The Hitch-Hiker

1953 ThrillerCrime 71 minutes Directed by Ida Lupino

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About The Hitch-Hiker

Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen drive toward a fishing trip in Mexico and pick up Emmett Myers. He has killed before and tells them he will kill them when they stop being useful. One of his eyes stays open when he sleeps, so they cannot tell when to run.

Cast & crew

More about The Hitch-Hiker

Ida Lupino directed. She wrote it with Collier Young, her former husband, who also produced, and with Robert L. Joseph and Daniel Mainwaring. Nicholas Musuraca photographed. Leith Stevens composed. Douglas Stewart edited. RKO released it on March 20, 1953. Drawn from Billy Cook's killings in 1950. Edmond O'Brien plays Collins. Frank Lovejoy plays Bowen. William Talman plays Myers. José Torvay is billed with them.

Themes

  • Two men and a hitchhiker who has already killed
  • An eye that does not close
  • Emmett Myers
  • hitchhiker
  • Mexico
  • eye
  • Ida Lupino
  • Billy Cook

Look

Nicholas Musuraca shot the night road and the desert stops.

Music

Leith Stevens composed the score.

Preservation

In the U.S. public domain. Named to the National Film Registry in 1998.

Notes

  • Wikipedia calls it the first mainstream-released American film of its type directed by a woman.
  • Named to the National Film Registry in 1998.
  • The film is in the public domain in the United States.
  • A copy is on the Internet Archive as Hitch_Hiker.
  • Spanish is spoken on the Mexican side of the trip.

Awards

  • National Film Registry (1998)

Scenes

  • Myers tells them the eye stays open while he sleeps.

Influenced by

  • Billy Cook's 1950 killings

Also available

  • Internet Archive (Hitch_Hiker)