"I believe you're going
my way."
One of the greatest episodes in the history of Twilight Zone how many times have I watched it? Countless times. Here I am once again, watching "The Hitch-Hiker", a haunting parable about the need to escape death and not being able to do so. It is amazing how this episode is able to make such a pitiful little man, looking worse-for-wear, into such a frightening figure. I just love how he is shot, the inventive ways the director has him appear, from different angles of the camera, from a distance, in close-up, always popping up, Inger Stevens, wrapped in a constant panicky state of terror, not knowing his purpose, but understanding that she must keep away from him, evasion seemingly impossible. I always think of Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls when watching this Twilight Zone episode as in that movie a haunted female character, trying to exist in a world no longer her own, interacting with living beings (we think, but perhaps not), yet somehow despite seeming alive she doesn't quite belong, but not quite aware that death beckons her. I think it is inevitable that Inger's own tragic demise, a suicide ending her life far too soon, hangs over the whole affair, giving the eeriness of it all an extra bit of power. While on her cross-country journey, Inger drives a bit too fast, blowing out her tire on a stretch of road in Pennsylvania, continuing on despite her constant colleague, the hitcher, always rearing his face to terrify her. Eating and driving, meeting a crusty old buzzard who won't give her gas because she got him out of bed late, a rather shifty sailor heading back to a San Diego port with obvious designs on her a bit too creeped out by her to stay in the car after numerous attempts to ram a hitcher he doesn't see, and an attempt to pass across tracks as an oncoming train makes its way towards her as the car stalls all occur during this journey only leading Ms Stevens into the Twilight Zone.
Leonard Strong isn't an imposing man and probably wouldn't make you blink twice at him while walking across a street, but in this presentation of The Twilight Zone, he couldn't be scarier. It is what he represents, I think, that casts a sinister spell. The voice-over narration might have been a bit much typically, but for some reason it just works in this instance, her tormented thoughts provided for us, how she feels as the hitcher continues to "harass" her. I think one last thing that this episode does effectively is establish the unpredictability of the open road and what could lie in wait for anyone who attempts to drive it alone.
One of the greatest episodes in the history of Twilight Zone how many times have I watched it? Countless times. Here I am once again, watching "The Hitch-Hiker", a haunting parable about the need to escape death and not being able to do so. It is amazing how this episode is able to make such a pitiful little man, looking worse-for-wear, into such a frightening figure. I just love how he is shot, the inventive ways the director has him appear, from different angles of the camera, from a distance, in close-up, always popping up, Inger Stevens, wrapped in a constant panicky state of terror, not knowing his purpose, but understanding that she must keep away from him, evasion seemingly impossible. I always think of Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls when watching this Twilight Zone episode as in that movie a haunted female character, trying to exist in a world no longer her own, interacting with living beings (we think, but perhaps not), yet somehow despite seeming alive she doesn't quite belong, but not quite aware that death beckons her. I think it is inevitable that Inger's own tragic demise, a suicide ending her life far too soon, hangs over the whole affair, giving the eeriness of it all an extra bit of power. While on her cross-country journey, Inger drives a bit too fast, blowing out her tire on a stretch of road in Pennsylvania, continuing on despite her constant colleague, the hitcher, always rearing his face to terrify her. Eating and driving, meeting a crusty old buzzard who won't give her gas because she got him out of bed late, a rather shifty sailor heading back to a San Diego port with obvious designs on her a bit too creeped out by her to stay in the car after numerous attempts to ram a hitcher he doesn't see, and an attempt to pass across tracks as an oncoming train makes its way towards her as the car stalls all occur during this journey only leading Ms Stevens into the Twilight Zone.
Leonard Strong isn't an imposing man and probably wouldn't make you blink twice at him while walking across a street, but in this presentation of The Twilight Zone, he couldn't be scarier. It is what he represents, I think, that casts a sinister spell. The voice-over narration might have been a bit much typically, but for some reason it just works in this instance, her tormented thoughts provided for us, how she feels as the hitcher continues to "harass" her. I think one last thing that this episode does effectively is establish the unpredictability of the open road and what could lie in wait for anyone who attempts to drive it alone.