The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2019: The Hitch-Hiker (1953), directed by Ida Lupino

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: "Hitchin' A Ride", by Vanity Fare

       I guess the reality of filmmaking existing largely as a boy’s club doesn’t really settle in until pretend to review movies for a living like yours truly. I mean I’ve covered over a hundred films now on this blog and it wasn’t until I was compiling the list for this year that I realized that I had only reviewed around 6 movies in total that had been directed by women, an incredibly small amount even for the niche field of genre films. Worse yet, aside from the Wachowski’s Matrix, none of them were movies that I had actually liked, which is just the way it goes sometimes but something that still sent me down the rabbit hole of self--reflection for a while. So this year I’ve made a conscious effort to get more women and their movies in the Marathon, the first being Rachel Talalay’s Tank Girl (which didn’t turn out that well), and now with Ida Lupino. While not a household name these days back in the 50s she was pretty well known as an actress, and pretty unique for stepping behind the camera and directing some films herself. So why not just reach into the proverbial bag and pull one out?

       Released by RKO in 1953, The Hitch-Hiker, our film begins with a murder. Several murders in fact, all committed by a man named Emmett Myers under the role of a hitch-hiker. A tragedy to be sure, but one that leaps from the newsreels into reality when Gilbert and Roy, two camping buddies that took a last minute detour to Mexicali, pick up a hitch-hiker who happens to be Emmett Myers. Myers has a burning need to get to the town of Santa Rosalia, a 500 mile trip, and in lieu of gas money he’s brought a loaded revolver pointed as their heads. It’s the proverbial road trip from hell, as Gilbert and Roy struggle under the heel of Myers, knowing every moment that each step closer to Santa Rosalia is a step towards their own grisly demise. Based on a true story, so the film’s opening says, but then aren’t they all these days?

       So yeah, a scary hitch-hiker movie about two decades before Ted Bundy made everyone assume all hitch-hikers were serial killers, pretty ahead of its time in that regard. It’s also interesting to see how...I don’t know the proper word, ‘natural’ it feels, that Lupino were aiming for a recreation of actual events rather than just being a noir film. Things such as having scenes where the Mexican characters are just having conversations with each other with no attempt to translate it for the audience beyond context clues, or having the Mexican and American authorities planning things out. It ends up making The Hitch-Hiker feel less like a true crime film, years before true crime was a proper genre, and more an extended cut of the live action sequences in Unsolved Mysteries.

       The thing that would make true crime so popular wasn’t just about recreating actual events however, it was in taking those events and crafting a narrative around them. In the premier true crime novel for example, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Capote crafts this detailed profile of the killers, giving you an insight into the kind of people they are and why they did what they did. Not to say that isn’t done with Myers, but by and large it’s a very black and white (natch) view of things, where he does bad things because he’s bad and that’s as far as one needs to think on the matter. Which might work if you just need an antagonist, but if you’re trying to make a real person then you’re going to have to go a bit deeper than that.

       There’s also the issue of tension in the film. Of course you have the overarching issue of Myers holding Gilbert and Roy hostage which is the crux of the film, but the film doesn’t often push beyond that initial suspense. By which I mean the points of emotional peak, where the scheme is on the brink of being discovered, Myers is about to kill someone, etc. Again like with Myers, those scenes are there, but Lupino never lingers on them, drawing out the tension. You get the impression of them and then they’re gone. Missed potential, but it’s got that kind of charm that films of a certain place and time exude. A movie that could only have been made in the 50s, you know the type.

       The Hitch-Hiker is a no-frills crime thriller, giving you some crime and some thrills in a nice package and not a cent more. In that regard, I have no problem recommending it, it’s simplicity makes it easily watchable. Like I’ve said before with other movies however, if you’re not a fan of the older filmmaking styles there’s nothing here that’s going to blow your mind. Give it a try this Halloween, and while you’re at it look into the other films by Ida Lupino as well.