Der Anhalter

Ida Lupino was a very good actress, but she was even a better director and movie executive. She really understood all the elements of film and film noir and put them into this masterpiece made for chump change. The twenty best films of the 21st century that feature suspense and tension (Speed and others), cannot come close to this film. Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy give outstanding performances; with Lovejoy doing his best work ever in this film. The real star of the film, however, is the underrated actor William Talman, in the best work of his career (and one that deserved an Oscar nomination) as the psycho killer. It was a shame that Hollywood at this time considered this genre subpar and not worthy of Academy Awards, when in fact, several mediocre films received much higher praise (like the sappy The Greatest Show On Earth and the corny An American in Paris). This is a perfect film for a film professor of Cinema 101 to use as an example of how to create suspense and hold it for an hour. How to keep tension for an hour is not an easy feat to achieve, and it is seldom found in the vast majority of films. But Lupino did it; not just once, but several times after this great effort. A film not to be missed by any serious film buff.

Ida Lupino's "The Hitch-Hiker" is like a B-movie bullet coming at the audience. No fat. No melodrama. Nobody trying to get home in time to save the crippled kid. Just a lean and mean treat – as the police-style narration promises us, 70 minutes of "true" crime suspense.

The plot is as straight and narrow as they come. Two war buddies (Frank Lovejoy and Edmund O'Brien) decide to detour south to the Mexican border to make their vacation more interesting (possibly a nudie show or two) and get far more action than they bargained for when they pick up a psychotic prison escapee (William Talman) who holds them hostage. The film's big gimmick is the fact that the hitch-hiker has one paralyzed eye, so that the two hostages can't tell when he's sleeping or awake to make a break for freedom. Considering how cheap this device sounds it actually works extremely well under the direction of Lupino and Talman's performance. As he tries to make his way to freedom across the Mexican deserts, the hitch-hiker drags these two All-American types with him and engages in sadistic games for his own amusement like having one of them hold a tin can while the other shoots it out of his hand with a rifle. After trying to escape together several times the hitch-hiker makes the film's most profound statement by taunting the 2 friends "you could have escaped if you didn't worry about each other" (or words to that effect).

Apparently there is some controversy over whether this film should be called a "film noir". It's been in the public domain for many years and has been included on a lot of "film noir" collections sold at bargain prices, and presumably some viewers have been disappointed by this film's lack of the usual things you see in a "film noir". Now first of all their complaints should be directed at the people who labeled the DVD instead of the people who made the movie 20 years before the term "film noir" even existed. Now is this just a semantic question? Yes and no. Ultimately it doesn't matter what we call the film. It's a suspense film, basically. In other words a film with a more or less set outcome where the audience spends the whole time worrying about "how" and not "what". There seems to be a disturbing trend with this film and some others, that I've gathered over the years reading comments, to hold these movies to some kind of extrinsic standard, a set of values totally alien to the film itself. The film does not have a "femme fatale". OK, it doesn't have any women period. It has no dark semi-Gothic melodrama. Perhaps most noticeably it does not take place in the dimly lit alleyways of urban America. Hence some "film noir fans" have chosen to deride the movie for its perceived deficiencies and to declare it lacking based on a strange confluence of out-of-control marketing (the chronic use of the word "noir" to sell videos) and narrow genre rules for a "genre" that never actually existed. Still others seem to stray in the opposite direction, considering any film "noir" that employs expressionistic photographic devices that were in common usage far back in the silent era. Instead of all this we should look at the film for what it is and only consider it in terms of "noir" as far as it helps us to understand the piece in relation to contemporary films of the 40s and 50s.

The most unusual aspect of the film in my opinion is its total lack of dramatic pretense aka melodrama. The meat of the film is in the 2 men's relationship and the way that the criminal interloper throws that friendship into relief. Superficially speaking they are "innocent" while he is "guilty". But what's interesting in the film is the way that the mere presence of this evil person brings out the weakness and corruption of the 2 friends. The hitch-hiker's comment about how the 2 men could have escaped separately but were held back by their friendship implies, as do many of his off-hand insulting comments, that the 2 men are soft and corrupted by civilization and that the hitch-hiker himself is a stronger man because he does anything he wants to do. However when one of them asks him "have you ever had a gun pointed at you" it's a subtle reminder that both of these men are war veterans and that they might have a much greater understanding of power and fear than the criminal could ever possess. In this way the film addresses broader issues of the post-war American man in terms of how he sees himself and how others in society may see him. It digs into the insecurity that the domestication and suburbanization of the post-war culture brought to many veterans. And as far as I'm concerned this is prime film noir territory.

So if you're strictly interested in traditional tough guys like Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe, or if you insist on the standard "good girl vs. bad girl" melodrama (aka "femme fatale") then you probably won't get what you're looking for from this movie. But if you're interested in the broader themes of the corruptive influence of civilization that many "noir" films explore then this film is a novel way to see these themes expressed. It's a very well-made film – although not hugely ambitious, when taken on its own terms the film does have something to say about modern life.

Out of RKO Radio Pictures, The Hitch-Hiker is directed by Ida Lupino and jointly adapted to the screen by Lupino, Collier Young and Daniel Mainwaring. It stars Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy & William Talman. Nicholas Musuraca photographs the film and Leith Stevens scores the music.

"This is the true story of a man and a gun and a car. The gun belonged to the man. The car might have been yours, or that young couple across the aisle. What you will see in the next seventy minutes could have happened to you. For the facts are actual".

The above opening salvo from the film is not without merit, tho due to the Hays Office requirements Lupino had to tone down her initial plans for the film. The story is based on the true story of murderer Billy Cook, who in 1950 posed as a hitch-hiker and murdered a family of five and a travelling salesman. The film picks up with the aftermath of that, where Cook then kidnapped two friends out hunting and forced them at gunpoint to drive him across the border into Mexico. Lupino researched her subject well, even interviewing the principals in the kidnapping.

Something of a cult favourite these days, The Hitch-Hiker is a brisk, lean and tight film showing how to get the maximum amount of suspense out of the simplest of set-ups. Practically a three character piece, the film thrives on claustrophobia and an impending sense of dread. Even when the characters come out of the confines of the car, we still feel stifled during the sequences that feature the men out in the desert. There's a sense of desolation in the landscape that marries up with the emotional state of our two kidnapped men. It's fine work by Lupino, who never lets the mood slip. She in turn is aided considerably by her writers and Musuraca's photography. The former cleverly only lets the kidnapped men's personalities unfold once they are seized by Talman's psychopath, the latter brings film noir agoraphobia to the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, location: A place that was often shown to be gorgeous in many a fine Western in the 50s.

All three lead actors do good work under Lupino's direction, with Talman particularly menacing, all lazy eye and snarly grins. While Stevens' music sits nicely with the tone of the story. Credit Lupino, too, for not letting her male driven movie contain any machismo posturing, or heaven forbid, testosterone fuelled bravado. Where the film does fall down is with its rather anti-climatic finale. For although the real life finale involving Billy Cook was genuinely mundane, the film's ending is also a bit of a damp squib. It's one of those cases where some poetic licence wouldn't have gone amiss. Still, it's far from a deal breaker, the film remains a taut and moodily enjoyable experience. 7.5/10

Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen are two friends on a fishing trip in Southern California. They've been having a swell time, and are looking forward to reaching San Felipe. Unbeknownst to them, a raving lunatic has been thumbing rides and killing drivers in the area. After they pick up a man named Emmett Myers, they learn all about it- for Myers is the killer. He forces Collins and Bowen on a journey into fear around the State, riding along with and psychologically tormenting the two men all the while. Though the police are on the case, they're running out of time. Will they track Myers down before he makes Collins and Bowen the next two names on his victims list?

Directed by Ida Lupino and written alongside her husband Collier Young, 'The Hitch-Hiker' is a hardboiled potboiler that is tense and thrilling. Though the story comes to a predictable conclusion, the trip there is full of suspense. Lupino and Collier's dialogue is deliciously pulpy, and the back and forth between Myers and his two hostages is a real treat to listen to. From the start to the finish, the film is entertaining, and is a cut above other hostage-based noir thrillers of the 50's- of which there were many. Full of thrills and chills, 'The Hitch-Hiker' will surely provide audiences immense viewing pleasure.

The film boasts arresting cinematography from Nicholas Musuraca that is heavily atmospheric. Primarily confined to the interior of Collins and Bowen's car, Musuraca makes excellent use of the limited space, juxtaposing it against the vast expanse of desert, giving the film a claustrophobic feeling that heightens the narrative's tension. The utilization of light and shadows is sinisterly effective at maintaining the film's tone, and Musuraca's composition of images is striking. Like Edgar G. Ulmer's 'Detour,' 'The Hitch-Hiker' is low budget, but features some incredible visuals that linger in the mind long after the credits have rolled.

As does Leith Stevens' atmospheric and jazzy score, which contributes to the mood of the piece, but never overshadows it. His evocative theme is particularly gripping and used to great effect in the film. Additionally, the minimal set decoration from Harley Miller and Darrell Silvera is impressive, with a roadside shop in a small Californian town being particularly memorable. One would be remiss not to mention Douglas Stuart's tight editing, which holds everything together wonderfully; establishing for the proceedings a steady pace.

'The Hitch-Hiker' stars Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy as Collins and Bowen and William Talman as Myers, giving the performance of his life. Talman is terrific as the cold-blooded psychopath, clearly reveling in the chance to play such a wild character. He is both menacing and unpredictable, a dangerous mixture of a man you can't keep your eyes off. This is not to say that O'Brien and Lovejoy don't do commendable work, because they do. Lovejoy is particularly good, but their roles aren't nearly as interesting or as colorful as Talman's, and there is less they can do with the parts. Talman dominates the movie, and you'll assuredly have a hard time forgetting his performance.

Deftly directed by Ida Lupino, 'The Hitch-Hiker' is a suspenseful noir thriller fans of the genre will love. Featuring stunning cinematography from Nicholas Musuraca and an emotive Leith Stevens score, the film impresses on every level. With a strong screenplay from Lupino and Collier Young full of great dialogue, and boasting three fine central performances from Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy and William Talman, 'The Hitch-Hiker' is frighteningly good.

I saw this movie recently for the first time on Turner Classic Movies. This is a tough and suspenseful little movie. The killer is a truly evil character; no ambiguity about his character as you might expect in a more recent film. It must have been considered a brutal film when it was made, though its mild by today's standards. The location setting in the bleak desert adds to movie's atmosphere and tone. And, it was directed by a woman, rare today, and even more rare in the 50s.

Exciting, fast-paced, and never boring.