I abide by a simple rule when driving: never pick up a hitch-hiker, especially if he looks like David Hess. Bickering married couple Walter and Eve Mancini (Franco Nero and Corinne Cléry) do just that whilst driving cross country, quickly coming to regret offering stranded driver Adam Konitz (Hess) a lift when they discover that their passenger is in fact an escaped lunatic and armed robber who is on the run with $2m in his suitcase.While Hess is no doubt the most loathesome character in the car, the depraved killer quickly showing his true colours, Walter and Eve are no angels either: Walter is an egostistical, drunken, misogynistic, failed reporter living off his wife's money, while Eve is something of a spoiled ***** (although Corinne Cléry's stunning beauty cuts her a lot of slack in my eyes). As the film develops, the plot takes more twists and turns than the desert backroad travelled by the trio, leading to a most unexpected conclusion. The fun is in being along for the ride, not knowing where the film will take you.At 104 minutes, Hitch-hike is possibly a little too long, heavy on dialogue that might have benefitted from some judicious trimming, but director Pasquale Festa Campanile doesn't allow the pace to drop too much, delivering enough exploitative content at regular intervals to keep fans of '70s sleaze more than happy. Those wanting to see Hess in ultra-violent/sleazy mode will delight as he blows away two motorcycle cops (one taking a bullet to the head with bloody results), sends his gay partners-in-crime to a fiery death, and forces himself on Eve in front of a helpless Walter. And those looking for gratuitous nudity will be pleased to learn that Cléry is no shrinking violet.A memorable score from Ennio Morricone accompanies the uncompromising action, with a happy-clappy hippy singalong song contrasting the sex and violence.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Walter Mancini (Franco Nero) and his wife Eve (Corinne Cléry) pick up a young man with a suitcase full of stolen money, Adam (David Hess). He forces them to take him to the border, while he takes a personal pleasure in tormenting the couple. They are trying to find a way to strike back...I watched this movie twice before, but that was a long time ago, possibly around 1990 and again around 2000, but when I watched it for the third time on Blu-ray in 2016, I was surprised how many little details I still remembered, even words of the dialog. 'Hitch-Hike' has got a strange, memorable intensity. Really none of the characters is sympathetic, everybody looks for his own advantage and doesn't mind whether it requires murder or treachery. A truly nihilistic sleaze movie, probably quite shocking for some audiences in its complete absence of morality. Franco Nero does not play a hero - his character Mancini takes as much pleasure in humiliating his wife as the criminal does. 'Hitch-Hike', it must be said, provides a great opportunity for David Hess to play a raging lunatic, who enjoys telling his life-story, pleased with himself to a ridiculous degree. Last not least, a good soundtrack is provided by Ennio Morricone.

No, they don't do movies like this anymore. A tough one about self-hatred, mayhem and self- destruction: Franco Nero as a down-&-out reporter, Corinne Clery as his sexy, completely hollow spouse, plus David Hess doing his usual good- humored-and-mean-as-hell thing. "Autostop Rosso Sangue" is sleazy, sexist, ultra-violent, but not without some unforgettable moments: The naked Clery in front of a trailer holding a huge rifle in the middle of the night is like a hastily written, edgy but brilliant poem found in a tattered paperback left in a cheap motel. For a few short hours in his life, Pasquale Festa Campanile, creator of some of the worst Euro comedies ever, turned into a poète maudit of the most cynical kind. This is the kind of grindhouse cinema nobody can embrace with seventies nostalgia: mature, brutal, knowing, never "cool", always cold, gripping and utterly nihilistic. Anything else you would ask for?

I saw this on the shelves of a local record store today and noticed the Blue Underground logo so I picked it up. Upon further inspection, meaning I just read the box, I noticed that David Hess was the star so I just had to give it a shot. It was a very enjoyable movie that deserves to be recognized much more than it has. I had never even heard of it before today and it was so good that I wish I had so I could have enjoyed it sooner.David Hess is one of the kings of exploitation and he rules in this film as the hitchhiker that destroys a bickering couple's trip. The other actors weren't bad either. The story is great and even better than most exploitation films because it's very well thought out and has a lot of clever plot twists that you will never see coming. It also has great blood and gore. You won't want to miss it.Check this one out if you can find it. If you can't find it, sucks to be you!