The Twilight Zone Vortex 2016 Halloween Countdown #7: "The Hitch-Hiker"

The Twilight Zone excelled in telling tales of terror, exploring the darkest aspects of human existence in myriad ways. To celebrate the Halloween season, we’re counting down the 31 most frightening and unsettling moments from The Twilight Zone, one for each day of October. We’ll be revisiting some of the episodes we’ve already covered and looking ahead to episodes from the final three seasons of the series. -JP

#7 - Going My Way? from “The Hitch-Hiker,” season one, episode 16

Written by Rod Serling (from the radio play by Lucille Fletcher), directed by Alvin Ganzer, starring Inger Stevens, Leonard Strong, Adam Williams

Rod Serling’s adaptation of Lucille Fletcher’s radio play is an engaging and atmospheric episode propelled by Inger Steven’s excellent performance as a woman on the run from a ghostly hitchhiker. Serling changed very little in his adaptation other than the gender of the protagonist. The role was originated on radio by Orson Welles and Serling chose to make the character a young woman whom he named after his daughter Anne (Nan was his daughter's nickname). The episode is cleverly structured, with the narrative leaving hints along the way as to Nan’s fate. Everything in the episode progresses in a manner reflecting Nan’s growing panic. The photography begins quite unobtrusively and slowly becomes more frantic with several subjective shots, giving the viewer a glimpse from Nan’s eyes. As the setting moves from day to night, so too does the increasing pitch of tension until Nan becomes completely unraveled. The episode is also surprising heavy on action, including a nerve-wracking scene in which Nan barely escapes an oncoming train when her car stalls on the railroad tracks. Another curious aspect of the story is the off-duty sailor to who hitches a ride with Nan. The traditional form of this story would follow the sailor and function on the twist ending that the sailor had hitched a ride with a ghost. Lucille Fletcher decided instead on following the ghost to see where he/she ended up. It is an interesting variation that gives the story more depth once the viewer has learned the ending. Leonard Strong gives a memorable performance as the ghostly hitchhiker refraining from any ghoulish action to instead remain a character whose intentions are shrouded in calm yet persistent behavior. The final sequence in which Nan calls home to discover the truth of her fate remains one of the most atmospherically staged and spooky moments from the series.

Trivia:

-Composer and frequent Twilight Zone contributor Bernard Herrmann was married to Lucille Fletcher at the time Fletcher wrote “The Hitch-Hiker.” Herrmann provided a memorable score for the radio play, portions of which were reused for the Twilight Zone adaptation.

           

-Alfred Hitchcock attempted to purchase the rights to adapt “The Hitch-Hiker” for his television series but Fletcher declined the offer. She later sold the rights to Rod Serling’s Cayuga Productions for the exact same amount previously offered by Hitchcock.

           

-Atlas Comics (now known as Marvel Comics) produced an unauthorized adaptation of Fletcher’s story for Marvel Tales #107 (June, 1952), titled “Going My Way?” In it, the character of the hitchhiker is portrayed as a grinning skeleton in a top hat, dispelling any mystery as to the ending of the story. The story was adapted by Stan Lee and illustrated by Bernard Krigstein.

Read our full coverage of “The Hitch-Hiker” here.