directed by Robert Harmon; written by Eric Red; starring Rutgar Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh
If you've never driven across the United States, I say go for it. What's the worst that can happen? You meet some psycho out on the lonesome road that chases you to hell and back slaughtering everyone you come across and bringing you to the brink of sanity?
Yeah, that's about the worst that can happen.
But you could also see the width and breadth of the country and discover all the little ways each state has developed the strip mall and/or Wal-Mart parking lot. Depending on your ethnicity, you may also get ingratiated with a variety of racist law enforcement. If the interstate system created anything, it's the ability to not find yourself in a rich neighborhood driving a questionable car because the "good" neighborhoods are almost never near the highway.
Speaking of good and evil, The Hitcher roared into screens in 1986 and made few waves, beyond reviewers who were mixed. Roger Ebert called it "diseased and corrupt" lamenting its ability to dig for deeper meaning. Many either hated or loved it, depending on if they viewed it as an extension of the slasher genre's hold on cinemas at the time or saw it as a violent art piece commenting on society's fears of open country and lone wanderers. When I first saw it I was terrified and thought it was the most violent movie I've ever seen. Now it falls in with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a revolutionary take on the crazed killer that has less blood than I remember yet is still chillingly terrifying.
I might be a little broken after thirty plus years of horror, but this movie still thrills me while it feels almost chaste compared to some of the more graphic gags that can happen in horror. It's a mind game of a movie that plays with the audience as much as Hauer plays with Howell, and it works.
Check it out.
Plot Summary
A young man driving cross country picks up a hitchhiker who then fucks that dude's life up real bad as the two battle through the desert and many people are killed.
Characters
John Ryder (Hauer) - lone psycho wandering the world or force of the desert claiming souls, either way scary as hell
Jim Halsey (Howell) - a young dude going to California who drives while tired and makes a dumb decision
Nash (Leigh) - Just a small town girl living in a lonely world taking the midnight truck to hell, straight to hell, jesus help her cause she's in hell
Setting
1980s American southwest including the open road, claustrophobic cars, empty diners, police stations, and motels
Favorite Scenes
"My mother told me never to do this." - When this is your movie's first line, you know shit's gonna go down hill. That's like daring the narrative gods to put a psycho on your path. At least it's more novel than "I'll be right back," but that's a low bar.
Knife crotch are "sweethearts" - Starting the homosexual tendencies between Rider and Halsey that ends with Halsey blowing a load on Rider's chest, having a cop not see the panic on Halsey's face and then the mistaken situation pays right into Rider's modus operandi. It's the same as the killers in either version of Speak No Evil and Funny Games where the point is people don't want to rock the boat and force uncomfortable conversations. Nobody wants there to be a complete madman, so they fall back to the stereotypes they are comfortable with. The stereotypes they have control over. That's what Rider really plays into as well by leaning into what people think they are going to see. I'm kinda circling a drain here, but the scene would not be as impactful for the audience or the cop if Rider was a woman holding a knife to Halsey's crotch while acting like she was his girlfriend to a cop.
Finger fries - I think this is the first time things get really surreal. I'm inclined to believe there was no finger in the fries. Jim has been pushed too far at this point and is looking for a reason to panic. Of course, there's time for Rider to have planted the finger. I dunno, it just feels out of nowhere and is scarier to me if we (and Halsey himself) don't trust what Halsey is seeing.
Lyle the Cop vs Nash with a gun - You ever looked over at someone and they wave, but then you realize with half an arm up they are waving to someone behind you? That's this whole scene, but with gunfire and murderous intent. Lyle is the hero of another movie who has seen hell unleashed on his friends and thinks he has caught the bad guy. He's taking the law into his own hands, Dirty Harry style, and about to blow away a young kid and protect the damsel. Then the damsel pulls out a gun, calls him out, and shuts the whole thing down. Great scene.
Nash stretch - By all accounts, this should have been the end of the movie. It's a crescendo climax stress point and just a big swing in every direction. Cops are surrounding the truck where Rider has tied Nash between the truck and trailer. He wants Halsey or he'll release the brake and Nash will be torn in two. If the cops shoot him, same deal. So Halsey climbs up and they talk, Rider in control and even looking sad when Halsey won't kill him. Bye Nash, an off screen death for the ages. If everything had gone to black and we'd heard a gunshot, honestly, I think this movie would be even higher on people's "WTF" bingo cards.
Discussion Questions
Do you believe in the devil or some other evil spirit walking the earth as an agent of entropy?
Halsey is a young twenty-something driving across the country. Have you ever decided to throw your life away?
A main theme of the movie is people getting murdered by shotgun. What's up with that?
Route 66 was once a lifeblood of hundreds of communities across the country. What else has changed about American life to cause people to not have stable homelives and incomes?
Do you think there should be safety features in place to stop someone that's tied between a truck and a trailer from being torn in half? Should the police have had blocks to stop the truck from rolling? What's the purpose of the police in this movie other than cannon fodder? Does anything police do contribute to a moral good for humanity?
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