Jim Davis of "Dallas" fame had a lengthy film career in B films before he got a huge break during the last years of his life being cast as patriarch Jock Ewing. Here, he's the star of a low budget Lippert film noir where he's accused of being a part of a hi-jacking ring and ends up going his own way to figure out how he was framed. It's a typical movie tough guy programmer with Paul Cananaugh a dashing villain, former child actress Marcia Mae Jones as his estranged wife, diminutive comic Sid Melton as funny guy crook who only wants to use a gun and tough talking Iris Adrian as an earthy waitress with a wisecrack to serve with every cup of coffee or crueller. Davis is believable in the lead and Cavanaugh is deliciously sinister. However Adrian overacts (shouting every word as if she was playing to the third balcony) and Melton clowns simply too much. Sometimes perfectly tense, it goes off track with the comic interludes.

When you see the names, Sam Newfield and any of his pseudonyms (Sherman Scott and Peter Stewart) on any movie, run – don't walk! – to your player or computer and turn the darn thing off. True, Newfield/Scott/Stewart did direct one or two movies (out of the close to 300 on which he put one of his names) that are reasonable viewing, but Hi-Jacked isn't anything special, unless you're a fan of Sid Melton (I'm not) or Ralph Sanford (I am). It does move at a reasonable pace, but it's pretty routine, even though the script delineates the hero as the dumbest of dumb clots. There's a scene in which boofhead drinks some doped coffee, but boof is so stupid he goes on drinking it even though it's sending him to bye-byes. Iris Adrian is in the support cast, but she's not at her best in this one either. In fact she passes up a grand opportunity to make hay with the menu by throwing her lines away far too fast.

An ex-con trucker works to clear himself from involvement with a gang of hi-jackers.Can't expect much from a cheapo Lippert production, but this little programmer manages some interest. Davis does well as an ex-con truck driver. His skinny, towering frame and bushy hair have a different look from the usual Hollywood lead. The movie also benefits from highway filming along a major route into LA. Then too, I expect there's some insight into hi-jacking operations of the time since that angle appears pretty realistic. But why-oh-why does Lippert insist on putting pint-sized Sid Melton in so many of their productions. Here, his silly phony tough guy does nothing but detract from what's otherwise a sober crime drama. Not so, the one-and-only Iris Adrian as a hash house waitress. Too bad Lippert didn't realize she furnishes enough expert comedy relief without the clumsy Melton. Also, look for Paul Cavanaugh (Hagen) whose polished bad guys graced many superior productions of the 30's and 40's.Nothing special here. Just one of those minor programmers that would soon get absorbed into half-hour TV, in this case, into Highway Patrol (1955-1959).

Jim Davis later patriarch of the Ewing family of Dallas stars as a paroled ex-convict who is working as a truck driver. He gets himself hi-jacked a couple of times and his job and the authorities start suspecting him of being an inside man. The guy who's really doing the tipping decides with the fence for the stolen merchandise to sweeten the suspicious pot by planting evidence to incriminate him. Though carrying a weapon is an automatic trip back to the joint, as Davis points out, he has to stay free to clear himself. Especially after the evidence implicates his completely innocent wife Marcia Mae Jones and she's arrested when the police miss him.The film reminds of a much superior noir classic Kansas City Confidential where John Payne finds himself in a similar jackpot. Not that this is a bad film, but its from the poverty row Lippert Pictures studio and has the shallow production values of its origins.Davis does well as a guy looking to take care of business and the crooks who have done him wrong. The gang is headed by fence Paul Cavanaugh who advises and doesn't control. The muscle is done by David Bruce and he has a rough bunch with him including a wannabe in Sid Melton. Melton was in a whole lot of Lippert productions providing much needed comedy relief. And Iris Adrian as a wisecracking waitress is also in the cast and every film that she graces is that much better for her presence.Hi-Jacked is a good product, very good considering the cheapness of its origins.