clothes, and identification, and drives away, intent on abandoning the car near Los Angeles. Al crosses into California and spends a night in a motel. The next day, as he leaves a gas station near Desert Center Airport, he picks up a hitchhiker, who gives her name as Vera. At first, she travels silently with Al, who has identified himself as Haskell, but suddenly challenges his identity and ownership of the car, revealing that she had been picked up by Haskell earlier in Louisiana, but got out in Arizona after he tried to force himself on her. Al tells her how Haskell died, but she blackmails him by threatening to turn him over to the police. She takes the money that Al retrieved from Haskell's wallet and demands whatever money they get by selling the car. In Hollywood, they rent an apartment, posing as Mr. and Mrs. Haskell, to provide an address when they sell the car. When they are about to make the sale, Vera learns from a newspaper that Haskell's wealthy father is near death and a search is under way for his long-estranged son. Vera demands that Al impersonate Haskell and position himself to inherit the estate. Al refuses, arguing that the impersonation would require detailed knowledge he lacks. Back at the apartment, Vera gets drunk and they begin arguing intensely. In a drunken rage, she threatens to call the police and runs into the bedroom with the telephone. She locks the door then falls on the bed and begins to fall asleep, the telephone cord tangled around her neck. From the other side of door, Al pulls on the cord to try to disconnect the phone. When he breaks down the door, he discovers he has inadvertently strangled Vera. Al gives up the idea of contacting Sue again and returns to hitchhiking. He later finds out that Haskell is wanted in connection with the murder of Vera, "his wife." Back in the diner in Reno where the film opened, he imagines his inevitable arrest. Cast Tom Neal as Al Roberts Ann Savage as Vera Claudia Drake as Sue Harvey Edmund MacDonald as Charles Haskell Jr. Tim Ryan as the Nevada Diner Proprietor Esther Howard as Holly, Diner Waitress Don Brodie as the Used Car Salesman Pat Gleason as Joe, truck driver Production In 1972, Ulmer said in an interview that the film was shot in six