Thumb Tripping
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Quentin Masters
Michael Burns
Meg Foster
Bruce Dern
Michael Conrad
Burke Byrnes
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Outside Big Sur, California, sundry hitchhikers and vagrant hippies are rounded up by the police, dropped off in town and warned to stay off the beach. One young woman, Chay, is immediately attracted to Gary, a college student spending his summer hitchhiking up the coast. Chay accompanies Gary into Carmel, where they enjoy a round of bread they can barely afford while sitting in a romantic park. Although Gary is slightly more conventional than the free-spirited Chay, they grow close quickly, and after a day on the beach spend the evening with two men who are heating soup over a campfire. The four sing and laugh throughout the night and in the morning, Gary makes love to Chay. Back on the road, he states that he never turns down a ride, knowing that each new experience enriches him in ways he could not have imagined. Later, two men in a sports car, Smitty and Simp, nearly force them off the road, prompting Gary to shout an obscenity at them. Smitty and Simp pull their car over and, after demanding an apology, offer a ride, which Chay accepts in the spirit of Gary's earlier statement. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that the two men are dangerous, and Smitty taunts Gary that entering the car was the stupidest thing he has ever done, then threatens to rape Chay. When they pull in to gas station, Gary and Chay jump out. Gary insists that she run but she refuses to leave him, and as they argue, Smitty throws Gary's bag out of the car and the men speed off. Gary collapses on the ground in relieved laughter and the couple take to the road again, thrilled at their escape. They now head to San Francisco, passing many other hippies on the road, luxuriating in each other's company and the beautiful countryside. Later, a woman named Thelma and her two young children, Donald and Judy, offer the couple a ride. Judy soon admits that she is searching for her fifteen-year-old runaway daughter, prompting Gary to ask if perhaps she should allow the girl to live her own life, and triggering a rage in Chay, who is disgusted with Thelma's rough treatment of her children and conservative ideology. Suddenly, Thelma pulls the car over to inspect the site of a car accident she witnessed days earlier. Realizing that Thelma had failed to stop to help the accident victim, Chay attacks her as selfish and evil, and Thelma slaps Chay and drives away with her children. Gary comforts Chay, who states that she cannot accept every ride, as some are less worthy than others. They are interrupted by a trucker, Diesel, who has stopped to relieve himself and now gives them a ride in his semi. Gary and Chay are delighted by Diesel's voluble sociability until they stop at a truck stop and Gary notices that the trucker is lusting after Chay. As Chay dances to the jukebox, Diesel offers Gary fifteen dollars to allow him to sleep with Chay. Shocked, Gary demurs, and when they later stop at a warehouse where Diesel drops his freight of oranges, Gary demands to Chay that they leave. Despite her reluctance, he follows Diesel and announces his intention to depart, but Diesel locks him in the back of the truck and drives off. As Gary struggles in the dark, he hears Chay and Diesel making love. The next morning, they release Gary, and he strides off in anger, followed by Chay. She urges him to forget about the past night and travel on with her, and when he demands to know what happened, she states that Diesel forced her to have sex and she stayed to protect Gary. Knowing that she is lying but deeply in love, Gary paces silently. They sit for hours awaiting a ride, and when a convertible finally stops, Gary hesitates only briefly before joining Chay. The car owners are Jack and Lynne, a married couple with three children at home. They entice Gary and Chay to share their beer, and soon the foursome is drunk and raucous. Stopping to swim in a lake, Jack fondles a willing Chay while Lynne seduces Gary. Jack is at first jealous of Lynne's attentions and spiteful of Gary's education and potential future, but soon is distracted by his desire for Chay. After an afternoon of sex and drinking, the four drive to a roadhouse in Santa Rosa, where Lynne runs in wearing only her underwear and dances on the tabletops. Chay follows her and, in the ensuing revelry, kisses several of the male patrons. Spotting her, Gary is appalled and tries to pull her out, but she orders him to let her go. Jack storms in and grabs Lynne, causing the bar owner to throw the foursome into the pool in back. Bedraggled and sobered, they struggle back to the car, where Jack and Lynn fight bitterly and Gary sits in silence. At the Russian River, Jack and Lynne bid them goodbye, and as he awaits another ride, Gary tells Chay that she is not as free as she believes herself. "You made up your own rules so you don't have to deal with people," he tells her. In the morning, when a man stops to pick them up, the two say goodbye tenderly and Gary climbs into the car, leaving Chay behind.
Director
Quentin Masters
Cast
Michael Burns
Meg Foster
Bruce Dern
Michael Conrad
Burke Byrnes
Larry Hankin
Eric Butler
Ed Greenberg
William Murphy
Joyce Van Patten
Mariana Hill
Nevada Spencer
Sundown Spencer
Anna Aries
Don Sturdy
Jason Goodrow
Crew
Bud Alper
Bill Bates
William Bates
Stephanie Black
James Brubaker
Floyd Butler
John Caper Jr.
Jerry Cash
Terry Chambers
Robert Chartoff
Don Christie
Walter Coblenz
Ray Cork Jr.
Janet Crosby
Oscar "pete" Denenberg
Joseph Ellis
Ron Ellis
Harry Elston
Charles Enzen
Jerry Fuller
Ralph Gurling
Gloria Henson
Marsha Kleinman
Dick Lane
Joseph E. Levine
Joseph E. Levine
Lambert Marks
Don Marshall
Ralph Marshall
Ed Martin
Michael Masser
Verne Matthews
Richard Meinardus
Don Mitchell
Gene O'brian
Arnold Orgolini
Craig Pinkard
Bonnie Prendergast
Chuck Record
John W. Rogers
David Ronne
John Sexton
Gerald S. Shepard
Jennifer Shull
Jerry Sims
Walter Spear
Bob Spence
Harry Stradling Jr.
Bob Thompson
Bob Thompson
Jim Thornsberry
Kathy Wakefield
Mary Weinstein
Irwin Winkler
Bob Yeager
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
An illegible copyright statement appears onscreen; however, the film was not registered for copyright. Although almost all contemporary sources list Gene Fowler as the film's editor, Gerald S. Shepard, who was credited onscreen, was the sole editor. Hollywood Reporter printed a correction to the erroneous Fowler credit on September 29, 1972. Don Mitchell's first novel, Thumb Tripping (a slang term for hitchhiking), was a semi-autobiographical collection of separate but connected stories detailing a hitchhiking trip he took with his girl friend, whom he would later marry. He was twenty years old when he wrote the book and twenty-two when it was published in 1970. Avco Embassy had registered the title for use as a film as early as October 1969, as noted in a Daily Variety news item. In December 1969, Hollywood Reporter announced that Mitchell was reporting to producer Irwin Winkler to begin work on the film adaptation of his novel. Publishers Weekly stated in May 1970 that one of the novel's stories was being published in Esquire and another in The Atlantic.
Although Hollywood Reporter announced in April 1970 that the producers planned to shoot the film in Hollywood, contemporary sources reported that it was shot on location in California in Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel, San Jose, San Francisco and around the Russian River. According to Filmfacts, when the production began Avco Embassy announced that Joy Bang would play "Chay." A Hollywood Citizen-News article of July 3, 1970 stated that the dialogue heard in the finished film was obtained while the director shot footage in moving cars, rather than the more common practice of dubbing in the dialogue later. That article and press materials pointed out the youthfulness of the film's principal players, including Mitchell, twenty-three-year-old director Quentin Masters, and the twenty-two-year-old stars, Michael Burns and Meg Foster. Thumb Tripping marked the only American film made by Masters, an Australian director. According to modern sources, Donald Elson played the gas station attendant and Hugh Bayless appeared in the film.
Thumb Tripping was shot during the summer of 1970 but was not released until October 1972. Several reviews mentioned the delay, stating that the trend of what Variety called "youth-on-the-road" pictures had died out since the film's inception.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1973
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1973
