Film Review
One of the very few female film directors to have an impact on American
cinema in the 1950s, Ida Lupino took critics and audiences by surprise
with this starkly brutal film noir suspense thriller, which is widely
regarded today as one of her best films, if not her best. Prior
to this, the former actress-turned filmmaker had made her name with a
series of hard-hitting social dramas, but it was realist macho thrillers
like the
The Hitch-Hiker that
she felt most comfortable directing. This was the second of a
series of three films that Lupino made under a distribution deal with
RKO, although it was released under the banner of The Filmakers, the
company that she created and ran with her husband and frequent
collaborator, Collier Young. The film is based on the true story
of William Cook, who was executed in 1952 for murdering six innocent
people as he hitch-hiked his away across California in 1950.
Despite the obvious simplicity of its plot,
The Hitch-Hiker manages to be one
of the most compelling and nerve-racking of all films noirs, and it
achieves this by forcing its audience to identify intimately with the
two likeable victims as they are constantly tormented by the sadistic
brute they foolishly offer a lift to. Aggressive use of big
close-ups and some skilful editing expose the anxiety, fear, loathing
and increasing sense of desperation that gradually overwhelm the two
characters as they are nudged ever close to death by a homicidal madman
who delights in teasing them, like a deranged cat playing with a
helpless mouse. Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy both give
commendable performances as the two powerless victims (who become
emasculated by their concern for each other's safety), but it is
William Talman who is most memorable as the psychotic and totally
charmless Myers. Cinema has rarely given us a more terrifying
portrayal of pure evil than Talman's constantly smirking sadist, a man
who is able to sleep with one eye open (providing the film
with its most chilling image).
Lupino directs the film with exceptional economy, achieving a
remarkably effective result without recourse to over-elaborate
mise-en-scène or fancy camera set-ups. The film owes much
of its intensity and impact to the relentlessly brooding photography,
which is supplied by Nicholas Musuraca, one of the most gifted of film
noir cinematographers, best known for his work on
Cat
People (1942),
The Spiral Staircase (1945) and
Out of the Past (1947).
The crushing emptiness of the desert location in which most of the
story takes place gives an unbearable claustrophobic feel to the film,
accentuating the sheer hopelessness of the two victims as their
tormenter drives them on, deeper and deeper into a nightmare from which
there is apparently no escape.
The
Hitch-Hiker may only run to seventy minutes but it is a
tension-filled endurance test of the first order, even for the most
hardened of film noir aficionados.
© James Travers 2013
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Film Synopsis
When Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen set out for a peaceful weekend
fishing trip, they could have had no idea of the harrowing ordeal that
was ahead of them. Their fatal mistake was to pick up a
hitch-hiker, but how could they know he was Emmett Myers, an escaped
convict who had already murdered several good-natured people like
themselves in his bid to evade capture? Myers makes no secret of
what he has in mind for the two men. He will allow them to live
whilst they remain useful to him. Then he will shoot them dead
and continue his journey alone. Roy and Gilbert bide their time,
waiting for the moment when they can turn the tables on their
tormenter. But Myers is as cunning as a fox, and far
deadlier...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.