THE MAKING OF THE HITCH-HIKER, ILLUSTRATED (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-59393-759-1

The Hitch-Hiker is regarded as the first American mainstream film Noir directed by a woman.

This film parallels a manhunt, for spree killer William Cook, which occupied the Nation's headlines in 1950 with two men who set out on a vacation, wind up as hostages of the hitch-hiker murderer.

This is the 5th picture directed by Ida Lupino and establishes her as a truly competent director.

"To heighten the films suspense, I shot scenes in the claustrophobic confines of the car and to intensify the grit outside on hot, lost barren expanses of the desert."  - Ida Lupino

In 1998, The Hitch-Hiker was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

March 21, 2013 marked the 60th anniversary of the premiere of the original film.

"The movie is notable not only because it's a better-than-average Noir film but because it's one of the first films ever made in Hollywood that was quite clearly based on a killer whose crimes were still fresh in the minds of the film goers." - Allan Grant, Life magazine December 2012.