Photo Essay

Fighting like a tiger, Anne Baxter confronts renegade Gregory Peck determining “rules” as they get squinted in this scene from 1948’s Yellow Sky. This is considered one of the great westerns fi lmed in the Alabama Hills.

Anne Baxter and Gregory Peck, allies b now in the fi lm Yellow Sky, as they battle Peck’s gang in the Alabama Hills.

Richard Boone, with guest star Charles Bronson, wander through the Alabama Hills in this 1957 episode of Have Gun - Will Travel, Titled “The Outlaw.” Bronson escapes jail, bonds with Paladin and they journey to see his new born on. A tour of fi lming locations, for this television episode is offered at this year’s Film Festival.

Charles Bronson and Richard Boone check to see if the Sheriff’s posse is ahead of them, as they arrive at their journey’s destination. They are at Bronson’s home where he will see his wife and newborn son for the fi rst time.

With the help of a rope, Richard Boone is able to climb out of a pit. Down time for actors Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy, prisoners of Talman, in this scene from The Hitch-Hiker, directed by actor Ida Lupino, one of the rare female directors in the 1950’s USA. Stepping into position, O’Brien -in the distance- is about to become a human target. Sociopath William Talman, having some crazy fun, forces Lovejoy (left) to shoot a can from O’Brien’s hand.

Beautiful profi le of Alabama Hills rock formation, located in the north end of Cattle Pocket. A unique fi lming location appearing in multiple scenes of The Hitch-Hiker. The Hitch-Hiker tour, at this year’s Lone Pine Film Festival will journey to fi lming locations this 1953 fi lm.

The present day bridge, on Lone Pine Narrow Gauge Road, that helps cross the meandering Owen’s river doesn’t look the same. The Hitch-Hiker cast would have a diffi cult time walking a trail beneath the present bridge structure.

By Christopher Langley Eastern California Film Historian

With more than 00 fi lms made in and around Lone Pine, alifornia to choose from, you are bound to have a few favorites. For me, one of those is The HitchHiker 1 starring Frank Love oy, dmund ’ rien, and William Talman and directed by possibly the most prolifi c female director in the 1 0s da Lupino, whose career through the postwar period and beyond bordered on miraculous. know itch iker is considered a classic fi lm noir, but that style as fi lm noir have always associated with dark nights, shadowy fi gures, mysterious alley ways, criminals, and the city in a kind of e pressionistic, distortionary style for the viewing audience.

The fi lm content is one of enveloping pessimism, cynicism, disillusionment, and paranoia. This might seem surprising because the nited States had basically won WW2, the economy was beginning to strengthen in peace time, and the way ahead should have seemed rosy. ut materialism, changing roles within the family, that feeling of alienation, fatalism, and particularly moral ambiguity, social boredom, and ennui permeated the plot. n our culture today, we have grown almost callous to the slaughter of families by a serial killer. So many movies have been made on the sub ect in the last ten years that such plots seem only appropriate for direct to video, low budget fi lms. ut it was not that way in 1 1. illy ook kidnapped two hunters and held them captive for eight days in a a, e ico. efore that, he had murdered fi ve members of a family, including three children. e had killed a traveling salesman as well. ll this earned him three hundred years in lcatraz. da Lupino, the only female director of any signifi cance working in the 0’s, decided she wanted to make a fi lm based on ook’s life. ut in the 1 0’s the Production ode forbade the depiction of notorious living criminals. da Lupino was not one to be easily dissuaded, and once having gotten both the kidnapped hunters’ permission, and even illy ook’s rights to do the fi lm, she continued to work on the pro ect. The Hitch-Hiker, made in Lone Pine’s labamas, went on to become known as her best fi lm as a director, and certainly one of Lone Pine’s more interesting non westerns r is it a noir western . ut the road to that success was challenging for da Lupino who had already achieved fame in another Lone Pine fi lm ten years earlier. da, born in London on February , 1 18, came from a show business family in ngland. She was a teenager when she broke in to show business. She came to the States to play lice, of’ lice in Wonderland before the cameras. The producers realized she was too mature for the role, and they recreated her as a platinum blonde like Jean arlow. da was never happy with the parts she was given, even though she e perienced a lot of popularity with fi lm fans.

When she was cast in igh Sierra, it was her big break. t that point umphrey ogart was a lesser known actor than she. t was while she was working in Lone Pine, and the mountains leading up to t. Whitney that she fi rst became familiar with the local locations. t is one of the advantages of fi lming here that depending on the time of day, time of year, the camera angle, the lighting, and staging that the same location could be used in so many ways, without the audience any wiser. da was one woman in a fi eld dominated by men. She was, as an artist, one creative person who wanted to make topics ollywood wouldn’t touch. She told directors on set that she wanted to learn technical aspects. ut da herself stressed that these styles of famous male directors did not in uence her styles as demonstrated in fi lms she directed.

The Filmmaker fi lms directed by Lupino had a focus in environment. They went out and fi lmed on the actual locations whenever possible. This gave the fi lms a sense of reality and documentary. n The Hitch-Hiker there are no signifi cant female characters present. The focus now is on three men: kidnapper, serial killer mmet yers and his two latest victims.

The critics note that this fi lm is almost entirely set in the compact desert area of the labama ills, standing in primarily for e ico. y the way, Lupino treats the e ican actors not stereotypically as was common. They seem to be real people, and when they speak in Spanish, no subtitles are off ered, emphasizing a sense of authenticity. ll the fi lms Lupino directed for The Filmakers grew out of her and ollier oung’s desire to make independent fi lms about ordinary people traumatized in the postwar social environments, fi lms that had social signifi cance and yet were entertaining. er interest had been captured by the story of the serial kidnapper William illy ook, whose vicious, senseless murders dominated the news when Lupino had gone to Palm Springs to receive an award. She met with Forrest amron, one of the characters kidnapped. any changes lay ahead dictated by the censors so Lupino could make the fi lm. She had confronted the Production ode already in the making of Not Wanted, and now the code dictated no fi lms made about real killers.

Lupino couldn’t approach the censors like a male director would have. nstead she had to butter them up. She had at fi rst been more interested in script writing, rather than directing, but now she was totally engaged in this pro ect from all sides. Lupino was successful in her strategy and got reen from the P on her side by the end of the negotiations. ut she had to get permission from the real itch iker killer to use his story. Lupino tells her story of meeting this demented psychopath. wanted to see illy and tell him was making a fi lm about

The Hitch-Hiker Director, Ida Lupino.

him…I entered San Quentin under strict security. I was allowed to see Billy Cook brie y for safety issues. found San uentin to be cold, dark and a very scary place inside.” needed a release from illy ook to do our fi lm about him. er company paid his attorney 000 for e clusive rights. found illy to be cold and aloof. was afraid of him. illy ook had ard Luck’ tattooed on the fi ngers of his left hand and a deformed right eyelid that would never close completely. could not wait to get the hell out of San uentin. illy ook was e ecuted on ecember 12, 1 2, before the fi lm was fi nished and released. The movie premiered in Boston on arch 20, 1 after the real murderer had been e ecuted.

William Talman, even after the reduction of the number killed by the real hitch hike killer, and other changes in the story was able to fully capture ook in his portrayal of the character and mannerisms of the real killer in Emmett Myers.

The script was challenged angrily at fi rst by the censors. Lupino had already dealt with them over a previous fi lm so she knew how to get around them. eoff rey Shurlock of the P wrote to her, that any such attempt to glorify this wholesale murderer could not receive Code approval.” Ida and ollier defended their script, using the e ample of their previous fi lms and their reputation as proof. ook would be a symbol of evil—an enemy of society. We at no time apologize for ook’s conduct, nor do we attempt at any point to glorify his criminal activity. The obvious reasons for portraying living people on the screen is that we specialize in the documentary fi lm and have found when dealing in facts we can produce pictures of greater import and impact.”

Lupino was determined to make the picture as accurate as possible to the terrible facts of the story but also get it distributed. The P o cials recognized this artist’s determination and the picture upon release that the compromises forced on Lupino in no way diluted the story. The facts and the impact of The Hitch-Hiker killer’s persona, grievous acts, and the fears of a postwar nation remain.

The Hitch-Hiker was fi lmed almost entirely in the labama ills and in ig Pine. Locations were used creatively, and they appear diff erent because the angles, lighting, and e posure she employed made them

The Hitch-Hiker: dmund ’ rien Roy ollins , Frank Love oy il owen and William Talman mmett yers

appear uite diff erent. any location scouts, directors and art directors have commented on the diversity of the locations.

The story focuses on the three characters: The Hitch-Hiker serial killer, and his two victims. The fi lm begins with a few victims, suggested by the director of photographer rather than rubbing the audience’s nose in blood and gore. This of course only makes these scenes that much more eff ective and stimulating to the viewer’s imagination and fear.

The two fi shermen are played by dmund ’ rien Roy ollins and Frank Love oy il owen . We learn much about them as the fi lm unspools. fter all they are trapped in a car with a psychopath, gun in hand in the back seat. Myers does not hesitate to threaten them. It seems likely at some point

he will take advantage the gun gives him; he mocks the two men that they are nothing without guns. While Lovejoy is the more serious, stable character, O’Brien is slowly unraveling during the ordeal. Ironically, he is becoming more and more like Myers. t is di cult to understand Love oy and O’Brien as friends as they are not only different emotionally, they also come from two different economic classes. They have not spoken of such but Myers mocks them about this difference. So much so is ’ rien becoming like Talman, near the end of the film they switch clothes under the bridge.

Theoretically yers hopes the e ican police will mistake who’s who but the director is indicating what we have already noticed that Roy Collins is becoming more and more like Emmett Myers.

oth fishermen are at least trying to get away from homes and wives for a little down time. Roy has no kids and seems more desperate to get away from his responsibilities than il. This serves Lupino’s purposes about social pressures and family con icts after World War 2 in our country. In the end Myers is more interested in playing games with these two fellows than just shooting them. He begins to get to know them, feels superior to them, and curious about their lives, at least for a psychopath with a lot of sociopathic characteristics.

With the wide-open spaces in the Alabama’s and the rocks pushing people together fostering violence and half the film taking place in the tight confines of the car, the physical contrast emphasizes the psychological and social situation around them. These three are literally and figuratively trapped. Trapped is another of the attributes critics, psychologists, and sociologists have identified in the postwar culture and society of America.

There are many reasons that urge you seek out The Hitch-Hiker for viewing. t is well made, it is classic film noir, you probably haven’t seen it, it was made by the only important female director working in the 1950s. If nothing else it is a modern, suspense filled, and entertaining film based on a story “ripped from the headlines”.

Warning: for a while the lm was in public domain and there are some poor- uality versions, so be sure to get the Kino Lorber blue-ray version, a fabulous transfer. ou won’t regret it.