“The Hitch-Hiker” is a film noir directed by Ida Lupino about two fishing buddies who pick up a mysterious hitchhiker during a trip to Mexico. The movie was written by Robert L. Joseph, Lupino, and her husband Collier Young, based on a story by “Out of the Past” screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring, who was blacklisted at the time and did not receive screen credit. The film is based on the true story of Billy Cook, a psychopathic murderer. Two men (Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy) on a fishing trip pick up a hitchhiker named Emmett Myers (William Talman), who turns out to be a psychopath who has committed multiple murders.
It has been called the first film noir directed by a woman, despite Norwegian director Edith Carlmar having made a noir already back in 1949 (“Døden er et kjærtegn”). The director of photography was RKO Pictures regular Nicholas Musuraca. In 1998, “The Hitch-Hiker” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”
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Directed by Ida Lupino, produced by Collier Young, written by Daniel Mainwaring, Robert L. Joseph, Ida Lupino and Collier Young, starring Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy and William Talman
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Source: “The Hitch-Hiker” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 21 June 2012. Web. 24 June 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitch-Hiker.
I noticed that Ida Lupino had co wrote the screenplay and directed the movie too. Great old classic film noir. Good direction from that lovely actress Ida. She directed episodes of The Twilight Zone and Gilligan's Island too.
they just don't make 'em like they used to
omg that fake newscast LMFAO so obvious
Edmond O'Brien is an excellent actor. Met Edmond in a barber shop in West Los Angeles, CA. His favorite movies? DOA; The Hitch Hiker; Seven Days in May. It was a privilege to share with him [his] takes on film noir. He was the greatest of film noir actors.
Beautiful country though…
bet this movie gave a hart time to hitchhikers and maybe on purpose, being kind of socialist sharing rides….
Cool film. Directed by Ida Lupino – among her other accomplishments, the only person to ever both star in and direct episodes of "Twilight Zone."
boring
Great classic movie starring Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy
Thanks for the upload Timeless classic movies,
Ed
Water
Unrealistic. They could have just taken the gun from the guy when he fell asleep. There's no way he didn't sleep.
Great movie, Thx! So old Hamilton Burger was a criminal before he became the D.A. on Perry Mason ?!!
I liked it. Even started to feel sorry for the bad guy.
This movie was inspired by true events. One can also read- The Mosser Massacre, by Glenn Shirley. It also is why hitchhiking is illegal many places.This case was the largest west of the Mississippi man hunt at the time.
Morale of the story. Don't tell your wives you're going fishing and end up in Mexicali.
NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILER…..
Can someone please explain why the bad guy wants these two guys with him? Somebody says at one point, something like, 'We'll be OK so long as he needs us' – but why does he need them?
I thought at one point perhaps he couldn't drive, but then he drove at them when they were trying to escape.
Surely he'd have had an easier time of it on his own, if he just stole their car, their clothes, money and IDs. Then at least he could've got some sleep at night, and wouldn't have had to be on the alert the entire time.
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verry good, thanks for uploading.
OUTSTANDING FILM ! THANK YOU !
Outstanding Film, The Hitch-Hiker.
The end scene was short but powerful.
Great movie..the two kidnapped guys seemed like a gay couple to me for some reason.
The only bad thing of this movie it does not show the complete true story. The real criminal "Billy Cook" was a heinous killer who also kidnapped a family of three children and their parents. After that, he kidnapped a traveling salesman and later kidnapped the two men who were lucky to survive in the end. The movie should have shown everything, including the first killings, but I guess because the movie was made in the 1950's that reality would be too strong for people at that time.
Love it
Excellent clarity in the footage!
Hate those stupid ads at the beginning!. 🙁
This is a good solid film.
muito bom
I really enjoyed this film. writer and Director Ida Lupino did an amazing job with this film
They should have let Roy put his time in. Just a few hits. I would have let him hit hmi until
hey made short work on him in 1951 they sentenced him. 1952 they executed him. Not like today. man can sit for 20 years and be guilty
63 years have passed but still good
Interesting the use of the hyphen.
Hamilton Burger hits rock bottom after being disbarred for always losing to Perry Mason
Murder on high roads comes from the driver not the passenger!
A very good movie
Love these old movies 😊😊
Some trivia – the director was Ida Lupino, who was actually British, becoming a US citizen in '48.. .Notice the bad guy was handcuffed in front, then raised his hands together to try to use like a club. . the reason that actual police procedure says to handcuff from behind
Amazing! Very interesting. Thanks a lot for sharing…
Yes I agree with comments so many great actor's in the 40 a I forgot how good they were
In an interview, Talman recalled an incident that happened shortly after the release of this film. He was driving his convertible in Los Angeles with the top down, and he stopped at a red light. Another driver in a convertible who was stopped next to Talman stared at him for a few seconds, then said, "You're the hitchhiker, right?" Talman nodded. The other driver got out of his car, slapped Talman across the face, then drove off. Recalling the story, Talman said, "You know, I never won an Academy Award, but I guess that was about as close as I ever will come to one."
So the hitchhiker is Paul Harvey? (ok, makin' a funny, and perhaps a poor one at that) And another poor one: I'm on the Mexican radio, ohoho.
If this movie were made today it would take at least 30 minutes for the hitchhiker to kidnapped these guys. This movie gets right to it you don't have to wait.