Hit and Run (1957)

Directed, written, and produced by Hugo Haas, Hit and Run is a gritty, low-budget film noir that dives into betrayal, obsession, and murder in a dusty corner of postwar America. It stars Cleo Moore in her final film role, capping off a seven-film collaboration with Haas that defined her B-movie stardom in the 1950s.

Plot Summary
Gus Hilmer (Hugo Haas), an aging junkyard owner, marries Julie (Cleo Moore), a glamorous showgirl decades his junior. Gus’s young mechanic Frank (Vince Edwards) resents the marriage and harbors feelings for Julie. As their affair intensifies, Frank concocts a plan to kill Gus using a junked car—literally a hit and run—and dismantle the evidence.

But guilt gnaws at Julie, and when Gus’s twin brother unexpectedly arrives, the lovers spiral into paranoia and self-destruction. The twisty plot unfolds with noirish fatalism, culminating in a reckoning that’s both psychological and poetic.

Cast Highlights

• Cleo Moore as Julie Hilmer
• Hugo Haas as Gus Hilmer / Twin Brother
• Vince Edwards as Frank
• Dolores Reed as Miranda, the circus lion tamer (her film debut)
• Mara Lea, Pat Goldin, John Zaremba, and Julie Mitchum in supporting roles

Behind-the-Scenes Trivia

• The film features real circus footage from the Evans-Childers Circus, whose posters occasionally surface at auctions
• Julie’s car is a 1952 Sunbeam-Talbot 90 Drophead Coupé, while the murder vehicle is a 1946 Oldsmobile 70 Dynamic Cruiser
• Dolores Reed was dating Hugo Haas during production
• Shown on TCM’s Noir Alley with Eddie Muller in 2022, reviving interest in Haas’s offbeat noir catalog