| Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Robert Malcolm Young |
| Directed by | Ted Post |
| Starring | Charlene Tilton Katherine Helmond Dominique Dunne |
| Music by | Joe Renzetti |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Ric Rondell |
| Producer | Stanley Shpetner |
| Cinematography | Héctor R. Figueroa |
| Editor | Edward M. Abroms |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Production companies | Sunrise Productions The Shpetner Company |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 21, 1979 |
Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker is a 1979 ABC network television movie which aired on September 21, 1979. [1]
In late summer 1979 in the fictional Southern California town of Port Kerby almost 18 year old teenage Julie Thurston joins her friends Cathy, Francine, and Dana on a hitchhiking circuit that is popular among the teen girls in the town. It’s the summer after their high school graduation. While everyone is hanging at the beach Julie is seriously wondering about her future. She wants to be a sculptor, but her boyfriend Nick has other plans. Meanwhile, Francine has a good head on her shoulders, going to beauty college; Dana is a wild party girl who might want to be a spy; and Cathy is pregnant from her boyfriend and only her best friends know.
Whether they are headed towards the beach, to school, to a friends place or to a job, they view hitchhiking as their only way of getting around, against parental advice. Julie’s parents and her younger sister Trish worry very much about her hitching, particularly after there are rumors of a maniac predator in the area driving around. Julie wants to earn money towards a car so she secures a job at the local beach hangout, Karp’s Kave working with her other friend Roz who sometimes gives her a ride to work on her moped when she’s not hitching. Julie’s boyfriend feels like she has been giving him the cold shoulder when Julie declines his giving her rides to work. Francine assures her hitching is ok since she does it to get to beauty college. Meanwhile, Dana gets into a car accident which totals her car and she is alright, however she is now dependent on hitching to get around.
In order to get to her job one day, Julie hitches with a guy whom initially seems dangerous, but is just a dad who tries to scare her out of hitching. Cathy’s mom gives her a ride to the beach but is suspicious that something is very wrong with her daughter. Cathy keeps silent about her pregnancy. One night on the beach there is party with a bonfire but while everyone is having fun Cathy mopes about her situation and Julie comforts her. One day Julie’s boyfriend Nick shows up at her job and they finally break up when he decides to go out on the road after Julie declines the offer to go with him. The girls tell her this situation will pass and that she is better off without Nick. En route to work one day after this Julie meets a nice older man named Ron who is in architecture and encourages her sculpting. They start going together. Dana is caught hitchhiking by her dad who subtly warns her of the dangers of it. Meanwhile, Cathy is planning to get an abortion. While headed to the doctor's office one morning, she hitches a ride with the maniac predator who attacks and sexually assaults her. Cathy survives but winds up in the hospital and suffers from a miscarriage. The girls go to the hospital to comfort her but Julie is the only one who truly supports her.
Dana later becomes a second victim after she hitches with the predator. She dies in a car accident orchestrated by him as he is trying to flee the police in a stolen vehicle. The predator survives but Dana is pronounced dead at the scene. After her funeral, Ron, who has been comforting grieving Julie, asks her to join him in Los Angeles to look into getting into sculpting and to celebrate her 18th birthday. Julie’s parents let her go although they are uneasy about it. Julie and Ron have a great time and after she returns home, Ron calls to say that he hooked Julie up with a possible scholarship and a great opportunity for her sculpting future.
Julie has to get back to him with samples of her work and she decides to hitchhike back to LA. She winds up riding with the same guy who attacked Cathy and Dana. The predator attacks Julie, but she survives the incident and luckily escapes him. As she recovers from the attack at home, Julie's parents commend her for being brave and they support her decision to live in Los Angeles to study art and sculpting, and now believe her boyfriend Ron is a positive influence on her.
The movie closes with the assumption that Julie will have a bright future. We now also see her little sister Trish attempting to hitch. The movie’s moral is basically to teach young girls to stay away from hitchhiking and to teach the consequences of riding in cars with strangers.