Hi-Jacked

An ex-con trucker works to clear himself from involvement with a gang of hi-jackers.

Can't expect much from a cheapo Lippert production, but this little programmer manages some interest. Davis does well as an ex-con truck driver. His skinny, towering frame and bushy hair have a different look from the usual Hollywood lead. The movie also benefits from highway filming along a major route into LA. Then too, I expect there's some insight into hi-jacking operations of the time since that angle appears pretty realistic.

But why-oh-why does Lippert insist on putting pint-sized Sid Melton in so many of their productions. Here, his silly phony tough guy does nothing but detract from what's otherwise a sober crime drama. Not so, the one-and-only Iris Adrian as a hash house waitress. Too bad Lippert didn't realize she furnishes enough expert comedy relief without the clumsy Melton. Also, look for Paul Cavanaugh (Hagen) whose polished bad guys graced many superior productions of the 30's and 40's.

Nothing special here. Just one of those minor programmers that would soon get absorbed into half-hour TV, in this case, into Highway Patrol (1955-1959).

In France you had Gilles Grangier's GAS OIL, where a truck driver was involved with gangsters. So this one offers nothing new, everything is predictable but fun, agreeable with a Jim Davis in rather good shape and convincing in this role. Sam Newfield shows his medium quality stuff; he made better but also worse. Plus, the scheme of a man accused of a crime or offense which he did not commit and then tries to prove his innocence, this scheme is so boring to me, because the result is always the same in the end. So, I watched this one like a cow watching a train go by. It is short so I had no excuse not to try it.

Jim Davis is an ex-con, pushing a truck, paying back the money he stole, and trying to get on the right side of estranged wife Marcia Mae Jones. But there are the truck hijackers always on the prod. The unnamed narrator (sounding like William Conrad) who informs us that because them everything we buy costs forty million dollars more. That's a lot for a pack of cigarettes.

It's a Lippert release, which means it's unlikely to be great. The script is by Orville Hampton and Fred Myton, also an indicator of low quality. Finally, it's produced by Sigmund Neufield and directed by Sam Newfield. . With my expectations suitably lowered, I found it an OK time-waster, as Davis serves as the framed patsy for his boss telling the bad guys what trucks to hit for a piece of the action, and Sid Melton doing his frantic comic relief. The cast, as is typical for a Lippert picture, is a good one, with capable performers who have passed their best earning years, like Iris Adrian, House Peters Jr, and Ralph Sanford. It won't win any awards, but it will kill a dull Sunday afternoon.

"Joe" (Jim Davis) is a trucker who falls foul of hijackers for a second time, arousing the suspicions of the police who discover that he has a record. Things only get more complicated when he is discovered transporting contraband. "Joe" quickly realises that he is being set up, but can he find out by whom before the cops conclude that he belongs back behind bars? It's quite a well paced little action thriller, this, that is just sadly let down by some really mediocre acting and loads too much dialogue. The usually reliable Paul Cavanagh isn't given enough to do and the really unremarkable Marcia Mae Jones ("Jean") way too much as we head to a predictable, but quite exciting, conclusion. Sam Newfield does a competent job directing this tale of roadway piracy that has a message for all potential customers about the extent of this real crime on America's roads in the 1940s!

Jim Davis later patriarch of the Ewing family of Dallas stars as a paroled ex-convict who is working as a truck driver. He gets himself hi-jacked a couple of times and his job and the authorities start suspecting him of being an inside man. The guy who's really doing the tipping decides with the fence for the stolen merchandise to sweeten the suspicious pot by planting evidence to incriminate him. Though carrying a weapon is an automatic trip back to the joint, as Davis points out, he has to stay free to clear himself. Especially after the evidence implicates his completely innocent wife Marcia Mae Jones and she's arrested when the police miss him.

The film reminds of a much superior noir classic Kansas City Confidential where John Payne finds himself in a similar jackpot. Not that this is a bad film, but its from the poverty row Lippert Pictures studio and has the shallow production values of its origins.

Davis does well as a guy looking to take care of business and the crooks who have done him wrong. The gang is headed by fence Paul Cavanaugh who advises and doesn't control. The muscle is done by David Bruce and he has a rough bunch with him including a wannabe in Sid Melton. Melton was in a whole lot of Lippert productions providing much needed comedy relief. And Iris Adrian as a wisecracking waitress is also in the cast and every film that she graces is that much better for her presence.

Hi-Jacked is a good product, very good considering the cheapness of its origins.