film

Ida Lupino was one of the very, very few women working in Hollywood genre cinema in the early 1950s, and in The Hitch-Hiker she produced one of the great noir films of the period before her 35th birthday. Taut, bleak and hard-edged, The Hitch-Hiker is based loosely on the real-life killing spree of Billy Cook. It follows two ordinary men whose fishing trip turns into a nightmare when they pick up a hitchhiker, Emmett Myers (William Talman), who turns out to be a remorseless killer.

Talman's performance is a major part of what makes Lupino's film so unsettling – his cruelty is understated and almost bored, and his damaged eye, which never fully closes, a brilliant visual motif for the inescapable threat he poses. Shot largely on location in the desolate landscapes of Baja California, Lupino used harsh sunlight and empty roads to create a sense of exposure. A landmark work in the career of a true Hollywood trailblazer.