Two men on a fishing trip pick up a mass-murdering hitcher (Talman) and are forced at gunpoint to drive him through Mexico until the fatal moment when he no longer needs them. Absolutely assured in her creation of the bleak, noir atmosphere—whether in the claustrophobic confines of the car or lost in the arid expanses of the desert—Director Ida Lupino never relaxes the tension for one moment. Yet her emotional sensitivity is also upfront: charting the changes in the menaced men’s relationship as they bicker about how to deal with their captor, stressing that only through friendship can they survive. Taut, tough, and entirely without macho-glorification, it's a gem, with first-class performances from its three protagonists, deftly characterized without cliché. (Run time: 1 hour, 11 minutes)

Image: The Hitch-Hiker, Ida Lupino, 1953