The Hitcher
(1986) 97 Min.
Rated: R
Director: Robert Harmon
Starring: Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★☆☆
A young man picks up a crazed murdering hitchhiker who follows him and toys with him.
Synopsis:
Jim Halsey (Howell) is a young man driving from Chicago to San Diego to deliver a car, the car he is driving. He spots a man hitchhiking in west Texas in the rain and decides to pick him up.
The Hitcher, John Ryder (Hauer), doesn’t say much to Jim while they drive. When they pass a stopped car, Ryder forces Jim to accelerate. He matter-of-factly tells Jim that he murdered the driver of the car and intends to do the same to Jim. He pulls out a knife and threatens Jim and asks him to repeat the words “I want to die”. Instead, Jim pushes Ryder out of the car. The door was slightly ajar and Ryder was not buckled into his chair.
Jim rides off excited and relieved. It’s not long though, until Jim sees Ryder in the back of a family station wagon. Jim tries to warn the family but they don’t hear him and think he’s nuts. He narrowly avoids a head-on collision with a bus and drives off in a hurry. Later he comes upon the same station wagon abandoned on the side of the road. He sees a bloody mess inside and drives off.
Jim encounters Ryder at an abandoned gas station, but Ryder simply tosses Jim’s car keys at him and hitches a ride with a truck. Jim encounters him again at another gas station where Ryder crashes a truck he’s driving into gas pumps. The gasoline sprays all over Jim who narrowly avoids a fiery death when Ryder drops a lit match onto the spilled gas.
Jim stops at a diner and meets a waitress named Nash (Leigh). Jim tries to call the police and Nash fixes him a hamburger. He starts to eat it and finds a severed finger. He runs out of the diner as the local police surround the diner and arrest him. They find Ryder’s knife in his pocket, still wet with blood.
Jim is taken to the police station but they fail to verify his side of the story. They keep him locked in a jail cell and he sleeps. When he awakens he finds the door unlocked and all of the other officers are dead and have been gunned down. Jim takes a revolver from one of the dead officers and runs out of the building on foot as he hears police sirens approach. He heads out into the desert.
At a nearby gas station he sees two officers. He takes them hostage and asks to speak to their captain. He gets Captain Esteridge on the radio and tries to convince him that he didn’t kill the people at the station. Just as Captain Esteridge convinces Jim to surrender himself, Ryder pulls up along the police vehicle and shoots the officers driving. Jim runs out of the vehicle.
Jim briefly contemplates suicide and then walks into a cafe. Ryder finds him and sits with him at his table, toying with him. Ryder scares Jim into using his gun after pointing out it’s unloaded, which Jim thinks is a bluff. Ryder leaves Jim a few bullets for his gun and departs. Jim gets onto a bus nearby.
While on the bus, Jim finds Nash. He tries to explain his side of events to her and she’s willing to help him out. Police cars pull the bus over and take Jim out. They attempt to goad Jim into a fight so they have a reason to shoot him. Nash, however, appears and defends Jim. She helps Jim to escape and they take a police vehicle.
Nash and Jim are running from the police and are able to evade capture as Ryder pulls alongside and shoots down a helicopter which takes out the other police cars.
Jim and Nash stay in a hotel room together. As Jim takes a shower Ryder abducts Nash. Ryder has Nash tied and suspended between two trucks with Ryder threatening to release the clutch on one truck and tear Nash apart. The police take Jim to Ryder, as this was Ryder’s request. Ryder forces Jim to either shoot him or he release the clutch. Jim chooses not to shoot, which causes Ryder to release the clutch.
Ryder is taken into police custody and Jim is taken in. They try to transfer Ryder to another facility and Esteridge gives Jim a ride. Jim takes the car from Esteridge and catches up to the bus in which Ryder was restrained. Ryder manages to get a shotgun and kill the officers in the bus. He leaps onto Jim’s car. Jim slams on his brakes sending Ryder to the ground. Ryder taunts Jim and asks him to run him over. Jim walks over to him and sees that he doesn’t move. He picks up Ryder’s shotgun. As he turns to leave he hears Ryder get up. Jim shoots Ryder three times, killing him finally.
Review:
The Hitcher is an interesting thriller. For seemingly no reason Jim is singled out. He is the one that got away and is framed and toyed with by Ryder.
Rutger Hauer plays a wonder villain and in this film he really shines. He’s a little silly and over the top, but it plays well in a film where Ryder appears and disappears like a specter whenever he can coincidentally come and ruin young Jim’s life. C. Thomas Howell plays a young man so worn down and he does it fairly convincingly. Very quickly in the first few minutes of the film he transforms from a carefree guy to terrified and angst ridden.
Robert Harmon frames much of the scenes beautifully and they are fairly well filmed. He is able to capture the beauty and isolation of West Texas.
Overall the film is fairly enjoyable. There are shots that linger a bit too long and sometimes the pace is a bit slow, but if you’re in for a picturesque cat and mouse game that takes place on the open road, well… this definitely would be the film to watch.
Note: This film has a 2007 remake of the same name.