Ida Lupino, a talented actress, also pursued a successful directing career, and 1953's "Hitch-Hiker" is one of her best. Based on a true story, it stars Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman. O'Brien and Lovejoy are buddies, Lovejoy away from his family for the first time, and they're on route to Mexico on a fishing vacation. Doesn't quite turn out that way, as they pick up a hitch-hiker (Tallman) who is a notorious killer who has been robbing his kind victims and then killing them. The two friends never know when Tallman will decide to kill them throughout the long drive.
This is quite a suspenseful and tense film, with good performances all around. Baby boomers will recognize Talman as the losing. complaining DA, Hamilton Burger, on Perry Mason. But he didn't just appear one day at the casting office; his career up to then had been character roles in film with some television. He gives an excellent performance as a terrifying, volatile killer. Definitely his best role; sadly, he succumbed to lung cancer two years after Perry Mason ended. O'Brien and Lovejoy, usually two tough guys in films, are great as ordinary men in an extraordinary circumstance. When Lovejoy sees a little girl, he thinks of his own daughter and hugs the child, crying "Vaya con Dios," fearing that he will never see his daughter again.
My only complaint is that there were endless long shots of the car driving down the road; you could almost predict when they were coming up. It's a small criticism of a woman who help to pave the way for what few film directors we have today.
This is quite a suspenseful and tense film, with good performances all around. Baby boomers will recognize Talman as the losing. complaining DA, Hamilton Burger, on Perry Mason. But he didn't just appear one day at the casting office; his career up to then had been character roles in film with some television. He gives an excellent performance as a terrifying, volatile killer. Definitely his best role; sadly, he succumbed to lung cancer two years after Perry Mason ended. O'Brien and Lovejoy, usually two tough guys in films, are great as ordinary men in an extraordinary circumstance. When Lovejoy sees a little girl, he thinks of his own daughter and hugs the child, crying "Vaya con Dios," fearing that he will never see his daughter again.
My only complaint is that there were endless long shots of the car driving down the road; you could almost predict when they were coming up. It's a small criticism of a woman who help to pave the way for what few film directors we have today.