brien give excellent performances but the real shock, considering how many films I've seen him in, is Lovejoy. He gives an amazingly emotional performance that's painful to watch.

This film has been beautifully restored by the Roan group and is cheap at the price.

Rating:
Summary: LUPINO'S FILM NOIR.
Review: William Talman (he reminds one here of a poor man's Joseph Cotten) who portrayed Hamilton Berger on television's PERRY MASON plays Emmet Myers, a psychotic killer who hitch-hikes, rides, then robs and murders his benefactors. Fleeing from the police, he meets two men on a fishing boat en route to Mexico and keeps them hostage until he can find safety south of the border...Parental hatred seemed to be much of the cause of Myer's curious personality, that coupled by a deformed right eye - which doesn't close even during sleep - makes for a creepy character indeed. Based upon an unpublished story by Daniel Mainwaring which was reportedly based upon fact, the story wasn't so much a warning to beware of hitch-hikers, but rather a study in fear which prevailed in audience pleasers of the 1950's; "thinking" people were entranced by science fiction, aliens, nuclear attacts, etc. - this made for more intellectual conversation among fifties folk. Generally regarded as being the only film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino's THE HITCH-HIKER is also a good example of the genre.