Knife in the Water

There are many reasons not to pick up a hitchhiker. He could smell, he could want money, he could be a murderer, he could be an attractive young man who turns on the charm whenever your wife comes around, or he could be all of the above. This is what a young couple learns the hard way in Knife in the Water, which, if you couldn’t tell by the name, is a thriller set at sea. Andrzej and Krystyna are a wealthy young couple who pick up a hitchhiker on their way to the docks. They invite him out sailing, and the plot thickens as Andrzej and the unnamed stranger begin competing for Krystyna’s attention. Knife in the Water (Nóz w wodzie) was Polish director Roman Polanski’s first full-length film. Though it wasn’t a favorite in his native country, it garnered an Academy Award nomination over here for best Foreign Film in 1963 and even got him the cover of Time.