The Hitch-Hiker (The Twilight Zone)
| "The Hitch-Hiker" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
Inger Stevens in a scene from the episode
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 16 |
| Directed by | Alvin Ganzer |
| Written by |
Teleplay by Rod Serling Based on radio play by Lucille Fletcher |
| Featured music | Stock, featuring Bernard Herrmann's score for the original radio version of "The Hitch-Hiker" |
| Production code | 173-3612 |
| Original air date | January 22, 1960 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
"The Hitch-Hiker" is episode sixteen of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on January 22, 1960 on CBS. It is based on Lucille Fletcher's The Hitch-Hiker.
It is considered by some to be among the series' greatest episodes.
27 year old Nan Adams, on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Los Angeles, gets a flat tire on U.S. Route 11 in Pennsylvania and has an accident. A mechanic puts a spare tire on her car, comments that he's surprised she survived the accident, saying "you shouldn't've called for a mechanic, somebody shoulda called for a hearse" and directs her to the nearest town to fix it properly. Just before she leaves, Nan notices a shabby and strange-looking man hitchhiking, but the mechanic doesn't see him when she mentions it. Unnerved, she drives away. As she continues her trip, Nan sees the same hitchhiker thumbing for a ride again in Virginia at several other points on her journey. She becomes increasingly frightened of him. When she sees him on the other side of a railroad crossing, she tries to drive away but becomes stuck on the tracks and nearly hit by a train. She becomes convinced that the hitchhiker is trying to kill her. She continues to drive, becoming more and more afraid, stopping only when necessary, but every time she does, the same hitchhiker is there.
She takes a side road in New Mexico, but ends up stranded when she runs out of gas. Upon reaching a gas station on foot, she is refused service as it is after hours. She's startled by a sailor on his way back to San Diego from leave. Eager for protection from the hitchhiker, she offers to drive the sailor to San Diego. The sailor convinces the gas station attendant to provide gas. As they drive together, discussing their mutual predicaments, she sees the hitchhiker on the road and swerves towards him. The sailor, who can't see him, questions her driving, and she admits she was trying to run over the hitchhiker. The sailor begins to fear for her sanity and leaves her.
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Wikipedia