The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) Ride the Nightmare (1962) User Reviews

Not just another 'past catches up with former criminal' plot...

[binapiraeus · 7/10 · 11 August 2014]

This episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" for quite a while seems to resemble classic Noirs and gangster movies, where a former criminal who's gone straight for years is suddenly being confronted with his past deeds, which upsets the neat little suburban idyll he's built up with his sweet young wife - murder threats and blackmail from his former 'associates' - but, as always with Hitch, be prepared for some VERY unexpected twists!!

A wonderful thriller, with an outstanding performance by Hugh O'Brian, and a literally breathtaking finale - and upsetting all the rules of 'law and order' which were absolutely binding at the time for movies and especially TV shows; and which NO one but Hitch would have been able, and allowed, to break...

Taut Psychological Drama

[brainyidiot · 8/10 · 21 April 2008]

Very well acted story of a married man haunted by his criminal past. Gena Rowlands is a real standout as an unknowing wife who learns of her husbands criminal career from a visit by one of his former cohorts that leads to an unfortunate set of consequences. Hugh O'Brien plays the conflicted husband with a nervous demeanor who tries to reassure his wife that he's a reformed man. The late great John Anderson plays a heavy with ambitions of his own. Watch for a brief but memorable appearance from the prolific character actor Olan Soule as a bumbling drunken neighbor who shows up at a most inopportune time. David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" follows a similar story line.

Mostly action strong episode

[HEFILM · 8/10 · 21 October 2013]

This episode is taught and loaded with action, well-staged, moodily photographed and directed and it features a very impressive scene involving fire.

It's well scored too. It works all around and Hugh does well as does John Anderson--playing a heavy here. It's well produced by Norman Lyold who produced many of the series best episodes and I'd put this among the best. I suppose it lacks a little bit of psychological torment or regret the situation might bring, as it goes more for the action of the story. But this may actually be a virtue in this format. The show flies by.

Richard Matheson's novel was later made into a film with James Mason, he adapts it here himself to better effect--though I find the film to be better than it's reputation.

Hithcock's wrap around involves him inside a manhole.

More like a movie than an "Alfred Hitchcock" episode.

[planktonrules · 29 April 2021]

"Ride the Nightmare" is an interesting episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" though it seems less like the show and more like film noir or a typical 1950s-60s crime movie.

When the story begins, Christopher Martin (Hugh O'Brian) receives a phone call from a man telling him that he's coming to kill him! At first, it seems like a crank call to his wife but soon a man arrives and he is ready to kill Chris. But Chris is able to get the man's gun and ends up killing him instead. But why?? Well, it turns out that years before, Chris had been with a gang which was going to do a holdup...but he chickened out and ran away when the cops showed up. His wife knew none of this...and she's naturally shocked. What's next? Well, the dead man STILL has two partners!

This is a very tense and well made show. It really doesn't seem much like what you'd expect from the program but it is enjoyable and worth your time. But it's much more action oriented than you'd expect from the program, and I could imagine some "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" fans objecting to the change of tone and style.

"You'll get her back when you bring the money."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 29 August 2022]

Hugh O'Brian had just completed a successful six series run as the title character in the Western TV series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" in June, 1961 when he appeared in this episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour". If you were a fan of that earlier program, you'll note the posture O'Brian effects in an early scene here when he drapes his arm over the refrigerator while speaking to his wife in the story, portrayed by Gena Rowlands. He used the same stance in the opening credits of his Western program, making me wonder if that was an intentional tribute to his role as the legendary lawman.

This was an unusual story for a Hitchcock episode. It's got more action than was typical for the stories which were usually confined to smaller sets, most of the time indoors. O'Brian's character has a dual identity of sorts, he's leading a double life after being involved in a crime fifteen years earlier, married for the last seven, when partners in a hold-up gone wrong show up to extract a measure of revenge for ditching them in a robbery attempt. The first unlucky guy (Jay Lanin) is shot by Chris Martin (O'Brian) following a brief tussle in the Martin home. Accomplice Adam (John Anderson) shows up demanding hush money and traveling expenses before allowing Chris to return to normal life, now complicated by the fact that wife Helen knows about his criminal past and contemplates leaving him.

The finale to this story was somewhat perplexing, as it suggests Anderson's character perished in the massive brush fire that Martin started as a diversion in his attempt to escape and bring Helen to safety. There was no reason for Adam to stray into the fire, he could just as easily have waited it out, having already located Martin and knowing where the couple lived. With the fire department responding to the out-of-control fire along with a local police car, it seems to me that the Martin's would have at least been questioned about their presence there and the discovery of two bodies, as the third guy Steve (Richard Shannon) was also shot by Chris Martin at the shack where they held Helen hostage. Normally, Hitchcock would offer some after the fact resolution to the story explaining what happened to a guy like Chris who killed three people in the episode, but this time the matter was dropped. Seems he got away with it, even though he had a self-defense alibi.

As a trivia note, I just wanted to mention John Anderson's connection with Hugh O'Brian. The prolific character actor was a mainstay in a whole bunch of old TV shows and Westerns, and actually appeared in seven episodes of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" as different characters. If you've seen enough of the programs and movies he appeared in, you'll know him by name.

The Body In The Kitchen

[CherCee · 9/10 · 25 July 2022]

The issue of the body in the kitchen *was* resolved. They put the body in the car and they found a dump site and the husband dragged the body off to bury it.

Fleeing from his past

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 3 March 2014]

***SPOILERS*** After his involvement in a jewel armored car robbery, where two people were killed, in 1948 Chris Philips, Hugh O'Brian, the wheel-man in the crime has laid low and straighten himself out as law abiding and productive citizen Chris Martin. Martin is shocked to later find out that his three accomplices in the robbery have escaped from prison and are out gunning for him. It turns out that Chris left the three high and dry without a ride as he fled from the scene to save his own neck.

With both him and his wife Helen, Gena Rowlands, who was kidnapped by the trio lives on the line Chris resorts to violence himself to prevent his former accomplices in crime from murdering him & her. In the process Chris ends up killing all three by the time the Alfred Hitchcock episode is over. And even more striking the police in knowing that Chris's victims Adam Fred & Steve, John Anderson Jay Lanin & Richard Shannon, got exactly what they deserved they don't bother arresting him and try him for their, what was at first thought to be, cold blooded murders.

Unusual story where the killer, Chris Martin/Philips, gets away with murder, or better yet self-defense, which was unheard of in US films or TV shows back then in 1962. Hitchcock who was known to slip taboo subjects through the TV & movie censors, like he did in "Strangers on a Train" & Notorious", did it again this time without them realizing it. Not that Martin/Philips killed three people and not made to stand trail for it but also torched half of Southern Californa in his escape from his antagonists but he also didn't have to stand trail for the crime, murder & robbery, that he was involved in some 14 years ago!

Don't miss the last glance....

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 3 January 2021]

Over the top acting and directing for this after all usual and predictable topic, which has nothing to do with AH PRESENTS. The foreseeable topic that we can see from to time in many features. But I will insist on the last second of this episode, when Gena Rowlands watches her husband, when she is driving, and realizing what he did for her. An UNFORGETTABLE glance which can haunt you for a long time.

You Can't Run Away From Yourself!

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 29 August 2013]

Kind of amusing drama of Hugh O'Brian who was particeps criminis seven years ago and ran off leaving his three partners to take the rap. O'Brian has changed his name and begun a new life, having married Gena Rowlands and established a home in the suburbs that would probably satisfy Ozzie Nelson. Everything in the house is clean, neat as a pin, the proper 1950s tchochkas adorn the shelves and walls. It's disgusting.

Then O'Brien gets a threatening phone call from one of his old partners. The three miscreants have escaped from the pen and they've found O'Brien out because his picture appeared in the newspaper. He won a bowling contest. And this is a drama, not a comedy.

O'Brien knocks off the first visitor in self defense, but the other two kidnaps his wife and extort money from him. O'Brien foils the double cross and everyone pays for his sins, if you don't count the innumerable infractions that O'Brien has committed.

It's easy to understand O'Brien's desire to protect himself and his wife, though. Gena Rowlands is something else. Her epicanthic folds droop over her inner canthi and lend an exotic, almost alien, touch to her already attractive features. And her voice is a treat to listen to. She has a classic Wisconsin accent. In her speech, "ago" becomes "agoo" and "cold turns into "coold." She can act, too, when she gets the chance, as she did in "Gloria." Hugh O'Brien puzzles me. He was a staple on TV at the time and appeared in a few features. I don't know exactly why. It's not that he can't act. He has as much skill as, say, you and I do. I suppose he was a minor star because he looks so much like one -- that square jaw, that tall and sinewy figure. But his stance is a nuisance, as is his walk. His shoulders slouch and his hips are thrust awkwardly forward. Nothing personal about these comments, really. If the part fits him, he fits the part. He was fine in "The Shootist" and looked as Hollywood handsome as ever in the comedy "Twins." The story itself is rather ordinary. The most striking scene is at the end when one of the rogues is caught in a -- well, let's not give away the liveliest moments.

One question

[kyrn123 · 8/10 · 8 March 2021]

What happened to the body in the kitchen? It seemed it was not resolved.

Pay Your Debt

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 7 May 2023]

This one has Hugh O'Brien suddenly confronted with his past where he rubbed elbows with some bad guys. He betrayed them during a robbery when he ran away. Now they are back. He created a new life, a new name, and found a wife. Once one of them comes to the house it sets off the falling dominos where he has to tell his wife. From then on it's a typical adventure yarn where the wife is kidnapped and so on. I just found it to be quite unsatisfying. We know he will have to face the music because morality was still the benchmark for TV drama at this time. It has a strong cast with Gena Rowlands and John Anderson.

Okay Crime Drama

[dougdoepke · 17 June 2015]

The entry's more like a crime drama than anything spooky. Chris and Helen Martin are a happily married couple, that is, until they get a threatening phone call, and she finds out he has a past. Seems he was one of a quartet of robbers whom he abandoned during a robbery. They went to prison, he didn't. Now they've broken jail and are out to get him, especially when one of them invades his happy home. So how's he going to fend them off without revealing his past to the law.

O'Brien and Rowlands are quite good in the leads. There's some suspense as the conflict builds, especially when forceful actor John Anderson enters the picture. The chase across the Hollywood hills makes for an action filled climax. The brush fire itself amounts to a real scorcher, but the characters' maneuverings behind the flames are hard to follow. Then too, the ending may be ironic, but lacks the usual series punch. All in all, it's an episode that could be found on a number of non-Hitchcock channels, but is still entertaining thanks mainly to the two energetic leads.