Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

James Hitchcock They say that no good deed goes unpunished, and friends Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen find out the truth of this saying when, during a fishing trip to Mexico, they pick up a hitchhiker whose car has apparently run out of gas. The man, Emmett Myers, turns out to be a murderer on the run from the American authorities who has managed to slip into Mexico. Myers draws a gun on the men and forces them to drive him to where he wants to go, threatening to kill them after they have taken him to his destination, the town of Santa Rosalía in Baja California. (Myers is based upon a real-life serial killer, Billy Cook, although the number of killings committed by Cook had to be reduced in the film at the insistence of the Hays Office)."The Hitch-Hiker" is a suspense thriller made in 1953, but in many ways it is very different from the work of Alfred Hitchcock, America's most famous director of suspense thrillers during the fifties. At only seventy minutes long it is considerably shorter than most of Hitchcock's films. There is no trademark blonde heroine. (Indeed, although the film was directed by a female director, Ida Lupino, there are no prominent female characters at all). There is no comic relief. Lupino does not attempt to analyse the psychology behind Myers' crimes as Hitchcock does with Norman Bates in "Psycho" and some of his other villains; Myers is simply a psychopath, and that is that. There are no cliff-hangers on a prominent building and no directorial set-pieces comparable to the "Psycho" shower scene.William Talman, best remembered as the District Attorney in the "Perry Mason" TV serial, is normally thought of as a supporting actor, but here he dominates the film with his performance as the malevolent Myers. It quickly becomes obvious that he does not regard Roy, Gil and their car merely as a convenient means of transport to facilitate his escape. It is quite clear that he takes a positive, lip-smacking sadistic pleasure in tormenting them both physically and psychologically. Indeed, it may be this very sadism to which the two men owe their survival; logically it would have made more sense, from Myers' point of view, to have killed them early on and then driven off in the car himself, thus eliminating two witnesses, but had he done so he would have been left without victims to torture. What Myers cannot understand is the mutual friendship and loyalty which prevents both Roy and Gil from attempting to escape separately; altruism of any sort is quite alien to his nature.The film is often categorised as film noir, but in many ways it is also different from most mainstream noir. Some films noirs, "The Big Sleep" being a good example, had notoriously complex plots, but that of "The Hitch-Hiker" is simplicity itself. There are no sub-plots; Lupino concentrates on the main story, the plight of Roy and Gil and their efforts to escape from the ever-present menace of the watchful Myers. It is not set on the mean streets of an American city or in seedy, claustrophobic interiors but in the wide-open spaces of the Mexican desert, and the barrenness and loneliness of this landscape becomes a symbol of the threat hanging over the two heroes. I said above that the film does not contain any Hitchcockian set-pieces, which normally mark a notable increase in the level of tension. Here the tension is maintained at a high level throughout; perhaps the entire film can be seen as one long, extended seventy minute set-piece. An excellent thriller. 8/10

seymourblack-1 This cautionary tale about the dangers of picking up hitch-hikers was famously the first film noir to be directed by a woman (Ida Lupino) and its story is remarkably tense and gripping throughout. The fact that it has a short running time, a lively pace and a no-nonsense style of delivering the action, adds to the urgency of what's happening on-screen and emphasises that the events taking place have a momentum all of their own and that they're propelling the hitch-hiker's helpless victims towards a dreadful fate that they have no hope of escaping.Roy Collins (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert Bowen (Frank Lovejoy) are a couple of guys from Arizona who plan to enjoy a short fishing vacation in Mexico but en route they see a man at the side of the road and offer him a lift. Almost as soon as he's seated in the car, the stranger, who is Emmett Myers (William Talman), pulls a gun on the men and wants them to take him through the Mexican desert to Santa Rosalia where he intends to catch a ferry. It soon becomes apparent that Myers is a serial killer who's on the run from the police and a radio report that they hear during their journey confirms that the police don't know his current whereabouts.When night falls and the men settle down to sleep, Myers informs his hostages that, due to a deformity of his eyelid, his right eye remains open when he's sleeping and so they should forget about trying to escape because he's likely to see and kill them if they attempt anything like that. Knowing what a ruthless killer Myers is, Roy and Gil don't make any attempt to escape that nightThe journey across the desert becomes increasingly difficult and Myers gets very agitated when the car horn starts to blast continuously and is upset again later when one of the tyres is punctured. In his more composed moments he shouts orders at his terrified captives and tells them that they're soft and that he's superior to them because he simply takes whatever he wants. In the rare opportunities that they get, Roy and Gil try to discuss an escape plan but this causes disagreements between them. Because of this and Myers' promise that he's going to kill them as soon as they arrive at Santa Rosalia, their need for some way out of their predicament becomes increasingly desperate.This movie is intended to create an atmosphere of fear and this is successfully achieved because:-1. its story is inspired by real-life events. 2. the ruthlessness of the killer is powerfully portrayed at the very beginning of the film.3. Myers' shooting skills are demonstrated to his victims at an early stage of their journey. 4. his practice of sleeping with one eye open is extremely creepy.Furthermore, locating the victims' ordeal in the claustrophobic confines of a car and the isolation of long empty desert roads highlights the fact that there's no easy escape from Roy and Gil's hellish ordeal.Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy are very convincing in their roles as a couple of ordinary middle-class friends and William Talman is absolutely sensational as Myers, who is the personification of pure evil. With its punchy dialogue, moody visual style and intensely threatening atmosphere, "The Hitch-Hiker" is an incredibly strong, riveting and memorable crime thriller.

bkoganbing This film The Hitch-Hiker should serve as a warning not to pick anyone up on the road. You might just be picking up a mad dog killer like William Talman.Which is what good friends and fishing buddies Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy do on a fishing trip. No good deed ever goes unpunished as Talman uses their car for transportation and them for hostages. Talman was a real piece of work in this film. He bullies and taunts them for the entire running time of the film. He'll kill them when the time is right. As for now their plight serves as an object for his sick amusement. Talman is one terrifying and conscienceless human being.As for O'Brien and Lovejoy they're a pair of averages guys caught up in a bad situation. Lovejoy is the cooler of the two, but even he is close to breaking.The Hitch-Hiker is directed with crisp style by Ida Lupino. It's a terrifying film, as much horror as a Hitchcock effort without the froth.

artpf Two carefree young travelers make the mistake of their lives when they pick up a mysterious, and slightly psychotic, hitch-hiker who never closes his right eye -- even when he sleeps!Film Noir...why don't they make these kinds of flicks today. They are so cool.Anyway, supposedly based upon a true story.It's a relatively well done foray into film noir, with one major flaw that draws the film down half way through.If there are two strong guys and another guy with a gun and the guy with the gun tells you he's going to kill you no matter what, but not telling you when, then you really have nothing left to lose.So at some point don't you try to jump him? They have numerous opportunities. And related to this -- why does the bad guy even want the two of them around? Pleasant conversation? They are a weight to him and represent the possibility of doom for him, so why not put an end to them and go it alone?If you can put this lack of logic aside, it's a fun film.