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Feb 16, 2016 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

Pasquale Festa Campanile’s Hitch-Hike is a dirty, dirty film. The 1977 exploitation movie features dirty characters in dirty scenarios, and ends with a dirty twist that will leave a foul taste in your mouth—it’s the sort of movie that fans of ‘70s Euro sleaze just shouldn’t miss.

Franco Nero and Moonraker’s Corinne Clery star as Walter and Eve, a couple whose marriage is on the outs—Walter’s mean streak and crippling alcoholism being the main culprits to their relationship’s collapse. They’re traveling home from a camping trip with their R.V. in tow when they pick up Adam (Last House on the Left’s David Hess), a hitchhiker who they come to learn is a fugitive suspect in a violent bank robbery. With $2 million dollars in a briefcase and a gun pointed to their backs, he forces them to drive him toward the Mexican border.

The setup—a good deed gone horribly wrong—isn’t the most unique premise, but the movie takes a few unexpected left turns that keep things tense and unpredictable through its whole course. Nero’s typical alpha male ego is turned on its head here as he’s disempowered by a man with a gun; he becomes a powder keg waiting to go off, and it’s one of the more nuanced roles he’s been asked to take on. Hess makes the skin crawl time and again with his performance. Visceral direction and a good score by the legendary Ennio Morricone help this film into its cult status.

Raro’s newly restored Blu-ray looks great, with only the occasional shots suffering from strong grain. (Given the nature of the film, we have to imagine this is as good as it will look.) The disc includes a 26-minute documentary which includes new, retrospective interviews with Nero, Clery, Hess, and the film’s assistant director. This underseen thriller is recommended to exploitation fans—be warned, though, that some of the content will be very hard to watch.

rarovideousa.com

Author rating: 7/10