The Hitch-Hiker

Episode aired Jan 22, 1960
TV-PGTV-PG
25m

IMDb RATING

8.3/10

4.4K

YOUR RATING

S1.E16

All episodes

All

Inger Stevens in The Twilight Zone (1959)

Drama

Fantasy

Horror

A young woman driving cross-country becomes frantic when she keeps passing the same man on the side of the road. No matter how fast she drives, the man is always up ahead, hitching her for a... Read allA young woman driving cross-country becomes frantic when she keeps passing the same man on the side of the road. No matter how fast she drives, the man is always up ahead, hitching her for a ride.A young woman driving cross-country becomes frantic when she keeps passing the same man on the side of the road. No matter how fast she drives, the man is always up ahead, hitching her for a ride.

IMDb RATING

8.3/10

4.4K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Alvin Ganzer
Writers
- Rod Serling(teleplay by)
- Lucille Fletcher(based on the radio play by)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Photos17

Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong in The Twilight Zone (1959)

Leonard Strong in The Twilight Zone (1959)

George Mitchell and Inger Stevens in The Twilight Zone (1959)

Inger Stevens and Adam Williams in The Twilight Zone (1959)

George Mitchell in The Twilight Zone (1959)

Top cast

Edit

Director
- Alvin Ganzer
Writers
- Rod Serling(teleplay by)
- Lucille Fletcher(based on the radio play by)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

Storyline

Edit

Nan Adams is driving across country from Manhattan to Los Angeles. Apart from a blown tire, the trip has been more or less uneventful. That is until she begins to see the same man, over and over again, hitchhiking along the highway. No matter how far she goes or how far she drives, the hitchhiker always seems to be ahead of her. She also seems to be the only person who can see him. When Nan decides to call home, all is revealed.

driving

hitchhiker

sailor

road trip

desert

11 more

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
In the original story, the character of Nan was a male, Ronald. Rod Serling believed that a female in the situation would be reacted to with more feeling by audiences. She was named after one of his daughters.

Goofs
When Nan is getting her tire changed the voice-over says she's in Pennsylvania. Yet we see that she's on a road with desert alongside.

Quotes
Rod Serling - Narrator: [Closing Narration] Nan Adams, age twenty-seven. She was driving to California; to Los Angeles. She didn't make it. There was a detour... through the Twilight Zone.

Connections
Featured in American Masters: Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval (1995)

Soundtracks
Twilight Zone Theme
(theme song)
Composed by Bernard Herrmann
(season 1)

User reviews26

Review

Top review

10/10

The Road Of Life

Inger Stevens plays a beautiful young woman named Nan Adams who is traveling by car from New York to Los Angeles when she has a blowout in Pennsylvania. After the car is repaired, Nan starts seeing a mysterious little hitchhiker who is always waiting on the road in front of her, no matter how many miles she travels. Nan becomes increasingly frightened by this, and has a difficult time getting anyone to believe her story, and her sanity. Nan will later come to realize the truth of things after she makes a fateful phone call home to her mother... Classic episode is a perfectly realized ghost story, with a spooky atmosphere and fine acting, made even more poignant by the tragic real-life fate of Inger Stevens.

helpful•12