The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

William Talman ("Myers") is great in this thriller that follows the tortuous journey of two fishermen who stopped to pick up a traveller and discover they are now in the hands of a gun-toting psychopath. Determined to escape the pursuing authorities, he forces them to drive, then walk, through largely desert terrain heading for a port and his escape. To make matters worse, he has already informed them that when he gets there - he is going to kill them!. Ida Lupino directed this quite spooky drama with some skill and Edmond O'Brien and Frank Bowen play well together as the captives in what is essentially a taut three-hander. It does push the bounds of plausibility at times, though - there are opportunities to overwhelm their antagonist and after a while those begin to undermine the threat; you do begin to believe that good will out and so the tension starts to diminish quite quickly... It's a very darkly filmed, moody piece of cinema that is rarely seen nowadays and is still well worth catching up with almost 70 years on.