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The Hitcher

The Hitcher (1986)

January. 17,1986
|
7.2
|
R
| Horror Action Thriller

On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.

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Reviews

Acensbart
1986/01/17

Excellent but underrated film

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Stevecorp
1986/01/18

Don't listen to the negative reviews

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Odelecol
1986/01/19

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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Matylda Swan
1986/01/20

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

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GUENOT PHILIPPE
1986/01/21

I discovered this fantastic film more than thirty years ago. The first week of its release and I still feel astonished by this first viewing. It is one of the best film ever, all genres confounded. I did not consider the Rutger Hauer's character as the devil side of the hero, but only as a mad man who desired to be stopped in his bloody odyssey. he used the young man to kill him. That seems so obvious to me. And this is also the second film starring Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh after the tremendous FLESH AND BLOOD, a couple of years earlier.

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cinemajesty
1986/01/22

Movie Review: "The Hitcher" (1986)The directorial debut of Robert Harmon realized under highly effective cinematography by John Seale, who eventually will do his best work on "The English Patient" (1996) and "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015), comes along with high-voltage suspense driving of the young adult Jim Halsey, giving face in James-Dean-mimicking coolness by actor C. Thomas Howell, who meets an imaginative ultra-violent father figure, performed in menacing-scary manners by Rutger Hauer as John Ryder, on isolated roads of the Mid-west areas of the U.S. leading to California. The screenplay by Eric Red has a deep understanding for tension build-ups and rhythmic pay-offs that I had no time the feeling of being lost or dulled-out within the 90 minutes hypnotic editorial by Frank J. Urioste, who also edited "Die Hard" (1988) and "Basic Instinct" (1992). "The Hitcher" is a lucky punch of a movie thriller, where simply every shot follows the next with curiosities of being further sucked into an imaginative world of young man between dreams and realities, where constant surprises await in upcoming scenes, as the character of Nash, portrayed by 23-year-old actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who delivers the matching pendant to Jim Halsey, when they come together to fight authorities in form of up-on-their-heels highway patrols for pleading innocent in games of cat-and-mouse with John Ryder, where nothing is what is seems, before this extraordinary 1980s thriller concludes to my satisfaction.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

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sol-
1986/01/23

Driving across Texas, a young man is stalked by a serial killer who briefly hitched a ride with him in this thriller written by Eric Red of 'Near Dark' fame. Rutger Hauer is perfectly cast as the unsettling, unpredictable hitcher and the opening scenes are loaded with atmosphere as lead actor C. Thomas Howell keeps falling asleep at the wheel before picking up Hauer. As the menacing Hauer subsequently plays cat and mouse with Howell, framing him for murders along the way, 'The Hitcher' is initially frustrating to view since his motives for pursuing Howell are vague. As the film progresses though and Hauer keeps telling Howell that he is smart enough to figure it out, the film begins to feel much more allegorical, with Howell suffering the consequences of doing what he (as he says) his mother told him never to do: give a lift to a stranger. Interesting as this may be, 'The Hitcher' is hardly flawless and significant stretch in which Howell is aided and assisted by a young woman who believes him lacks the tension and Kafkaesque paranoia of the rest of the film - though of course what happens to her is most unexpected. Whatever the case, the movie is filmed in a classy manner. There are some great 360 degree shots in the police station, there is a superb shot in which the camera creeps up to Hauer at low camera angle in the middle of the road, and Mark Isham's score is perfectly moody.

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skybrick736
1986/01/24

The Hitcher is a classic road movie that follows a young driver as he travels across remote places of the western United States. C. Thomas Howell and Rutger Hauer's characters were great adversaries, both pulling off believable roles as the hunter and the haunted. The movie never ceased to lose my attention having some sort of car chase, action sequence or intense dialogue taking place. Bits and pieces of the film do take a long period of time to develop and there is some choppiness to the flow of the movie but there are far more positives than negatives to the story. There is one very cool scene in particular that occurs at a restaurant that is unsuspecting to viewers and truly horrifying. The Hitcher is a non-stop thrill ride that is fairly unpredictable, having a few different plot twists throughout. Check out The Hitcher is you're looking to enjoy a well written film that is a bit scarier than your typical road movie.

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