Hitch-Hike

With all the crap movies we in the US suffered through in the 1970's both domestic and foreign, it's amazing that this little gem never got widely released. This movie is part film noir, part existential road movie, and part Italian giallo. It's very suspenseful and contains many strong scenes of realistic violence (and sexual violence), but never veers into the realm of total tastelessness like much of the 70's drive-in fare (especially the Italian-made stuff). The score from Ennio Morricone is great. The three leads are phenomenal. Franco Nero is so charismatic you forget what a bastard he is. Not surprisingly (considering it's an Italian exploitation movie), Bond girl Corrine Clery spends half the film at least partially naked, but what is surprising is that she would have been excellent regardless. And David Hess is better than he was in Last House on the Left. The British DVD contains a superb documentary which interviews the three stars, and it's downright surreal seeing a middle-aged, mild-mannered David Hess. He played a sick creep so well in this and other 70's movies, I had just assumed he was one in real life. The most amazing thing about this movie though was that it was shot in Italy. The filmmakers did such a good job capturing the look of 1970's Northern California and Nevada that I was having flashbacks of childhood road trips with my parents. And what an ending! They just don't make 'em like this anymore. Highly recommended.