THE HITCHER
US, 1986, 97 minutes, Colour.
Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Directed by Robert Harmon.
The Hitcher was made for home box-office television. However, it had theatrical release. It is an effective menace thriller as Rutger Hauer, the sinister hitch-hiker, terrorises C. Thomas Howell as a young driver through Texas. The film is beautifully photographed by Australian John Seale, has fine Texas landscapes by day and by night. The editing is well done for pace and for shock. However, the atmosphere is the most important as the sinister hitch-hiker works his effect on the driver. The police are brutal, desperate. Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nash befriends the driver but herself is killed. There are grim aspects to the horror.
1.Effective thriller? Menace and horror? Violence? The plausibility of the plot?
2.The Texas highway, the gas stations, night and day, the landscapes, the rain? The car, close-ups? Action, stunts? Musical score?
3.Jim and his situation, driving the car for the owner, nodding to sleep, almost crashing? Picking up John, the questions, the beginning of fear, the road block, the knife? John's stories and threats? Making him say `I want to die'? Jim pushing him out, his glee? John in the car with the family, Jim trying to warn them, hitting the bus? Seeing the car victims and being sick? Trying the phone, John with the keys? Hitching a ride with the truck and Jim trying to warn? The locked service station, crashing out? The petrol and John threatening with the match, the conflagration, the car in flames? Meeting Nash, making the phone call? Talking with the police, talking to Nash, the finger in the meal? His running out, the arrest, the rough treatment of the police? The interrogation, his being locked up, the dream? The open cell, the empty station, the dog, the slaughter of the police? His running, taking the gun, kidnapping the police, handcuffing them, the car, talking with the captain? John shooting the police, his scream and the crash of the car? Contemplating suicide? At Roy's roadhouse, Jack coming to speak with him, the empty gun? The coins on his eyes? Getting away, Nash and the bus, persuading her of the truth? The attempted arrest, Nash with the gun? Going with her, the chase, the helicopters? At the motel, the shower, John in the bed? Nash and her being tied to the truck, the ugliness of her death? Jim unable to persuade him? His going into the room with John, spitting on him? Taking the gun from the captain, the pursuit, confrontation, killing him? What was he left with?
4.Jack, the anonymous hitch-hiker, in the rain, his sneeze, Jim saying `God bless you' and saying his mother told him not to pick up hitch-hikers? Look, cigarette, talking, threats, the knife, the road block and the suggestions of homosexuality, being ousted by Jim, in the car with the family, the murders, the keys in the shed, hitching the ride in the truck, with the truck, breaking out of the service station, the fire? The bashing, the shooting of the police? At Roy's, the menace with the gun, the coins? In the motel with Nash? The killing of Nash? Not persuaded by Jim, the chase, the arrest, being spit on? The interrogation? In the bus, killing the guards, the final confrontation with Jim, his death?
5.Nash, her work, pleasant, helping Jim, talking, on the bus, believing him, with her gun and saving him from the police, in the motel, taken by John, the violence of her death?
6.The picture of the police, their desperation, brutal actions, the interrogation, the photos, Jim in the cell, the deaths in the station, the two policemen who were hijacked, their deaths, the arresting officer and his wanting to kill Jim, the restraint by the others, the captain?
7.Atmosphere of menace, emotion? The build-up to the violent climax? A moral tale about hitch-hiking and dangers?
