Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 26, 2017 13:10:41 GMT
"I want you to stop me."
It was supposed to be just another simple and easy going friendly favor, by transporting a vehicle from Chicago to San Diego, but the moment it's young and naive driver decides to go against his mother's advice of not picking up any strangers, he suddenly find himself being lectured by a mysterious passenger, (Rutger Hauer) in what will become a very long and cruel lesson of basic survival, 1-0-1.
A truly fantastic late night cable gem, that I went in expecting to be just another silly but entertaining 80s action b-movie, featuring explosions and car chases etc, just as the 15-20 seconds of the heavily edited TV commercial had promised earlier on.
Turned out, the film was anything but your typical action film, instead it was an incredible well acted/made psychological thriller along with some truly great action scenes, and one that took me completely by surprise, and has stayed with me ever since.
The Hitcher was loosely based on The Doors - Riders on the Storm which in turn had been written about the serial killer Billy Cook, who met up with his unlucky victims being dressed up as a hitcher in need of a ride.
The original script got a good response, and the next step was to try and locate the right man of taking on the role as the sadistic serial killer, John Ryder.
Big names such as David Bowie, Terence Stamp, Sam Elliott and Sting had all been brought up, with Stamp being very close, but instead he turned the part down, as he came to the conclusion that by taking on a role like this, it would put him in a place where he did not want to go.
In the end, it became very obvious that the only man capable of doing John Ryder any justice, was Rutger Hauer.
But it would take some time to try and convince Rutger, as he had become afraid that by taking on another huge villainous role, it would just be seen as another bad guy typecasting, and that it would not be such a wise choice at the moment.
Luckily, he changed his mind after reading the script and later on being told: "You are the bad guy and you'll be the baddest bad guy there ever was!".
In the role of the movies anti-hero, Jim Halsey, names such as Tom Cruise, Matthew Modine and Emilio Estevez had been mentioned, but in the end the producers went along with the 18 year old C. Thomas Howell much because they wanted someone with the face of innocence, but also because he had already proven himself in films such as Francis Ford Coppola's, The Outsiders (1983) and John Milius, Red Dawn (1984).
And there would be no problems of causing a chilling and unsettling tone between the two main characters, as C. Thomas Howell mentioned later on that while he was full of praise and admiration for his fellow co-worker, he was also truly terrified of Rutger Hauer.
Another admirer of the Dutchman were actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who would get the part as the no nonsense, tough country girl, Nash after learning the possibility of teaming up with Rutger for a second time around, as the two of them had played against each other in the solid, dark middle age thriller Flesh + Blood by Paul Verhoeven.
The Hitcher really does take the viewer for a ride, and one that starts the very moment we see Rutger Hauer's mysterious character take on the offer of getting a lift from the naive and unwitting Jim Halsey, who only moments later drives by a seemingly empty car, beside the road.
Ryder then places his hand on Halseys thigh and squeezes it, and from that moment, the young boy realises that he has just made a terrible mistake:
Jim Halsey: What do you want?
John Ryder: That's what the other guy said.
Jim Halsey: What other guy?
John Ryder: That guy back there, the one we just passed. The guy who picked me up before you did.
Jim Halsey: That was him in there?
John Ryder: Sure it was. He couldn't have walked very far.
Jim Halsey: Why's that?
John Ryder: Because I cut off his legs... and his arms... and his head... and I'm going to do the same to you.
Throughout most of the film, we witness a merciless cat and mouse game, set out by a man with little or no background or motive in life, other than to spend his last days on earth, by making sure that his next victim Jim Halsey, goes through a living hell.
Rutger Hauer delivers one of his finest and most evil movies roles as John Ryder, a man you surely not want to be in the company of, during a long car ride through the open desert at night.
But for me, it is C. Thomas Howell who really ends up stealing the whole show and my favorite scene and certainly one of the most powerful in the film, has to be when we get to witness a defeated looking Jim Halsey, getting ready to take his own life. As he can no longer see any other way of escaping the ruthless and sadistic mind games of his nemesis, and surrounded by beautiful scenery along with Mark Isham's haunting score, the desperate situtation that he has gotten himself in, now seems almost impossible to beat.
The Hitcher did not get along well with the audience as many might have felt "cheated" by going in an expecting a slasher or action film, instead ending up with something else, and the critics, such as Roger Ebert awarded it with zero stars while other went so far in their dislike for the movie that they claimed it to be homophobic and taking cheap shots at the increasing fear of AIDS.
Another negative view on the movie was the lack of blood and gore, specially included in one of the films most infamous scenes, with Jennifer Jason Leigh and two huge trucks, or when Jim Halsey comes across a parked and empty car along the road, containing what seems to be the remains of a family that had earlier on picked up John Ryder.
And instead of showing the gruesome work of Ryder, we see Halsey's disgusted look on his face which tells you all you need to know, as he walks slowly away and throws up.
Anyway, for the past decades, The Hitcher has finally gotten the positive response it really deserves, as one of the finest and most chilling thrillers of the 1980s, a real cult-classic that has hold up far better than a lot of other horror-thriller films of its time, and neither Rutger Hauer or C. Thomas Howell have come close of topping their work as John Ryder and Jim Halsey.
