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Hitch-Hike (1977)

Dir: Pasquale Festa Campanile

Now here we have an amoral film to say the least!

The wonderful Franco Nero (with his great voice intact) and Corrine Clery play what has to be the most acid/bizarre couple (Eve and Walter Mancini) in the movies, they make the Roses (from "War of the Roses") look like a great advert for Marriage!

They are on a camping/road trip to try and repair their relationship, but to say it's not working is an understatement! From the opening shot we have Walter line up his Wife in the sight of his hunting rifle!
From then on their relationship goes down hill! They insult each other endlessly and Walter treats Eve like so much meat. He calls her a whore and even in public speaks filth about her, at a camp site he looks at the deer he has shot on the spit and says to the other people around that Eve is like the deer...because she would like the spit up her ass!
We have two scenes where the unwilling Eve has Walter jump on her and tear her clothes off and proceed to almost rape her. She always ends up letting him though and ends up enjoying it.
This attitude to Eve throughout the film is an epic example of misogyny, she is treated with complete disdain and as just a hole to screw whenever the men feel the need.

Into this hellish relationship comes Adam Konitz (David Hess in fine sleaze/psycho mode) an escaped mental patient and robber. They pick him up hitch hiking and within a few seconds Walter notices him eyeing up Eve and takes an instant dislike to him. This shows us just what a strange character Walter is. He treats Eve like shit, but is extremely possessive of her (this attitude is also held by Eve, despite everything she goes through when a drunk Walter trips over she rushes to his side!).
They hear about the robbery and that the men involved have got away on the radio.
Walter clicks it's Konitz and hits him. They pull over and get into a fight, but Konitz pulls a gun and suddenly the Mancini's are hostages and little do they know the other robbers on Konitz's trail as he has taken the $2 million they stole....

Based on a book called "The Violence & the Fury" by Peter Kane (screenplay by Aldo Crudo, Ottavio Jemma and Pasquale Festa Campanile who's also on Directing duties) this is a nasty, but highly involving little tale.
Hess has fun with his character and does a surprisingly good job in getting over Konitz's complicated psychosis. He goes from brutal thug, to cold killer to a whining child to pretty clever manipulator with ease and is a very scary character because of these mood swings.

Nero, who never fails to hold the viewers' attention, is marvelous as the complex mess that is Walter Mancini. Mancini is an unsuccessful writer and a heavy drinker and his bitterness creeps out over everything in his life. He seems incapable of being happy in anything.
He is just a big a thug in the end as Konitz, he just hides it behind artistic pretension and learning.
Carey's Eve is a pitiful figure, not in a physical sense as she acts hard and puts up with everything without breaking down, but in an emotional way. She seems to need Walter no matter what he does to her. She, in the literal sense, lies back and takes it. She also comes across as a very sexy women (Carey is very attractive) but this only adds to the uncomfortable feeling the viewer is given as she is used.
It comes as no surprise that Konitz ends up abusing her, and in a really exploitative scene he rubs his hand all over Eve's, flimsy panty clad, crotch, but the viewer becomes part of it because of how attractive Carey is.

Later on we have a very complex scene where Eve is stripped and made to lie down in front of a tied up Walter as Konitz paws at her and proceeds to rape her (a scene shot with a gentleness that makes the act even more disturbing). Normally this would be a simplistic sequence but here there is an added level. Eve is made to look at Walter as the rape occurs and suddenly she holds Konitz and starts to buck against him, closing her eyes and moaning with pleasure.
What the viewer is never sure of is, is it an act to placate Konitz, is it an act to hurt the jealous Walter, is she really enjoying it or has she simply, at last, taken control of her own body and will use the abuse for her own satisfaction (even if it's false, as it is still rape) and to, at least subconsciously, convince herself that she has not been used. Later she shall show power and takes matters in her own hands to deal with Konitz as Walter lies helpless. But this brief interlude is soon over and Walter soon restores his dominance over her.

The rape scene also brings us to Morricone's music. At first it seems out of place. It's a jangly banjo based score (pretty close to some of the more cheeky bits of the Dollars films) that seems too lighthearted, but it slowly creeps over you and you can't imagine the film working as well without it (although the song is perhaps a move too far) and in the rape scene it really comes into it's own as it gets more frantic and adds so much to the overall madness of the sequence.

The twists in the plot are many and satisfying and keep you guessing. Just when you think we have reached a possible conclusion to the film something else happens. The final twist is devastating in its cold bloodedness!!
Sure a certain justice is dealt out to certain parties involved but not to the extent that the viewer was expecting. The final image throws any morality the film may have had right out the window.

Overall a well acted and scripted Thriller that plays with your expectations and makes for a highly involving, if devilish, bit of controversial entertainment.