The Hitcher
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Movie Reviews of The Hitcher
Movie Review: The Terror of a Cold-Blooded Murderer
Summary: 5 Stars
This is not something I would normally watch these days, but I saw it in 1984 and remembered that it was one scary movie! (OMG! 25 years ago!!!--seems like yesterday!) My son left it next to the computer, so I picked it up and watched it again. Left my stomach a bit unsettled, but for those who like this kind of flick, I must admit it is a good one, with a fine performance by Rutger Hauer as one bad-axx, cold-blooded murderer. If you want to impress on your teenager not to pick up strangers, this movie should do it. But, please, do not show it to young children. It is 98 minutes of gut-gripping terror!
It begins with some creepy music, while you wonder if you should really select "play" or not. More creepy music continues as a young C. Thomas Howell/Jim Halsey, maybe age 18/20, lights his ciggie as he is driving a car through the long desert road at dusk. He is starting to get a little sleepy as darkness approaches and he drowns himself in caffeine from his large thermos. Fast forward to 4:30 a.m. , daybreak approaches in the darkness as lightening flashes and thunder crashes behind the background mountains. We learn that Howell is driving a Caddie to San Diego for some guy.
Here comes the heavy rain. OMG! No! Don't fall asleep! Honk! Whew! That was close. Shake it off. The rain is pouring, and there's a hitch-hiker--out in the middle of nowhere. Young Mr. Howell stops! Geeze! Don't you know any better? The Hitcher (Rutger Hauer/John Rider) opens the door and gets in the car. Here comes the opening line of a nightmare that goes on and on and on. You will probably remember this line for the rest of your life when Howell says to Hauer, "My mother told me never to do this."
It only took a few minutes for Hauer to get creepy. Howell tries stopping the car and telling him to get out, but it don't work. They pass a car on the side and Hauer starts telling Howell how he cut up the guy in that car and that Howell is next. This begins the road to hell as Hauer threatens Howell and causes intense fear all along the way. One minute Howell gets rid of Hauer and the next minute he is back again. This kid does the dumbest things, but then that's what makes the movie. You find yourself screaming on the inside, "Nooooo! Don't do that!" Out in the middle of nowhere, there is no help to be had and, unfortunately, there was no wireless network in 1984. (I know--hard to believe, but true. No cellular service, no email, and no laptops! I don't know how we made it to 2009.) Hauer plays Howell like a fine violin throughout the movie.
The good thing is that you don't see much blood, except in one scene about mid-way through, but you have NO DOUBT what Hauer did to these people.
This is one scary-axx movie, and not for the children!!!
Movie Review: Dangerous Highways!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Like Kurt Russell's 1997 film "Breakdown" this one really shows the dangers of travelling cross-country & the weirdos you might encounter along the way, In this, we meet Jim Halsey(C.Thomas Howell) who is delivering a car to California for a drive-away company, it seems he is tired, and at one point falls asleep behind the wheel & is awakined by an oncoming Semi-Truck that barely misses him, once awake, he sees a hitcher, & offers the stranger a lift, in an effort to stay awake, but he gets more than he bargained for when the stranger taunts & intimidates him, Rutger Hauer( Blade Runner, Ladyhawke) gives a chilling performance as the stranger, & his motives are never really clear, & it seems they shouldn't be, at one point Halsey is able to dispatch him from the vehicle & when he thinks his nightmare is over, it has really just begun, as Hauer kills everyone in his wake & somehow manages to pin it all on Halsey who is later roughed up by local police, who themselves fall victim to Hauer, as Halsey seeks help, he finds it in the form of Jennifer Jason Leigh, who believes & tries to help him escape from the state police, who at this point is attempting to kill Halsey for the deaths of their fellow officers, they too are dispatched by Hauer who in turns spares Haley & Leigh, making his intensions all the more confusing, this film is good up until the last 20 minutes as Hauer soon dispatches Leigh in a gruesome manner, taking out the suspense element & turning it into a cheap horror flick, once caught, Hauer is silent, & Halsey is cleared, & soon taken by the local Captain (Jeffery DeMunn) to his original destination as Hauer is led away in a prison bus, but Halsey soon pulls the element of suprise on the Captain & quickly drops him off & goes by his self to get revenge on Hauer, who at this point has dispatched the prison bus gaurds & is ready & waiting for Halsey, the showdown between the two is at best memorable, & Hauer plays this moment to perfection, won't spoil the ending, but it definately will make driving cross-country less popular for anyone!!Movie Review: The Hitcher is some seriously bad company...oh, yeah!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Rutger Hauer movie. His persona fits this role perfectly. With a good supporting cast, a well-written screenplay and an excellent musical score, Hauer drives his audience along the twisted path of a psychotic hitch-hiker who kills just about anyone who is unfortunate enough to meet him.C. Thomas Howell plays a young man by the name of Jim Halsey, who is delivering a car to a customer in San Diego. As he travels across a lonely West Texas highway at nite, he's having trouble keeping awake and nearly runs afoul of a big-rig. When he catches a glimpse of a rain-soaked hitch-hiker (Rutger Hauer) standing on the shoulder, he stops to pick him up, against his better judgement, figuring the man's company would keep him awake.
Halsey tries to strike up a conversation with the hitcher, but the hitcher only gives him a terse and twisted tale about being out of gas and needing cigarettes. The hitcher begins to play a psychological game of words with Halsey that quickly turns into a life-threatening situation. A quick-thinking Halsey pushes the hitcher out of the moving car and speeds away, thinking that's the last he'll see of him. The hitcher seems impressed(!!!) by Halsey's escape; apparently no one else has been so lucky. The hitcher begins to pursue Halsey with a mindless obsession that leaves dead bodies and destruction all around them.
The hitcher is a master of manipulation in this film. I really liked the ending, although, if the storyline is followed accurately, it doesn't allow for a sequel with Rutger Hauer, who absolutely is the shining star of this movie. I would love to see him play this part again- it truly is his calling. As a previous Amazon reviewer noted, he doesn't have to speak a word for you to know what he is thinking and contemplating as the role of The Hitcher. His body language and facial expressions tell you all you need to know. I think this entire movie could have been done without a single line of dialogue from the hitcher and been just as effective.
Rutger is waaaay cool, the movie is awesome and it should be part of your collection if you dont have it yet. A DVD must!
Movie Review: Where should I begin?!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, one of my favourite movies ever, this is. I know it seems strange now, it isn't an epic with outstanding performances and great set pieces and all that, it's just a plain old, fun 80s horror road movie, but I just love it all the same. Rutger Hauer is imensely scary as a (not so freaky killer like Jason or Michael, nor a gruesome killer) but a sharp, haunting character with an icy personality. C Thomas Howell is very good as a young teenager. He starts off in the film to be a bit geeky, but once he meets Hauer he starts to get a little freaky himself. They are basically the two main characters in this.
The film -- as you probably know -- is about C Thomas Howell delivering a drive-away car (let me just say I don't like the review from Digibiong! because he says there is a mistake on the license plate of the car, but it's a drive-away car so it doesn't matter) and he has to deliver it to San Dieago, on the way he picks up a stranger on the road, he seems like a nice guy, but he turns out to be quite psychotic. Howell is able to push the stranger out of the car and carry on down the road, but the hitcher isn't done yet, he starts to play a deadly game with Howell, like getting the police onto him, framing him, killing people in front of his eyes and all stuff like that. The film doesn't drag at the start, it starts off straight away with Howell picking the stranger up and it gets darker and darker every time.
The gore in this film isn't that bad, we do HEAR a woman get pulled apart, but we don't SEE it. We never really do see a lot of deaths happen in the film, but I think that's what makes the film scary. It can be very atmospheric at times, but a lot of the scary parts happen in the day-time. When we come to the conclusion it gets a little dissapointing since it doesn't go on for long and I was expecting a great confrontation.
So, that's "the hitcher", one of my favourite movies. Road movies are my favourite genre of movies and here are a couple more good ones:
Breakdown
Convoy
Duel
Hitcher 2: I've been waiting
Movie Review: Never pick up a stranger.....
Summary: 5 Stars
While I don't think that The Hitcher is a horror film it still is one of the greatest thrillers I have ever seen. Rutger Hauer was just perfect as the ultimate villian that starts terrorizing the male lead played by Thomas Howell, the film was beautifuly shot in Nevada's long desert road which creates a good atmosphere and could only be shot in the 80's. This film will make you never pick up a hitchhicker ever again, the film is a tale of torment and fustration as Jim (Thomas Howell) is driving a rented car across the country to California while en rout to the dessert he decides to pick up a hitcher in a rainstorm only to find out that this hitcher is a psychotic killer. Jim soon eludes the killer but soon finds out that this guy is after him and is trying to play some sick mind games like setting him up for murder. This film has some pretty good action scenes and setups that makes things interesting as well as The Hitcher himself who keeps appearing and dissapearing as if he was a supernatural being or something only to make the situation alot worse for Jim, it's like a waking nightmare that the main character cannot escape from unless he finally confronts him. Jennifer Jason Liegh also stars in this film as a waitress who happens to trust Jim and helps him out, it has a basic storyline but it's not predictable and has some great and awesome scenes like the burning gas station or the police helicopter thats chasing Jim around the desert and not to mention the acting from the cast which was very good, I highly recomend this 80's cult classic.