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http://imdb.com/title/tt0077188/Franco Nero (Enter The Ninja) and Corrine Clery (Moonraker) play Walter & Eve Mancini, an eternally bickering married European couple taking a road trip across the United States. Along the way they stop to see the sights, pound booze, and hate fuck each other inside their camper. Their dysfunctional relationship is put to the ultimate test when they pick up a hitch hiker named Adam (David Hess).
Adam quickly reveals himself to be a pervert, asking Eve if she wants to suck his cock. After Walter pulls the car over to kick his ass, Adam pulls a gun and also reveals himself to be a bank robber on the run. Adam forces the couple to drive him to safety before his double crossed accomplices can catch up to him and the suitcase full of cash. Along the way Walter and Eve try to tip off the police but Adam proves to be a good shot and doesn’t hesitate to blow a large hole in the cop’s head! (great gore effect!) Adam also survives an insane bulldozer showdown with his former partners in crime.
Night falls, and after setting up camp Adam ties up Walter and finally has his way with Eve. Things get extra nasty as Eve seems to get off on it, much to Walter’s disgust. Adam tells Walter “All you have to do is know to touch her…” and seems to be right. Then everyone sits around the camp fire for a while and talks shit to each other. A double cross, and then a triple cross ensue and only one person walks away from a spectacular car crash with the money and their lives.
This is the second film where David Hess would star and command the screen as a violent sexual deviant. “Hitch Hike” is a fantastic little road thriller that was expertly directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile. This film is beautifully shot and tightly edited. David Hess has called this “the most psychological of the three films” and I would have to agree. This isn’t as much exploitation as it is a thriller. There is a lot of dialogue involving relationships between men and women, as well as homosexuality included that is more intelligent than you might expect from a flick like this. The twists and turns along the way will keep you riveted throughout. This flick also has one my favorite endings in genre history.
This is easily the most underrated entry of the “David Hess trilogy”. My pal the “Horror Geek” Mike Bracken calls this flick “a lost classic” and I have to agree. Anchor Bay released this on dvd a while ago and it should be easy enough to find. Fans of Franco Nero and David Hess should consider this flick mandatory viewing.
