ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Originally Aired: July 19, 1955
Suspense #607, "Backseat Driver," stars Vivi Janice and Parley Bear as Ellie and Joe, an ordinary couple returning home to the San Fernando Valley after catching a movie in Beverly Hills. As they drive through the dark, quiet Coldwater Canyon, they listen to news reports about Lewis Matrick, a vicious killer who murdered an entire family in New Hampshire and has just been spotted in Los Angeles. Joe assures his nervous wife that such violence happens to other people, not to them. But when they hear a voice from their backseat commanding Joe to keep driving, their complacent world shatters. The fugitive killer, gun pressed to Ellie's neck, has been hiding in their car all along.
Joe must navigate an impossible situation as Matrick orders them toward open country, where the couple's chances of survival grow dimmer with each passing mile. When a motorcycle patrolman appears on the road behind them, Joe sees a desperate opportunity, but any wrong move could cost Ellie her life. The hunter has become the hunted, and Joe must find a way to outsmart a man who has already proven he will kill without hesitation.
