THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT
Dir. Vernon Sewell, 1961.
United Kingdom. 55 min.
In English.
A pair of crooks, played once again by Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner, rob a bookmaker on his way out of a local dog track. Realizing the bag of cash is handcuffed to his wrist, they hastily throw his unconscious body into the back seat of their car, and drive around as they figure out a way to get the cash and rid themselves of the man in the back seat.
THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT takes place in one night and the action moves like gangbusters from one darkly comic and grim setback to another. Like STRONGROOM, it is a taut and tense, lean and mean crime thriller from Sewell and an anxious and claustrophobic film that builds to a conclusion steeped in horror and sadness.