Hitch-Hike

Pasquale Festa Campanile's squalid thriller is so insanely misogynistic it's offensive. Bickering couple Franco Nero and Corinne Cléry pick up hitchhiking bank robbery suspect David Hess out in the California desert. What ensues is a demented game of cat-and-mouse between Hess, some his cronies and the unlucky couple. Nero shouts a lot, Hess screams a lot and Cléry is relentlessly victimized, frequently stripped naked and beaten. Stupidly rules in this classless piece of junk that wastes a lot of talent and bores the viewer into a stupor. Ennio Morricone's Dylan-esque music score adds absolutely nothing. The film has been edited into various forms for viewing in different parts of the world, but it would be fine if all prints were in fact simply destroyed.

The simple, straightforward direction, the visually beautiful locations, the atmospheric score, and Franco Nero's great performance (I know David Hess has his fans also, but he really doesn't display much charisma in this role; imagine what a Henry Silva could have done with this!) are all positive qualities of the film. But the script is so nihilistic and cold-hearted that it's really hard to say you "liked" the film. The story becomes so labored, tries so hard to come to the most downbeat conclusion possible, that the film goes on at least 20 minutes too long. (**1/2)

HITCH-HIKE is a moralistic Italian crime thriller with a sleazy feel that comes from the presence in the cast of David Hess, playing up to his usual sadistic LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT persona. He plays a volatile hitch-hiker who is picked up by bickering couple Franco Nero and Corinne Clery and subsequently holds them hostage on a lengthy road trip. The film has much in common with Mario Bava's RABID DOGS but is nowhere near as good, because the story is quite depressing and the incidents depicted are more unpleasant than not. Thee's a great deal of beating and humiliation, with nudity and rape the order of the day here. Saying that, the direction is slick and there's plenty of suspense too, amid the broken characters and outbursts of sadism. I found the big twist ending to be somewhat predictable given the film's level of nihilism as a whole.