Starring: Frank Lovejoy, Edmond O’Brien, William Talman

Make it a Noir November with The Future of Film is Female‘s screening of Ida Lupino’s The Hitch-Hiker. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

The first mainstream noir film directed by a woman (Ida Lupino who also co-wrote the film), The Hitch-Hiker is perhaps better remembered as simply one of the most nightmarish motion pictures of the 1950s. Inspired by the true-life murder spree of Billy Cook, The Hitch-Hiker is the tension-laden saga of two men on a camping trip who are held captive by a homicidal drifter. He forces them, at gunpoint, to embark on a grim joyride across the Mexican desert.

Renegade filmmaking at its finest, The Hitch-Hiker was independently produced, which allowed Lupino and ex-husband/producer Collier Young to work from a treatment by blacklisted writer Daniel Mainwaring, and tackle an incident that was too brutal for the major studios to even consider.

Before The Hitch-Hiker, we’ll be screening a special treat, also by Ida Lupino!