The Passenger (1975 Film) - Plot

Plot

David Locke (Jack Nicholson) is a television journalist making a documentary film on post-colonial Africa. To finish the film, he is in the Sahara desert seeking to meet with and interview rebel fighters involved in Chad's civil war. Struggling to find rebels to interview, his frustrations reach a climax when his Land Rover gets hopelessly stuck on a sand dune. After a long walk through the desert back to his hotel a thoroughly glum Locke finds that an Englishman by the name of Robertson (Charles Mulvehill), who has also been staying there and with whom he had struck up a friendship, has died overnight in his hotel room.

Locke switches identities with Robertson; he is tired of his work, his marriage and his life, and senses an opportunity for a fresh start in life. Now, posing as Robertson, Locke reports his own death at the front desk, where the hotel manager mistakes Locke for Robertson, and the plan goes off without a hitch.

In London, Locke's wife Rachel (Jenny Runacre) has been having an affair with someone else but is guilt-ridden and torn by the news of her husband's death. She approaches Locke's friend, Martin (Ian Hendry) a producer at the BBC, in an attempt to get in touch with Robertson so that she may learn more about her husband's last days. Meanwhile "Robertson" (Locke) has flown off to Europe with the dead man's belongings, including his appointment book.

Locke soon discovers Robertson to have been gunrunning for the rebels he himself had been trying to contact in the desert. When he goes to check-out an airport locker listed in Robertson's diary, Locke is tracked down by the rebels' point man in Europe, who is there to finalize the weapons sale. Since neither man has ever seen the other before, Locke is able to escape the meeting without being discovered and ends up receiving what is the first down-payment in cash for the apparent arms deal Robertson had already set up before his death.

Later Locke accidentally spots Martin on a street in Barcelona, as the latter tries to track Robertson down on behalf of Rachel. Locke backtracks quickly and at this point bumps into an architecture student (Maria Schneider) while trying to hide nearby. He asks her to fetch his belongings so he won't be seen at his hotel, where Martin has apparently camped out in order to catch up with "Robertson". She sneaks past Martin, and then stays with Locke as he drives off from Barcelona. They become lovers, as Locke confesses that he has stolen a dead man's identity while trying to explain his recent behavior.

Locke is flush with cash from the down payment on the arms he cannot deliver, but is nevertheless drawn to keep the meetings listed in Robertson's book. In the meantime, Rachel has received Locke's belongings that have been flown back from Africa. Having heard from Martin of his unsuccessful chase of the evasive "Robertson", Rachel receives a shock when she opens Locke's passport, only to discover the photo of Robertson pasted inside. She now realizes why "Robertson" is being so evasive, and heads off to Spain to track Locke down herself.

Locke now begins fleeing from the Spanish police, whom Rachel has brought in on the search for Robertson, but the Girl is loyal and helps him evade them, providing rational advice. Locke sends the Girl away on a bus, saying he'll meet her in Tangiers later. The thugs eventually catch up with him at the Hotel de la Gloria after he sends her away with a grim story of a blind man who regains his sight only to commit suicide, in a Spanish town (Osuna, province of Seville). The assassination takes place off screen in a seven minute long take-tracking shot which begins in a hotel room, travels out into a dusty parking area and tracks back into the hotel room. All significant living characters are present in the last minutes of the movie as the Girl identifies the dead man as Robertson, while Locke's wife says she doesn't know him.