The Hitch-Hiker

1953 psychological drama

Rating: 13/20

Plot: Two men take off on a fishing trip to Mexico. Unfortunately for them, there's a psycho-killing hitchhiker on the loose. More unfortunately, they happen to pick him up. Oh, snap! The hitchhiker, Emmitt Myers, doesn't want to go fishing. Instead, he wants to go deep into Mexico for an experimental eyelid transplant surgery. The three men play all kinds of fun road games--license plate bingo, spot the cow, the alphabet game, etc.--and listen to the radio.

Supposedly the only film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino. I don't know about that. 1) There might be other examples. 2) I'm not sure this is even noir. 3) Ida Lupino sounds like a made-up person. This is OK, but it lacks any real suspense or tension and the characters, probably more typical of a movie from 1953, are pretty flat. It doesn't stack up against better noir or thrillers from the era, and there's something that just tells you that the movie will end the way it does, probably because that's the only way the movie can end. I do like the psychotic hitchhiker, and the story, though it seems derivative, had potential. OK enough for me to make a bad joke about my thumb being up, I guess.