Editing The Hitch-Hiker

{{Short description|1953 film by Ida Lupino}}
{{For|similarly-named films|Hitchhiker (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Hitch-Hiker
| image          = The Hitch-Hiker (1953 poster).jpeg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Ida Lupino]]
| screenplay     = {{plainlist|
* Ida Lupino
* [[Collier Young]]
}}
| producer       = Collier Young
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Edmond O'Brien]]
* [[Frank Lovejoy]]
* [[William Talman (actor)|William Talman]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Nicholas Musuraca]]
| editing        = [[Douglas Stewart (film editor)|Douglas Stewart]]
| music          = [[Leith Stevens]]
| studio         = {{plainlist|
* The Filmakers Inc.
* [[RKO Radio Pictures]]
}}
| distributor    = RKO Radio Pictures
| released       = {{Film date|1953|3|20|Boston|1953|3|21|U.S.|ref1=<ref name=AFI>{{cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50872 |title=The Hitch-Hiker: Detail View |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=June 12, 2024}}</ref>|ref2=<ref name=AFI />}}
| runtime        = 71 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}
[[File:The Hitch-Hiker.webm|thumb|thumbtime=46|''The Hitch-Hiker'' full film]]
'''''The Hitch-Hiker''''' is a 1953 American [[independent film|independent]]<ref name="screeningamericanindiefilm">[https://books.google.com/books?id=F868EAAAQBAJ Screening American Independent Film - Google Books]</ref> [[film noir]] [[Thriller film|thriller]] directed by [[Ida Lupino]], who co-wrote it with her former husband [[Collier Young]], and starring [[Edmond O'Brien]], [[William Talman (actor)|William Talman]] and [[Frank Lovejoy]]. Based on the 1950 [[killing spree]] of [[Billy Cook (criminal)|Billy Cook]], the film follows two friends who are taken [[hostage]] by a murderous [[Hitchhiking|hitchhiker]] during an automobile trip to [[Mexico]].<ref name="Paste">{{cite web |url= https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/film-noir/the-best-noirs-of-all-time|title=The 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time |date=November 3, 2023 |access-date=June 12, 2024 |work=Paste}}</ref>

''The Hitch-Hiker'' was the first American mainstream film noir directed by a woman. It was selected in 1998 for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."<ref>[https://vimeo.com/115625848 IDA LUPINO’S THE HITCH-HIKER (1953) FILM RESTORATION (1993 to 1997) on Vimeo (upload by Louis Antonelli, the person responsible for the restoration from 1993-1997)]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Hooray for Hollywood (December 1998) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9812/film.html|access-date=2020-06-25|website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>

==Plot==
In the early 1950s, a hitchhiker robs and kills motorists who offer him rides. A suspect, Emmett Myers (Talman), is publicized in newspaper headlines.

In [[California]], two friends, Roy Collins (O'Brien) and Gilbert Bowen (Lovejoy), are driving to a planned fishing trip in [[San Felipe, Baja California]], Mexico. In [[Calexico, California]], they pick up Myers, who pulls a gun and [[Hostage|takes them hostage]]. Myers forces the pair to drive him to [[Santa Rosalía, Baja California Sur]], where he plans to escape a police [[Manhunt (law enforcement)|manhunt]] by taking a ferry across the [[Gulf of California]] to [[Guaymas]]. To avoid law enforcement, he orders them to stay off main roads and instead try to drive through the [[Baja California desert]].

Collins and Bowen comply, hoping they will be identified and stopped at the [[Mexico–United States border]] at [[Mexicali]], but to their dismay they are let through. In Mexico, Myers sadistically terrorizes the pair—at one point forcing Bowen to shoot a tin can out of Collins' hand from a long distance—and revels in the ineffective attempts by [[Law enforcement in Mexico|Mexican law enforcement]] to catch him using [[Security checkpoint|checkpoints]]. After a tense moment while stopping to get food, they stop for the night. Collins and Bowen discuss their plans to escape, and agree that they must act at the right time or they will be killed.

The next morning, the [[car radio]] fails, and Myers berates Collins for breaking it, so Bowen must drive. Meanwhile, police investigators learn the three are together and deduce where Myers is planning to go. At a [[gas station]], Myers kills a dog, while Bowen leaves his wedding ring for the police to find. Overnight, Collins and Bowen attempt to escape, but Collins injures his ankle, and the pair are recaptured. As the police investigation proceeds, investigators release false information to trick Myers, which seems to work. Later, when the car is damaged, Myers forces the group to continue on foot at gunpoint, and taunts them for missing opportunities to escape even if it would mean the other would be killed.<ref name=":0" />

Collins, Bowen, and Myers reach Santa Rosalía and head to a bar, where Myers tries to conceal his identity and find an English speaker. Learning the regular ferry to Guaymas has burned, Myers pays a fishing boat to take him there instead. However, as he prepares to leave with Collins and Bowen, a local resident recognizes Myers and alerts the authorities, who prepare to catch him at the pier. After a shootout and a scuffle, Myers is arrested and Collins and Bowen are freed unharmed.

==Cast==
* [[Edmond O'Brien]] as Roy Collins
* [[Frank Lovejoy]] as Gilbert Bowen
* [[William Talman (actor)|William Talman]] as Emmett Myers
* José Torvay as Captain Alvarado
* [[Wendell Niles]] as Himself (Radio Announcer)
* [[Jean Del Val]] as Inspector General
* [[Clark Howat]] as Government Agent
* [[Natividad Vacío]] as Jose
* Rodney Bell as William Johnson

==Background==
[[Image:Hitch-Hiker Lupino.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Ida Lupino (left) directing ''The Hitch-Hiker'']]

''The Hitch-Hiker'' was based on the 1950 killing spree of [[Billy Cook (criminal)|Billy Cook]] who, posing as a hitchhiker, murdered a family of five, kidnapped a [[Riverside County Sheriff's Department]] deputy and abandoned him in a desert (the deputy survived), and killed a traveling salesman, before attempting to flee to Mexico by taking two men on a hunting trip hostage and forcing them to drive him to Santa Rosalía. There, Cook was identified and apprehended by local police without incident. As Mexico then lacked a formal [[extradition]] treaty with the United States, Mexican authorities "extradited" him back to the U.S. by physically pushing him over the border, where he was taken into custody by waiting American law enforcement. Cook was tried, convicted, and received the death penalty. On December 12, 1952, Cook was executed in the gas chamber at [[San Quentin State Prison]] in California.<ref name="tcmarticle">{{cite news| url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/78138/the-hitch-hiker#articles-reviews|author=Miller, Frank|work= Turner Classic Movies|title=''The Hitch-Hiker'' (1953): There's Death in his upraised Thumb!| access-date= November 18, 2023}}</ref>

==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>

==Reception==

[[Image:Hitchhiker1953.JPG|thumb|265px|Frank Lovejoy, William Talman and Edmond O'Brien]]

''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'' said that "with nothing more than three able actors, a lot of rugged scenery and their own impressive talents as producers, authors and director, Collier Young and Ida Lupino have brewed a grim little chiller". The ''Inquirer'' critic praised the performances and said the film was "directed with masculine strength by the amazing Miss Lupino".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Martin|first=Mildred|date=1953-05-04|title=New Thriller By Ida Lupino At Stanton|pages=20|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71902003/the-hitch-hiker/|access-date=2021-05-23|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

The ''[[New York Daily News]]'' gave the film three and a half of four stars, saying Lupino made "good and exciting use" of the real-life incident.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cameron|first=Kate|date=1953-04-30|title=Intense Suspense in 'The Hitch-Hikers'|pages=80|work=Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78194923/ny-daily-news-review-of-hitch-hikers/|access-date=2021-05-23|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film an "unrelenting but superficial study of abnormal psychology coupled with standard chase melodrama". Critic [[A. H. Weiler]] complimented the performances and Lupino's "brisk direction", but criticized the plot as excessively predictable.<ref name=":0">{{citation |author=A.H. Weiler |title=The Hitch-Hiker at the Holiday |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 30, 1953|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A06EED71F3AE23BBC4850DFB2668388649EDE |quote= ... in selecting the rocky, dusty Mexican wasteland as a setting, the producers have added a graphic inflection to the helplessness of the victims.}}</ref>

''[[Detroit Free Press|The Detroit Free Press]]'' said that the film performed a public service by warning motorists about the dangers of picking up hitchhikers.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bower|first=Helen|date=1953-05-30|title='Hitch-hiker' Warns Motorists|pages=9|work=Detroit Free Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71908822/the-hitch-hiker/|access-date=2021-05-23|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
The film has been widely praised in the years since its release, and holds a 93% approval rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 43 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hitch_hiker_1953|title=''The Hitch-Hiker'' (1953) |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=February 23, 2021}}</ref>

Critic John Krewson lauded the work of Ida Lupino, and wrote, <blockquote>As a screenwriter and director, Lupino had an eye for the emotional truth hidden within the taboo or mundane, making a series of B-styled pictures which featured sympathetic, honest portrayals of such controversial subjects as unmarried mothers, bigamy, and rape ... in ''The Hitch-Hiker'', arguably Lupino's best film and the only true noir directed by a woman, two utterly average middle-class American men are held at gunpoint and slowly psychologically broken by a serial killer. In addition to her critical but compassionate sensibility, Lupino had a great filmmaker's eye, using the starkly beautiful street scenes in ''[[Not Wanted]]'' and the gorgeous, ever-present loneliness of empty highways in ''The Hitch-Hiker'' to set her characters apart.<ref>[https://www.avclub.com/the-hitch-hiker-1798195552 Krewson, John]. ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', DVD review, March 29, 2002. Last accessed: June 12, 2024.</ref></blockquote>

''[[Time Out Film Guide]]'' wrote of the film, <blockquote>Absolutely assured in her creation of the bleak, noir atmosphere – whether in the claustrophobic confines of the car, or lost in the arid expanses of the desert – Lupino never relaxes the tension for one moment. Yet her emotional sensitivity is also upfront: charting the changes in the menaced men's relationship as they bicker about how to deal with their captor, stressing that only through friendship can they survive. Taut, tough, and entirely without macho-glorification, it's a gem, with first-class performances from its three protagonists, deftly characterised without resort to cliché.<ref>[http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/72096/the_hitch-hiker.html Time Out Film Guide] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503184042/http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/72096/the_hitch-hiker.html |date=May 3, 2008 }}. Film review, 2008. Last accessed: April 23, 2008.</ref></blockquote>

In January 2014, a restored 35mm print was premiered by the Film Noir Foundation at Noir City 12 at the [[Castro Theatre]] in San Francisco. On April 6, 2014 ''The Hitch-Hiker'' was shown again at the [[Grauman's Egyptian Theatre|Egyptian Theatre]] in Hollywood. Mary Ann Anderson author of ''The Making of The Hitch-Hiker'' appeared at this event.

While most ''films noir'' were filmed in claustrophobic cities, ''The Hitch-Hiker'' was filmed in the desert southwestern United States (territory similar to that of Baja California, where most of the story takes place), mostly in wilderness and small villages. Critics Bob Porfiero and Alain Silver, in a review and analysis of the film, praised Lupino's use of shooting locations. They wrote, "''The Hitch-Hiker''{{'}}s desert locale, although not so graphically dark as a cityscape at night, isolates the protagonists in a milieu as uninviting and potentially deadly as any in ''film noir''."<ref>[[Alain Silver|Silver, Alain]], and Elizabeth Ward, eds. ''Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style'', film noir analysis by Bob Porfiero and Alain Silver, page 130, 3rd edition, 1992. New York: The Overlook Press. {{ISBN|0-87951-479-5}}.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of films in the public domain in the United States]]
* [[The Hitcher (1986 film)|''The Hitcher'' (1986 film)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
*[http://filmint.nu/?p=10984 Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey "The Narcissistic Sociopathology of Gender: ''Craig's Wife'' and ''The Hitch-Hiker''", Part 2. ''Film International'', March 9, 2014].

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/hitch_hiker.pdf ''The Hitch-Hiker''] essay by [[Wheeler Winston Dixon]] on the [[National Film Registry]] website
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC ''The Hitch-Hiker''] essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the [[National Film Registry]], A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 469–471
* {{AFI film|50872}}
* {{IMDb title|0045877}}
* {{TCMDb title|78138}}
* ''The Hitch-Hiker'' ([https://archive.org/details/Hitch_Hiker 2008 upload] and [https://archive.org/details/IdaLupinostheHitch-hiker1953 2009 upload]) is available for free download at the [[Internet Archive]]
* {{YouTube|PuV2tVlRDd0|''The Hitch-Hiker''}}

{{Ida Lupino}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitch-Hiker, The}}
[[Category:1953 films]]
[[Category:1953 crime drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American crime drama films]]
[[Category:American road movies]]
[[Category:Crime films based on actual events]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Films about kidnapping]]
[[Category:Films about automobiles]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ida Lupino]]
[[Category:Films scored by Leith Stevens]]
[[Category:Films set in Mexico]]
[[Category:Films about hitchhiking]]
[[Category:RKO Pictures films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:1953 independent films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]