Editing The Hitch-Hiker (section)

==Production==
The film was written by Lupino and her former husband [[Collier Young]], based on a story by [[Daniel Mainwaring]] which was adapted by [[Robert L. Joseph]].  Mainwaring did not receive a screen credit due to his then being on the [[Hollywood blacklist]].   {{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

''The Hitch-Hiker'' went into production on June 24, 1952, and wrapped in late July.<ref name="tcmover">[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/78138/the-hitch-hiker#overview TCM Overview]</ref> The [[director of photography]] was [[RKO Pictures]] regular [[Nicholas Musuraca]].<ref>{{AFI film|id=50872|title=The Hitch-Hiker}}.</ref> Location shooting took place in the [[Alabama Hills]] near [[Lone Pine, California|Lone Pine]]<ref>{{cite web |last= Fatooh |first= Joy |title= Movie History in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California |publisher= [[Bureau of Land Management]] |url= http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/bishop/suv.Par.24163.File.dat/movie_tour_508.pdf |access-date= November 20, 2015 |quote= The director made good use of the incredible scenery near Lone Pine, with the weirdly eroded, jumbled rocks of the Alabama Hills |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065055/http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/bishop/suv.Par.24163.File.dat/movie_tour_508.pdf |archive-date= March 4, 2016 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> and [[Big Pine, California]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Morfin |first= Charles Michael |title= Location Filming in the Alabama Hills |date= September 29, 2014 |publisher= [[Arcadia Publishing]] |page= 77 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NJNQBAAAQBAJ&q=%22she+returned+to+direct+a+very+interesting+and+suspenseful+film+called+The+Hitch-Hiker+%281953%29.+In+The+Hitch-Hiker%2C+the+Alabama+Hills+are+used+to+represent+Mexico.%22&pg=PA77 |isbn= 9781467131315 |quote= [Lupino] returned to direct a very interesting and suspenseful film called The Hitch-Hiker (1953). In The Hitch-Hiker, the Alabama Hills are used to represent Mexico.}}</ref> Working titles for the film were "''The Difference''" and "''The Persuader''".<ref name="tcmover" />

Lupino was a noted actress who began directing when [[Elmer Clifton]] got sick and couldn't finish [[Not Wanted|the film he was directing]] for Filmakers Inc., the production company founded by Lupino and her husband [[Collier Young]] to make low-budget, issue-oriented movies. Lupino stepped in to finish the film and went on to direct her own projects. ''The Hitch-Hiker'' was her first hard-paced, fast-moving picture after four "women's" films about social issues.<ref name=Hurd2007>Hurd, Mary (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=kfaOdsk5TI0C&dq=ida+lupino&pg=PA7 ''Women Directors & Their Films''], pp. 9–13. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut. {{ISBN|0-275-98578-4}}</ref>

Lupino interviewed the two prospectors whom Billy Cook had held hostage, and got releases from them and from Cook as well, so that she could integrate parts of Cook's life into the script. To appease the censors at the [[Hays Office]], however, she reduced the number of deaths to three.<ref name=tcmarticle/> ''The Hitch-Hiker'' premiered in Boston on March 20, 1953, to little fanfare<ref>[https://vimeo.com/115654062 THE HITCH-HIKER RESTORATION INTRODUCTION WITH ROBERT CLARKE (1997) on Vimeo (uploaded by Louis Antonelli)]</ref> and immediately went into general release.<ref name=tcmover/> The film was marketed with the tagline: "When was the last time you invited death into your car?"

The film is in the [[public domain]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Ladwig|first=Samantha|date=9 September 2017|title=30 classic Hollywood movies you can stream for free|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-movie-classics-to-stream-free-2017-9|access-date=10 March 2018|website=[[Business Insider]]}}</ref>