I think I put this one in my queue because it was directed by Ida Lupino. Ms. Lupino was a Hollywood trailblazer. She was a B-movie star, usually playing the hard-boiled dame on the run from the law with her man. But she was also a director. If you realize that only one female has won the Best Director Oscar (Kathryn Bigelow for the Hurt Locker) it gives a picture of how the directing biz is a man's game. Ida also wrote movies, plus wrote and directed for TV.
This plot is simple: two men meet up with a murderous hitch-hiker, who kidnaps them to drive him far down into Mexico. The men know the hitch-hiker plans to kill them, and all three are listening on the car radio to the progress of the police search for the hitch hiker. The men know that if the police get too close, they will be shot.
Most of the action takes place in a car, with some activity on the roadside, or various pit stops. This is hard for a director to keep interesting, but Ida did a good job.
Best surprise? The evil hitch-hiker was played by William Talmam, otherwise known as Hamilton Burger from Perry Mason! He's an awesome bad guy.
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