The Hitcher (1986)

Murder Spree Road Flick. Contains many fairly stupid moments ("plot holes") and yet remains gripping throughout its length. Graphic, stunning violence; be warned.

Howell is slightly vapid yet pretty and his relations with Rutger Hauer verge on the homo-erotic. Hauer is a near-perfect villain, demonstrating the steely resolve and psychological impenetrability that have made him a favorite "bad guy" in other films.

A great movie for the paranoid who wish to feed their fantasies. Owes something to Spielberg's "Duel" but remains its own film. Relatively spare visual style well-suited to the theme. Recommended, but not for the faint of heart.

Fmovies: The Hitcher (1986) was a directing debut for Robert Harmon, who had previously worked as a cameraman. The film is written by Eric Red whose other credits as a writer include brilliant Near Dark by Kathryn Bigelow. The Hitcher tells the story of an ordinary young man, who is taking his friend's car to other state/destination through the empty and deserted roads of America. He is very tired and almost collides with a huge truck. It rains hard. Soon he notices a figure standing by the side of the road raising his thumb..Our youngster unwisely stops and says the legendary line: "My mom always told not to do this." And then, the incredible and surrealistic nightmare begins...

This film is unbelievably beautifully shot and it is easy to see that Harmon was cinematographer before this directing debut. Camera flows and moves so smoothly and gently that the atmosphere is guaranteed to last throughout the film. The music by Mark Isham is also extremely important element and with the exceptional camerawork, these are the greatest elements in this piece of difficult art. The scenes are very similar in mood to Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark which has the unforgettable music by Tangerine Dream, and both films are scripted by Eric Red, as mentioned earlier. The Hitcher is one of the most beautiful terror films I've ever witnessed.

The Hitcher is not a realistic film and the hitcher character played by Rutger Hauer is not a realistic human being as he can follow the young protagonist (C.J Howell) anywhere and always knows where he is. He will kill the youngster no matter what and no one can tell why. Even the hitcher himself doesn't give a clear answer when he is asked why he kills and does these horrific things. My opinion is that the hitcher is a double side of Howell's personality (everyman's personality) and he is the bad and evil side of human beings' nature. The hitcher is pure evil and no one can change his thoughts and mind, because evil cannot be changed or turned into "good." It is about which side, evil or good, is one's primary personality. There are always both sides, but the both cannot influence at the same time..Howell has to destroy the hitcher/his bad and evil side in order to continue his life and recognize and accept his and others' "dual personality" in the future. There are no good persons in the world, there are only persons who can control their bad/evil side and keep it "un-active", and so they can be considered "good."

Couple of scenes are totally outstanding in their virtuosity such as the scene where two police cars are destroyed by a shotgun blast and they fly and crash in a slow motion. That kind of thing would never happen in real world, but those unrealistic scenes make this film even more nightmarish and effective. Also, the end scene between these two protagonists, Hauer and Howell, is memorable and gorgeously shot. I will definitely not spoil how this one ends, but at the end, the main character is much more wiser and knows that human beings and thus himself are not as simple as one might think..

There is no point in describing the greatest scenes in the film because the whole film is so great. It is unmatchable nightmare that has no equal in history of cinema. It handles the theme of wickedness in a form of road movie and horror movie and the result is perfect piece of art. When I said earlier "difficult art" I meant that due to the film's violence (there is not plenty, but that what

A normal ordinary guy picks up a stranger in the middle of nowhere so that he could drive awake. Little does he know that he's going into a road trip from hell...

Rutger Hauer give what I think is his best performance. Sure, there was that menacing Replicant in Blade Runner, but this one overshoots it by a long shot. He delivers a performance so good, that you'll find it difficult to question whether his character is believable or unbelievable.

C. Thomas Howell, one one of the kids in Steven Spielberg's ET, plays the protagonist. Here, he faces every driver's worst nightmare imaginable, and he delivers it with realism. Howell also demonstrates how an ordinary teenager can change into a helpless being who is caught between a psychopathic game of cat-and-mouse set by a brutal man hell-bent on killing him.

The nice New Mexico cinematography of which the film was filmed and set gives tranquility to the picture and makes the film looks good while delivering the thrills. Strongly supporting this topic is composer Mark Isham's gritty yet beautiful score. It;s just perfect for this kind of movie.

The action sequences are handled very nicely here. We got a petrol station blowing up, an intense police car chase, and one of the greatest endings in cinematic history. Period.

The Hitcher (1986) is one of the first films I have ever watched, and I still cherish it to this day. The 2007 remake, or rather, reDO, is a shallow and uninspiring music-videoish piece of crud that will only be liked by the MTV generation, but never the fans of the original. Why was it remade, we will never know.

Overall, it is an excellent movie and one of the best thrillers ever made. Pick this one up, guys, it's worth it.

8/10

The Hitcher fmovies. STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Jim Halsey (C Thomas Howell) is a young man driving his car down a freeway one night who suddenly decides to stop for a man who is hitching a ride. That man is John Ryder (Rutger Hauer.) From the off-set, he doesn't make himself out to be a nice guy and he doesn't let up from there- threatening to kill Jim for no reason and making him sweat for his life. Jim manages to get rid of his twisted assailant- only to be thrown headlong into a maze of murderous mayhem as 'The Hitcher' goes on a killing spree (involving a lot of cops) with Jim getting taken as the scape-goat.

The film opens with a masterful bolt of suspense- in a thunderous rain-shower, The Hitcher holds out his thumb as a crack of thunder erupts over-head, setting the scene for the suspenseful, scary ride that's about to follow.

Hauer lives and breathes the role. In a career that sadly (because I really like the guy) declined into an endless sludge of direct to video hell shortly afterwards, this is quite possibly the role he'll best be remembered for (after all, he was only the co-star in Blade Runner.) Ryder is a cold, mean psycho whose only motivation seems to be to cause as much terror as he can. In his opening scene, he masterfully transforms very quickly from a bit of an arsehole into a threatening madman, as he explains to his charge why the last guy who gave him a ride won't get out to call for help. No clear explanation is ever discovered as to why he does what he does, the closest we get to this being a chat across a table in a diner, in which he offers "you're a smart boy...figure it out."

In the main supporting role Howell also shines (though nowhere near as much as Hauer), as the beleaguered, petrified young man whose endurance and sanity is pushed to breaking point. In an early role, Jennifer Jason Leigh makes a bit of an impression as the cafe owner's daughter love interest.

Spielberg's Duel first dealt with a man being hounded on an American highway for no reason...you are only left to guess 'The Hitcher' is meant to be the mad truck driver's brother. ****

The Hitcher is a marvelous thriller and Rutger Hauer is truly scary as hell. He is undoubtedly one of the best villains in cinematic history. The game that Hauer and C. Thomas Howell play out makes for a great way to spend an hour and a half of your life. You can't help but feel sorry for Howell as he can never escape the madman. Hauer has zero motive and that makes him all the more evil. And how he always finds Howell is something that is unnerving and unexplainable. It's like their paths were meant to cross somewhere out in in the desert. Eric Red's script leaves nothing to be desired. The scene where Howell is eating french fries is one of the most unforgettable in horror history. And so is the event that leads to the capture of Hauer. The end is fantastic and it's something that you want to do through the entire movie. It will definitely make you think twice before picking up hitchhikers. If you enjoyed The Hitcher, Check out Hitch-Hike (with David Hess) and Duel.

Starring everybody's favourite Dutchman, Rutger Hauer, this superb road movie thriller is tense, thrilling and superbly atmospheric.

The first scene between the Hitcher and Jim Holsey was superb, Rutger puts in a chilling performance. Mr Hauer has a reputation for pulling off some memorable bad guy performances, namely this, Blade runner and Nighthawks, but this is my favourite of his performances. The lines he has were brilliant. The pacing of the film was very good and apart from Rutger stealing the show the other actors were good. Jennifer Jason Leigh was good in her small role and of course C Thomas Howell in the lead does a good job. Overall this gets a 9/10 from me.