Hit and Run (1957) User Reviews

Lust In The Dust

[boblipton · 6/10 · 4 September 2022]

Writer-producer-director-star Hugo Haas offers his take on THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, with psychotic Vince Edwards driven mad with lust for Haas' new wife, Cleo Moore. Haas is no dummy, and he has his own twist in store for them. In many ways, his work reminds me of the sort of paperback original novels of the era, with people murdering each other for sex at least as much for money. Whether this was an outgrown of film noir or a source of the film genre is hard to say. Possibly each egged the other on.

If you're looking for high cinematic art, this is not a movie for you. Haas paid for his own productions and then sold the finished project to a distributor, so it came out pretty much as he wanted within the limits of what he could afford. Still he knew what his audience wanted, like turbo-charged lion tamer Dolores Reed, who suggests to Edwards that he join her act.

Why would I kill her! I wasn't in love with her!

[kapelusznik18 · 7/10 · 21 June 2015]

****SPOILERS**** The usually ending up with the short end of the stick Hugo Haas ends up on top here for once. Haas plays a duel role as twin brothers Gus & David Hilmer who ends up confusing his wife Julie, Cleo Moore, and her boyfriend Gus's ace car mechanic Frank played by a pre Ben Casey Vince Edwards to which of the two twin brothers he is and which one they ended up murdering! The confusion sets in when Gus is run down and killed by Frank with a terrified, in not knowing what her boyfriend was up to, Cleo in the passenger seat.

With Cleo expected to end up with Gus's gas station as well as house and some $50,000.00 in cash up pops his twin brother David looking for a piece of the action or of Gus' estate! Gus who treated his brother David like dirt when he was behind bars in the joint-San Quentin- for forgery had a change of mind when David was released from prison and sought out his help. Sadly for David Gus, before he could thank him, was killed in a hit & run by Frank whom just the day before he put David into his will! When David showed up at the lawyers office his resemblance, even though he was Gus' twin, to his dead brother was astonishing! To the point that he not only looked like a carbon copy of his dead brother Gus but has all of his quirky mannerisms as well! It slowly became obvious to Cleo that it was David that her boyfriend Frank ran down and that her husband Gus took over his identity! With David messing up Frank's plans he now decides to leave Cleo for circus lion tamer Miranda, Dolores Reed, who developed a crush on him and checks out with her to Mexico. That's as far away from the very unstable Cleo who's about to crack under the pressure and spill the beans, in him killing her husband, on him to the police!

****SPOILERS**** Never a dull moment her with director and star Hugo Haas keeping everyone on there toes to who of the two, or even both of them, brothers he supposed to be playing here in the movie. This drives Cleo almost over the edge in hitting the bottle and getting herself smashed while Frank, who was only using her, tries to check out of town with Miranda as well as from the police! ***MAJOR SPOILER*** David who in fact was the supposedly murdered Gus played it both cool as well as a bit stupid which got both Cleo and Frank to drop their guard and expose themselves as David's, not his, murderers. And he did it so skillfully that even at the very last moment of the movie until he took off his shirt, and revealed a scare on his cheat, no one in the audience as well as the cast in the movie was quit sure who he was!

It's hard to win with twins.

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 12 March 2022]

Haas' s by-now-usual middle -age cuckold / blonde femme fatale /handsome rival threesome once more ; Vince Edwards replaces John Agar ("hold back tomorrow" "bait" ) and one does not lose on the exchange for the former has much more screen presence ; besides, unlike in "pickup" or in "strange fascination" , the woman remains passive and it's her lover the evil genius who urges her to do away with the hubby ; she is reluctant ,but he keeps on repeating :"we're together in it"

The screenplay ,although on "the postman always rings twice" pattern, is rather astute ; when Haas reappears behind the graves , it gives to the movie an eerie feeling ; the twin brothers is a good trick ,which increases the widow's guilty feeling ; on the other hand the "circus girl" (a character also "inspired"by James McCain's novel) gets in the way.

It was to be Cleo Moore's last film.

another Cleo and Hugh B movie

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 30 August 2019]

And it was their last film together. After "Hit and Run," Cleo married a multimillionaire, went into the real estate business, and never looked back. This potboiler also stars Vince Edwards.

Haas, a garage owner named Gus, meets Julie in the club where she works and gives her his card, telling her to call him about a car. You don't have to ask her twice. She shows up soon after. Before you know it, wedding bells.

From the beginning, there's a sexual tension between her and Hugo's helper Frank (Edwards). One night, Frank grabs her and declares his love. Julie is attracted to him, but tells him to leave town. Gus, meanwhile, catches on that there are some sparks.

This story has a little twist to it.

Cleo is stunning, and as usual, the focus is on her. Besides her looks, she had a strong presence. Edwards' looks normally don't appeal to me, but he is quite hunky here. Haas turns in a good performance. He was actually quite well known in his native country of Czechoslovakia.

Some trivia, the woman from the circus, whom Frank meets later in the film was Robert Mitchum's older sister. She retired after getting married.

The art of Hugo Haas

[lor_ · 19 December 2023]

I wrote this unpublished review in 1971, when I was writing about the unique B movies directed by Hugo Haas, which I had been seeing for years on TV via syndication packages. I had planned to curate a retrospective of Haas' work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at the invitation of Larry Kardish, but that never came to pass and 50 years later Hugo Haas is one of the few cult directors yet to receive his due recognition. (Oddly enough, Larry did present programs on Katt Shea and Andy Sidaris at my prompting.) The key feature of Hugo Haas' serious films is to build up audience sympathy for the Haas figure, and then place him at the mercy of the elements or other people's schemes. Here the Haas character has the foible of falling for song & dance girl Cleo Moore, and his tendency toward drunkenness. Vince Edwards' moving in on his wife is made evident almost immediately: he withholds suspense in favor of having the audience follow (virtually identifying) the characters' machinations while Haas' character is in the dark.

The ultra-dramatic gimmick (usually ironic) employed in this film is the surprise appearance of Haas' twin brother. When Haas is bumped off by Vince & Cleo in their car 50 minutes into the film, it is evident that the thrust of the movie will be their getting caught in an error and thereby arrested by the police. As his usual theme, Haas preys upon his characters' guilt to create the film's driving force. Here, Cleo is immediately repentant for their rash action, and when Haas makes his first post-killing appearance by standing in the bushes outside her window -we and Cleo are not sure whether or not it was a hallucination.

Haas' brother's next showing is at the lawyer's office for the reading of the will, and though he looks slightly different from Haas, it soon becomes subtly evident from his actions, knowledge and intentional verbal slips that there is a good chance that Haas is still alive, and that the hit-and-run victim was in fact his brother.

The new Haas is constantly bothering Vince and Cleo concerning his brother's death, and his sick sense of humor helps shift the audience's sympathy to the killers. Unlike Claude Chabrol's "This Man Must Die", Haas does not reveal for certain whether the live Haas is the original Gus or his criminal brother David. Instead, we must gradually follow Cleo in her steadily growing realization that they killed the wrong man. Unfortunately, the uninitiated find Haas' style and exaggerated plots foolish and because they do not get into the swing of his films, they tune out.

By introducing the carnival girl late in the film, and emphasizing her presence, auteur Haas signals tht Moore and Edwards' safety is precarious due to the possibility of their splitting up, and thereby becoming dangerous to each other due to their shared secret.

The proof that Gus is still alive (scar on the chest) is built up to most dramatically with neat music. Haas has no recriminations against Cleo -he offers to get her a lawyer. As a suitably ironic finish, the lady lion tamer appears at the very end (looking for Vince), and invites Hugo to her act at the circus, agreeing to meet him for dinner afterwards. Then as carnival music grows in volume in the background, Hug puts up his hands and NOT looking toward the audience (a significant move -class!) shrugs, claiming "everybody has to go sometime", summing up as a humorous twist the fatalistic nature of this film (as is all of his serious films).

Underrated Hugo Haas Delivers Another Poverty-Row Film-Noir With Some Sizzles

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 5 April 2023]

The Hugo Haas Bio Deserves Attention from Anyone Interested in B-Movies, Especially of the Film-Noir Type,

that He Made His Specialty in the Last-Act of a Long and Rich Career in the Movies, that Ended where He Did Everything but Sweep the Floor.

In this one, He Follows the Film-Noir Mainstay that He Repeated Now and Then of an Older, Well-to-Do Man who Manages to Snare a Young, Pretty, Bad-Girl.

Only to be Set-Up for the Knock-Off by a Femme Fatale (Cleo Moore who made 7 Movies with her discoverer).

The Handsome-Hunk on the Side-Lines Willing and Able to Do the Deed is Vince Edwards (a smoldering, sexy, Body-Builder in real life), whose Claim-to-Fame was Playing "Ben Casey" on TV for 5 Years. (1961-66).

"Hit and Run" has a Number of Thrills (check out that lion tamer Dolores Reed), Twists, and Spills, and Like Always Hugo's Bang-for-the-Buck, Delivers.

This Would be Cleo Moore's Last Film After Giving Hollywood a Try in a Few Films with some Minor Success, but Never Hit the Big-Big-Time. Just Like Her Mentor Hugo.

Once Again Check Out His Bio. A Fascinating Immigrants Hollywood History if there ever was One.

He was one of the Most Hard Working Talents that was Chewed Up by the Movie-Industry that He Loved and was Dismissed as a "Bottom Feeder" and in Later Years was Given the Undeserved Nick-Name of the "Foreign Ed Wood".

He was Once Gregory Peck's , among others, Acting Coach for Heaven Sake.

HUGO HAAS ALWAYS RINGS TWICE!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 4 September 2022]

The king of low budget film noir with cleavage, Hugo Haas, is to be commended. Haas had the knack for remaking classic films, such as THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE as a prime example, and with him in them as the old man in the way, accompanied by lovely femme fatale Cleo Moore. It's nice to see some of his films surface of late as they were a rerun favorite back in the days of black and white tv. HIT AND RUN is a sleazy little gem all about young hunk Vince Edwards working at Haas' garage and discovering flirtatious Moore. Haas (who plays Gus) gets run over (why not?) and Vince and Cleo live happily ever after --or do they?

Let the grade-B suspense begin, and what a tangled web these two weave. Recommended late show stuff and with all the cheap trimmings. Some of Haas films are on dvd, but you have to do your homework. There are also some double bill or box sets floating around. Check ebay for best results.

First half...not bad. Second half...pure crap.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 26 February 2017]

Cleo Moore and Hugo Haas starred in a terrific and very original film, "The Other Woman". Well, three years later they're back and starring in "Hit and Run" and they are joined in the leads by Vince Edwards (of "Ben Casey" fame).

Gus (Hugo Haas) Owns a garage and asks a young and pretty woman, Julie (Cleo Moore), to marry him. Soon after they marry, their employee, Frank (Vince Edwards) begins making passes at the missus. She never encourages him...but she also doesn't tell her husband. Frank takes that to mean she loves him and has come up with a scheme to kill the old man and then dismantle to car for scrap so there is no evidence! She is horrified when she is in the car with Frank and Frank runs over Gus! She had no idea about Frank's plans...but when the police later notify her of his death, she says nothing about Frank's actions. Clearly she has very mixed thoughts about what has happened.

So far, so good. While the plot isn't wholly original (with films like "Therese Raquin" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice"), it's not bad and interesting. The problem is what comes next....it's really, really nuts. A new plot involving an identical twin brother that no one knew about comes into play...and the film basically goes into the toilet. Rarely have I seen a film where the second half simply goes 100% wrong like this one!

Cleo Moore's Last Movie

[HarlowMGM · 10/10 · 15 January 2005]

Cleo Moore was one of the sexiest blonde starlets of the 1950's but sadly this 1957 release was her swan song. She had starred in around ten films and was well known by the public but I guess there was just too many beautiful blondes around at the time. She's the best thing in this standard little film noir of the beautiful young wife, middle-aged husband, and the young hunk who comes between them. Looking fantastic as a platinum blonde, Cleo gives an excellent performance and her love scenes with hunky Vince Edwards are fairly torrid. Director-costar Haas seems a little too sympathetic to his own character for my liking, a boisterous auto repair shop owner who woos option-less showgirl Moore. Never a particularly good director (to say the least), Haas notably wastes the potential in one scene in the wrecked car "graveyard" beside his repair shop which manages an eerie touch nevertheless. The movie quite low budget but that proves to be an asset in capturing the angst of low-income 50's America.

The mechanic honks twice.

[st-shot · 4/10 · 28 March 2021]

King of the cuckold's Hugo Haas once again makes himself a fool over a woman in this Postman Rings Twice featuring his fatale regular wife, Cleo Moore in her cinema swan song. Both look a little frayed around the edges (slovenly Haas, no neck Moore) though and it translates energy wise into little more than lackadaisical passion and suspense.

Gas station owner Gus Hilmer has the hots for dancer, Julie, who could not care less about him. Frank (Vince Edwards) his mechanic is another story however and she marries Gus but carries the torch for Frank. They devise a plan to off Gus but an ex-con twin brother shows up and threatens to upend matters and expose them.

The last of his collaborations with Moore Hit and Run is a little more threadbare in look and storyline than his previous B-work. Both Haas as the gullible mark and Moore the crass fatale seem fatigued with moody Edwards waiting around for them to catch-up. The brother's arrival (Haas in different hair, color) leading to the cat and mouse climax becomes a shabby battle of witlessness. Drabber than usual for masochist auteur, Hass.

"We're in this together"

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 21 September 2022]

A while ago, I dissected the movie Overexposed, which is a film about an attractive blonde woman who is trying to make it in the photography business. This movie has really nothing to do with Hit and Run story wise, but they still feel similar to me because Cleo Moore is in both of them. Although appearing to be little more than a bootleg Marilyn Monroe at first glance, she puts on an exciting and heartfelt performance in this film alongside Hugo Haas, who also directed. The reason why the film has its title isn't revealed until later, but it ends up being the focal point of its story. The movie begins with Gus Hilmer (Haas), the owner of a junkyard, drinking with the beautiful woman named Julie (Moore), whom he meets in a bar. Even though the girl is only a fraction of Gus' age, he's determined to get her anyway. They eventually marry, but almost instantly, their relationship seems to be falling apart. Frankie (Vince Edward), a mechanic who works at a gas station outside of where Gus lives, tries to convince Julie behind Gus' back that he's no good and she needs to get as far away from him as possible. Frankie has worked for Gus for years and knows all his habits. One day, Frankie announces to Gus that he quits, leaving Gus perplexed, since he always treated him well. One night, Julie gets into a car with Frankie at his request as the latter drives towards a new house Gus owns. Frankie sees who he thinks is Gus standing outside and, without any remorse, runs him over. Back at the junkyard, Julie is crying hysterically, but Frankie tries to tell her that Gus had to be dealt with and more importantly, she's involved with a crime now for being in Frankie's car. Frankie says as long as they both keep cool, the crime will never be traced to them, since the car used in the murder is now untraceable salvage laying in the junkyard somewhere. After Julie gets questioned by the cops and says she doesn't know why her husband is dead, Gus' twin brother shows up to ask about his brother's death. Gus' brother has an unusual demeanor, and tells Julie in private that he's not convinced Gus' demise was accidental. Still, he proceeds to praise whoever killed him, since Gus did not visit him during the 7 years he was in prison. Frankie and Julie admit to each other that Gus' brother's behavior makes them uncomfortable, and Julie is facing the gutwrenching possibility that her new lover may have killed the wrong person. This person who Frankie thinks is Gus' brother acts too similarly to Gus. Later, a circus arrives in town, and Frankie is caught by Julie as he tries to talk to a nice looking lion tamer with dark hair. This sours his relationship with Julie. Meanwhile, Julie and Frankie try to drink alcohol with Gus' brother while his parole officer is present, even though Gus' brother said he can't drink hard liquor. In a drunken state, he says he saw the car that ran over his brother, and that there was a woman inside. Breaking into a cold sweat, Julie yells out he's lying. She's now convinced there's no way this person isn't Gus, so she asks him to unbutton his shirt to see if he has the distinguishing scar on his chest that her former husband did. Sure enough, "Gus' brother" has the scar. Frankie tries to escape, but the house is already surrounded. As he and Julie are led away by the police, the lion tamer shows up asking for Gus to share a few drinks with her. I really like this movie. I find it funny that more often than not I end up thinking obscure, mediocre rated films like this are more enjoyable than high production value classics with people like Bogart or Jimmy Stewart. I've never seen a noir that takes place in and around a junkyard before, so this probably increased its appeal for me. Just like in Overexposed, Cleo is a spectacle here, and while basically every kiss she shares with Frankie throughout the film is unwilling, I bet most people just watched this movie to see her. I liked her so much I was actually disappointed to see her arrested at the end. She learns the hard way that while being bad is usually more fun than being good, you're not supposed to let yourself become bad. As for negatives, I thought that Gus/Gus' brother was a pretty obnoxious character and was glad to him get whacked. There's just something about his voice that annoys me. In general though, I felt that Hit and Run is a worthwhile noir for people who enjoy what I like to call "reverse noirs", since most of the time, a man is roped into an unenviable situation because of a woman he likes. Here, it's the other way around.

hit and run '57

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 17 October 2022]

Doubt if I'll be rushing down to the ol video store to stock up on Hugo Haas films despite tcchelsey's admonition below and Eddie Muller's advocacy of the guy as an admirable maker of low budget films "on his own terms". Problem is, Haas' "terms" include lots of crappy acting, flat, cliche ridden dialogue and cinematography that, at best, merits the phrase "gets the job done". I also share with another previous IMDB reviewer an aversion to this writer/director/star having a penchant for hogging the few good lines in the screenplay as well as seeming to lavish undue attention to the scenes he's in and relegating Vince Edwards and Cleo Moore to the dustbin of B movie steamy standardization. Give it a C.

PS...Don't know about you but when it comes to a brunette alternative to Cleo I sure coulda used more Dolores Reed and less Mara Lea.

That Hugo Haas Was a Gem

[evanston_dad · 8/10 · 8 November 2022]

That Hugo Haas was a small gem of a producer/writer/director. "Hit and Run" is the second Haas film I've seen after "Pickup," and while I didn't like this one quite as much as the other one, mostly because this one has the misfortune of not starring Beverly Michaels, it's still a lurid and pulpy good time.

Haas is a really winning screen presence, and you end up rooting for him based on the strength of his charm. It helps that he's always a pretty decent guy who finds himself saddled with a no-good dame, who usually brings along with her some other bohunk who wants to do him harm. Cleo Moore is said dame in this one, and if she's not exactly a femme fatale, she also doesn't do much to stop the grisly proceedings carried out by said bohunk, played here by the smoldering Vince Edwards. Edwards comes across as a dim bulb, but good grief did that dude drip with sex, and the scenes with him and Moore have a real erotic charge.

"Hit and Run" is my favorite kind of noir, because it's cheap and tawdry. It also has a sense of humor, and I think one of the things I like best about Haas is that he never took himself or his films too seriously. That gives them a unique playfulness that sets them apart from other films of their kind.

Grade: A-

Okay, I've seen this plot many times with the same exact stars.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 13 May 2020]

Only certain details have changed to make it unique to its script. Hugo Haas seem to have an obsession with his characters onscreen being married to younger women, and in several of those films, it was the blond femme fatale Cleo Moore. Sitting in a bar one night with employee Vince Edwards, he begins a friendly conversation with the attractive more who seemingly as a gag agrees to marry him. She's a good 20 or more years younger than him, and something about your demeanor seams suspicious. While she pretends to be annoyed by the macho Edwards, it isn't long before they are having an affair and plotting to kill her husband by the old hit and run. she believes him to be dead, but when I look alike twin brother appears and seems to know too much, Moore and Edwards begin to suspect that they accidentally killed her husband's brother (just released from prison) and that he has come back to haunt them while using his brother's identity.

If you like trashy pulp novels, this will be right up your alley, and it is certainly delightfully scandalous and loaded with amorality. Moore, Edwards and Haas deliver performance is appropriate for this type of low-grade melodrama, and certainly Moore and Edwards are very attractive together. there's also Dolores read as a dark-haired vixen who makes a play for Edwards, although this does unfortunately lack a nice showdown between her and Moore. The ending is a complete letdown, building itself up to something powerful yet falling down with little impact. Even if this had been an original story that has Haas had not done before, I would still rank it as a stinker, as if the car had rotten eggs instead of gasoline.

Many subtle turnings in this dubious double plot of intricate tricks

[clanciai · 9/10 · 27 June 2023]

Another highly original production by Hugo Haas with his one choice actress Cleo Moore, but this became her last film, but as usual her performance is memorable. It's the same old story again, an old fool gets enamoured with a young splendid blonde and marries her, while she after the marriage betrays him with another, and that other man is his closest associate, a fellow worker and mechanic at his garage, and it's actually he who insists on seducing her, while naturally her protests are not enough. There is a circus involved also, which appears towards the end, with a real bombshell for a female director, Dolores Reed, who brings some real titbits of sequences to the film. She even tries to seduce Cleo Moore's lover, which of course infuriates Cleo Moore who while drinking gives the whole plot away - there always seems to be a lot of drinking in Hugo Haas' films, which adds to their charm and comic touch, although Haas never reaches the height of the great jokes of Hitchcock. Still, Hugo Haas is brilliant in his own way, writing his own scripts and producing his own films and giving them a solid direction, and their plots are always ingenious. So don't miss any detail of this very carefully blended drink of a wondrous film thriller.