The Hitch-Hiker

Though I've seen the suspenser before, I still had a sweat bucket handy for this latest go-round. Great job all-around. It's the kind of B-movie old movie fans savor, that is, if you don't mind your knuckles turning white. Talman delivers a career performance as the psychotic hitchhiker Emmett Myers. He'd just as soon shoot you as shake your hand. So who do you suppose average guys Lovejoy and O'Brien give a ride to.

That's it, the whole story--- two nice guys at the mercy of an escaped lunatic with neither a tree nor a girl in sight. But the suspense seldom lets up. Sure, a critical eye could wonder why the two hostages don't try to turn the tables more than they do. Wisely, however, the script suggests that neither wants to endanger the other with a false move. Besides, Talman's one scary dude. Producer Lupino better have three of the industry's best actors because their interaction's the whole story. Fortunately she got them.

Two inspired touches-having Myers (Talman) unable to close one eye gives him a subtly gruesome appearance, plus filming in a hellish desert perfectly mirrors the situation. The lonely traveling car is like a one-way trip to Hades. I doubt that any film has gotten more out of a dollar-eighty budget than this little suspense gem. I love it when a cheap-jack production like this delivers more goods than the Technicolor biggies of the day. Thanks be to the versatile Ida Lupino and her company of three outsized talents for this minor triumph.