The Hitcher
by Robert Harmon
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: C. Thomas Howell, Jeffrey De Munn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rutger HauerDirector: Robert Harmon
Brand: HBO Home Video
Other Contributor: Mark Isham
Producer: David Bombyk
Producer: Kip Ohman
Producer: Edward S. Feldman
Producer: Charles R. Meeker
Writer: Eric Red
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-06-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Hitcher
Movie Review: Low budget thriller, or legitimate work of art?
Summary: 5 Stars
How about both. Reading through these reviews, I don't think people have properly emphasized that this is a work of art, and displays a more deft hand in story-building and characterization than you might think you're getting from what appears to be on the surface another brainless 80s thriller.
But it's so much more. It's almost like an old existential play in a way, with parts of feeling like they could've been penned by Beckett or Sartre.
There are essentially 3 characters. C. Thomas Howell as Jim Halsey, a magnificent, yes, Oscar worthy performance by Rutger Hauer as John Ryder, the hitcher, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nash, the waitress. Jim is driving a car from Chicago to California, part of a service where people were hired to drive cars to locations of places they wanted to go anyway, a service you don't see too much anymore. Along the way he picks up Ryder. In a scene that unravels in a horrifying way, Ryder reveals that he is a murderer and Jim will be his next victim. Jim manages to dump him. However, Ryder turns up again in a truly chilling scene that made my blood run cold the first time I saw it.
Ryder frames Jim for murders he commits, further entangling Jim in his web. Yes, Ryder appears to have supernatural powers at times, and the cops do seem excessively stupid to advance the story, but it's worth it to see first rate acting and characterization like this.
Hauer should've won awards for this movie. He is nightmarish, an absolute monster as Ryder, an enigmatic and almost spectral killer, with yes, a funny, but horrifying and black sense of humor. His diner scene is one of the most powerful pieces of acting I've ever seen in any movie, ever. If you have the movie, queue it up to that part. Look at the look on he gives Jim when Jim looks up to see him sitting across from him at the diner. Dread-inducing evil, and the coldest, most sadistic blue eyes you'd ever not-hope to see. He is handsome in a cruel, terrifying, yet captivating way. His ambivalence towards death is frightening, and never before in movies have pennies seemed so fraught with symbolism and menace.
The relationship between Jim and Ryder is one of much speculation and debate. It is wonderfully mysterious, puzzling, warped, and compelling. Even the sherriff notes something strange is going on between them. Does Ryder have a [...] attraction to Jim? Or some sort of death wish he wants Jim to fulfill? Did he just randomly pick some kid and decide to wreck his life with this game? It seems sadomasochistic in a way, like Ryder wants to inflict as much pain as possible on Jim, but he doesn't want to kill him, he wants Jim to kill him, to become him. This is just one interpretation of many you could make.
The stark California desert makes an excellent backdrop for the movie, and the mood is well enhanced by the excellent symmetry; the movie begins with the flares of the Hitcher's match and ends on the same note with Jim Halsey.
In conclusion, "The Hitcher" is one of the best thrillers of all time, in addition to having some of the best characterization, and one of the best acting performances (Hauer) *ever* in cinema. It is not without some forgivable flaws, and it does have a couple of stomach-churning scenes (one of them quite famous) so I can't recommend it to the faint of heart, but for everyone else, see this movie as soon as you possibly can.
Summary of The Hitcher
HITCHER - DVD MovieSteven Spielberg's first feature film, 1971's Duel, is set on a desert highway. It stars Dennis Weaver as a driver being pursued by a menacing truck, which is following him with all the vengeance of the ancient furies. In this spiritual update from 1984, C. Thomas Howell plays a guy taking a drive-away car from Chicago to San Diego. On a whim, in the rain, and against his better judgment, he picks up a hitchhiker (Rutger Hauer). The hitcher quickly admits to being a murdering psychopath, and once Howell finally gets him out of his car, he is pursued with all the vengeance of the ancient furies. We're never sure if the hitcher is a figment of his imagination, making Howell a schizophrenic killer, or if he's real and Howell is the random victim of a wandering madman, which is how his potential new girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh) thinks of him. Either way, The Hitcher is great fun, kinda scary, and teetering on the brink of "must see." --Andy Spletzer
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