Customer Reviews

The Hitcher

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The reason I bought a DVD player almost four years ago was that I finally saw for myself the drastic increase in picture quality from VHS. I can tolerate DVD releases that skimp on extras like behind the scenes documentaries and director commentary, but I do demand good picture quality. This DVD fails to deliver. It doesn't look too bad when the scenes occur in daylight, but when you reach the point in the story where darkness falls and the scenes were shot at night, the extremely low quality of the film print and digital transfer come shining through. I haven't seen this much grain and artifacting since... well, ever. It's even worse than the "gray market" DVD of the Twin Peaks pilot episode. Buy if you must, but as for me I wish I'd held out for a better edition.

Some call the original Hitcher a horror movie, others classify it under the suspense genre, etc. All that aside, this little flick did more than turn a few heads back when it came out in the mid-80's, featuring Rutger Hauer's ice cold performance as a psychotic killer who hitches a ride with a young man (C. Thomas Howell) whom he terrorizes and frames for his crimes as the film rolls on. Considering the time the Hitcher was made, it's surprisingly not predictable, and loaded with taut suspense, with great performances from Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh (whose character has the most infamous death in the whole film), and especially Hauer who is disturbingly perfect as psychopathic killer John Ryder. Hopefully the Hitcher will be re-released on DVD with loads of features and a much better picture transfer (the one on this disc is terribly grainy), and considering all the DVD double dipping of late, that possibility isn't entirely unlikely.

Why Hollywood remakes movies such as "The Hitcher," "Psycho" or "The Manchurian Candidate" defies explanation. All of these should be seen in their original versions, not as remakes.
Every review I've read of the 2007 version of "The Hitcher" has been horrible, and I don't plan on wasting my money on it.
See this 1986 version. The combination of C. Thomas Howell, Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh; plus the landscape, music and lighting; plus Robert Harmon's direction made for a must-see thriller/horror classic. It is a work of art. If you like reading pulp/noir/crime fiction, you'll love watching this cult classic which succeeds as much because of perfect casting and perfect choices of locations as anything else.
But remaking this is like repainting classic art or rewriting Shakespeare -- I mean, it's just downright stupid and also doomed from the get-go.
[Five stars for the movie; I'm not rating the quality of this DVD (see reviews below).]

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.

This is probably Rutger Hauer's best known role - and *the* perfect example of how good an actor he is. His magnificent performance adds to the film's strange and surreal atmosphere and creates one of the most chilling movie villains of all time. A mysterious modern Flying Dutchman, shadowy and coming from nowhere, undead and cursed to roam not the sea but a desert and kill over and over again, Rutger Hauer's "John Ryder" cannot be liberated unless *he* himself is killed... and this is the favor that he asks a young driver he meets to do. The movie is not standard, down-to-earth thriller. It creates its own world and you can only understand it when you watch it and have the Flying Dutchman's story in mind. Only then will you see that what some people thought to be mistakes and holes in the script are in fact deliberate and well-thought elements of the plot. Watch the movie thinking of "John Ryder" as the Flying Dutchman, and you will understand every comment he makes, every line he says, and every action he takes. And, hopefully, you will appreciate the genius of Rutger Hauer and director Bob Harmon.

No other film has incurred the ire of prolific critic Roger Ebert more than 1986's The Hitcher. "...diseased and corrupt...showing a deep sickness at the screenplay stage...a reprehensible film." Ouch. Since its release in 1986, to little fan fare and nearly universal critical distaste, The Hitcher has since garnered the admiration of genre fans the world over. It is a tricky thriller, fast-paced, action-packed, brutal, stylish, beautifully photographed and scored. The film raises questions it in no way begins to answer. The relationship between the protagonist and villain being a dandy of an enigma. There is no sub plot and little back story. In the end, The Hitcher leaves a feeling of distance in the viewer, a palpable numbness, which to some will invariably revolt, even sicken, for others will chill to the bone.

this movie is about a serial killer. Hauer pursues C.Toms character all throughout simply because he offered him a ride and managed to kick him out of his car before he could do some not very nice things to him with a switchblade. Hauer plays a bizarre game with CT by killing all of these people and framing him for the murders, but rescuing him before the authorities can catch him. Even though there is a ton of violence and bloodshed, what makes this movie intense is all of the horrible things that happen offscreen or is described through dialogue between the two characters. In fact, the hitchers motivations are never explained, a brilliant move because his atrocities really excite your imagination as to why all of this had to happen.

This movie is a very good thriller! I saw it on HBO a long time ago & had to purchase it. I recommend to anyone who enjoys good thrillers. This movie will keep you guessing what's next.

If you have ever been tempted to pick up a stranger, this movie should cure you for good. Forgive me for probably repeating some things. This movie stars C. Thomas Howell (Ponyboy in The Outsiders), Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), & Jennifer Jason Leigh (Fast Times At Ridgemont High). This was the extent of my knowledge when I first saw this movie at the age of 15 with my best friend (our theater more or less did not believe in carding). This movie looked cool but we had no major expectations.

WOW! This was one of those movies where you had no idea how much time had passed when it was over. Howell is convincing enough as your basic 80's midwestern dirty white boy. I could relate. He was the main draw at the time for moviegoers. But Hauer is positively bone-chilling in his role as an aimless drifter who has decided, after Howell initially gets the better of him, to focus all of his deranged energy & attention squarely upon the shoulders of Howell's character by alternately terrorizing him & oddly assisting him - while offering no explanation for either (well, near the end we learn a little). Leigh plays the innocent bystander who becomes caught in the middle. Anyone looking for or suspecting the standard romance angle will not find it in this movie; the only developing relationship that develops here is between the kid & the hitcher. Normally, at this time in my life, I went to rated R movies looking for some T&A (didn't we all...), but this is a movie where there is none - and is not missed one bit. The only other rated R flick from this period for which I would say the same was Runaway Train. What I am saying is that the plot is engrossing (as long as you believe most anything could happen out in the lonely Texas badlands - esp. when you don't order from the menu!). The ending is not altogether brilliant but for sure is not any sugarcoated giftwrap Hollywood triumph of good over evil or anything like that. The movie will make you wonder: what good could anyone have made of such a situation? I kind of like that.

To touch on some other aspects: the soundtrack done by Mark Isham is awesome for this movie. It is very unnerving and tense. And it is perfect in a lonely, desolate, Texas high plains sort of way. Movie stunt buffs take note: this movie features the very first filmed scene of two motor vehicles executing a simultaneous barrel roll onscreen. No multiple angles or tricks. One straight-on camera shot of the two vehicles tumbling just inches apart, side by side, toward you at full speed. That is pretty cool. The overall cinematography is excellent as well, taking full advantage of the wide open spaces & dark, dusty corners. I would probably agree with many that the visual quality of the film (I am thinking more for DVDers) is not the best. Also there are no artificial special effects or tricks that I am aware of, which is fine in this case.

Basically, a weird offbeat script with a small but well chosen cast & crew which resulted in this singularly terrifying gem. Even the dogs did their parts well. You will be disturbed!

This film will make you swear off picking up hitchhikers forever. A young man gives a hitcher a ride resulting in unremitting, episodic violence as the hitchhiker, played by Rutger Hauer, follows the boy and creates havoc. Violent and terrifying film. Recommended. By the way, this film is head-and-shoulders above the recent remake!!!