Highway Dragnet

HIGHWAY DRAGNET is best known to modern movie buffs as the first film to carry Roger Corman's name in the credits. Corman was one of six screenwriters contributing to this location-filmed suspense melodrama, which stars Richard Conte as an ex-Marine on the lam from a murder charge. Conte hitches a ride from glamour-magazine photographer Joan Bennett, who is travelling cross-country with her principal model, Wanda Hendrix. True to audience expectations, the murderer will at one time or another be an occupant of Bennett's car, though it won't be the person whom the police are looking for. The tense climax takes place in a flooded tract house, with the killer stalking the next potential victim. Criticized for its low production values at the time of its release, HIGHWAY DRAGNET actually stands up pretty well when seen today.