The Hitcher (1986)

0:16 Hello, and welcome to Lee All Eighties Movies podcast podcast where we talk about the blacklisters, the flops, and everything in between from one of the freshest. Decades from movies from nineteen eighties. I'm your host Bill Banton Long m me on this journey revisiting eighties movies. Is my co host Jason massk. What do you want, Jason, Bill, I want you to stop me. That's right, Listeners, we are discussing with spoilers of plenty, the nineteen eighty six cult thriller The Hitch Error. It was produced by HBO Pictures and Silver Screen Partners and distributed by TriStar Pictures. The movie stars Steve Thomas, Hall, Rucker Howard, and Jennifer Jason Lee. Directed by Robert Harmon, This movie is rated R with the running time of one hour and thirty seven minutes. So what is this movie about? What's on the box? If you grew up in the nineteen eighties and what's your local video store to rend this movie? You would find this description on the back of the VHS box. It is what's in the box? Take it away, Jason.

1:15 It's a dark, rainy night. As young Jim Halsey drives along an endless stretch of desert highway. Up ahead looms a figure on the road, a hitcher. Jim stops for the stranger at once, he regrets his action. The man with the transparent eyes and menacing smile is soon holding a knife to Jim's throat. The hitcher then tells Jim to pass a car on the side of the road. The passengers are already dead. The hitcher has killed them. Jim is finally able to shove the hitcher out of the car door and is relieved that the terrifying situation is over. Some hours later, a car passes with three little kids in the back seat. The hitcher is smiling through the rear window. The journey into real terror has just begun for Jim Halsey, an unending nightmare, filled with one horror scene after another as the deranged hitcher continues on his slaughteris rampage quote the hitcher will leave you so frightened you won't want to stop.

2:09 For the next red light. The New York Post the Hitcher. So that was what's in the box. I was getting a little nervous. I was gonna recap the whole movie for us, it was another one of those we don't need to do the podcast or Jason's gonna read off the whole movie. Hey, this is great for those listeners for some reason that have not seen this movie and decided to listen to this podcast. Just be like, what is the Hitcher all about? Well? Yeah, just read the back of the box, the VHS box, and there you go. All there for you. Okay, Jason, do you remember when you first saw The Hitcher? I do. I was a kid and this was definitely a cable watch for me. I should I say kid, because that's how I think of myself Ethan as a teenager. I was in my early to mid teens, and it was HBO.

2:54 It was a repeat cable watch in the late eighties, and this movie simply, I'd go as far as to say it absorbed me. I mean, this was a time when hitchhiking was still very much a thing. And I don't know how many ways to say this, but it captured me and it frightened me. For myself, I'll always remember two to three iconic horror thriller scenes, and I'll wait to describe any of those because I'm sure we'll touch upon them later. But I have to say, Bill Band, I had a little bit of a Mendela effect where I thought there was more graphic violence in the opening, like I just remembered this like first twenty minutes of the movie very differently. But I've always been a fan of the film, so I was looking forward to this podcast and covering it, and I just want to tell our audience, I have been pushing Bill Bant time and time again to watch this movie and record this podcast.

3:50 So I thank you, Bill Band, Thank you for doing this at long last. It only took four seasons. Sorry about that. You don't have to apologize. There's a lot of movies in the eighties to get to, so we finally got to this one. What are you? What are your memories? Man? What was your experience in seeing this the first time? Audience? This is a rarity for the podcast because usually when we do cover movies, it's either Jason and I have both seen the movie, Jason and I have not seen the movie. I have seen the movie and Jason has not. It's very rare when we have Jason has seen the movie and Bill is not. And this might be. We're over one hundred and seventy episodes, and this might only be the second time this has happened where Jason has seen the movie and I have not. So Yes, my first experiences this past week amazing. We've seen bits and pieces, but never from opening credits to end credit.

4:50 Yeah cool, Okay, So let's talk about the movie and what are impressions of the Hitcher and Jason. I'm going to start because as we established, you've been clamoring to do this movie for as long as we've been doing. This podcast, that's right. And I finally got to watch it, and I did not enjoy this movie at all. The first three times I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. Fourth time I finally got through it, and I was said to myself, I cannot watch this another time. I don't know how I'm gonna do my notes because usually I just watch it once for enjoyment, second time to really analyze it. And then the third time i'm doing my notes, I'm like, I'm done. And I thought this this movie really as bad as I'm thinking. And I go online and everyone loves this movie. Hell yeah they do. So this is what I'm asking you, Jason. What am I missing? I don't understand why I don't like this movie. It didn't do anything for me. This is two minutes shorter than the last movie we covered, Rocky three, and it felt five times as long. I don't get it, and I'd like everyone in this movie. I'm fans of c Thomas, Hall, record Hower, Jennifer, Jason Lee. I just wanted it to end.

6:06 I was done. My god, damn. I mean we all have that, we all have that one movie that everyone likes, and there's that one person like, Nope, don't like it. I think this is me with the hitcher. Wow. Try to sell me on this and I'll just explain why it just didn't do it for me, and then maybe there's something I'm missing. Okay, all right, all right, Well this will be an interesting undertaking here. I am surprised. I'm surprised, but I'm gonna make some admissions upon this rewatch. I had some similar feelings, of course, not that is definitely not my overall take. And I think what you missed, Bill is by stating that you did not care for this movie, is that we are no longer friends.

6:50 As a result. This could be our last show, right, This could be the end of the All Eighties Movies Podcast. No, we're not even close to being done with this dang podcast. Let me just start, maybe with my first impressions upon the rewatch, and you'll see where I agree and disagree. I have to tell you, man, I have nostalgic attachments to this and I am biased because of how it scared the living Bejesus out of me as a teenager, and obviously it stayed with me. I believe we had a mini episode about scenes that scared us the most, and I believe i'd listed a very important scene from this film, which we will cover. A little bit later. This movie. Upon watching it again as an adult, and Bill, I didn't realized that I have not seen this for years, but this movie still grips me. I mean, I don't know how many different ways to use different descriptors, but I find this film extremely upsetting. Does it work for me one hundred percent today? No? Bill, You're right, this film is slow. There are moments when I appreciate the methodical nature of it, and then there are scenes which just get stuck in mud. Does it still work for me as a psychological thriller? It absolutely does. And there are three reasons, and maybe I'll try to sell you on these reasons as we go through our recording here.

8:12 And number one is Rutger Hauer. Number two is music composer Mark Isham, and for me, number three was the director of photography, John Seal. Those three elements put together completely immerse me into this dark vibe as I'm calling it. This movie is seriously a dark hang. It is a dark vibe. It is a fever dream film you watch on a sick day and you can become engrossed by it. Now on the flip side, Bill Bett, if you're watching this first thing in the morning, all caffeinated, or last thing before going to bed, like as you mentioned, you fell asleep three times, it's a tough set. It's a tough hang because I mean, I was thinking, Wow, I appreciate its simplicity, but maybe this movie is a little simple to a fault. And I think my two major complaints, and I am going to step on my complaints right now, would be that there's a pacing issue, and then there's a little bit of a suspension of disbelief issue. For me, the movie has some conveniences. There's a lot with finding gas stations, and diners and things that happen. There's a police car chase that is great for the first half of but way over the top for the second half, and it falters a little bit as the film progresses as far as how much I buy into the conceit of this film, But man, when I got to the end of it, and I agree, it's under forty minutes, and I was still like, wow, this does feel like a lot longer than that. But I was still in it.

9:39 I was still in it. And as the What's on the Box Knopsis said, rucker Houer is so menacing you can't keep your eyes off him. It feels like he'll do the opposite of whatever you think he'll do. It's as if he's the joker, you know, a serial killer, stalker, hitchhiker. I appreciate the psychological thriller aspect of this and the connect what I got into and maybe would I'll try to see tell you a little bit on here, Bill Banners. The connection that ultimately develops between the characters of Jim Halsey played by c Thomas Howell and the evil, the pure evil, John Ryder played by Rutger Hower. How they actually do have a relationship. Through this film. There's no question there's a relationship, and there is an arc, and you can see the connection at the end through my eyes at least. But again, here's he might be a hot takes. And I adore this movie and I'll I'm a sucker for it, and I'll talk about it till I'm blue in the face.

10:29 But here's a hot take. I think maybe this could have even worked better as a thirty to forty minutes short. Probably I think I would agree with that. I think it just goes a little too long. And there's one word that you said that I think makes a lot of sense about this movie. And I'm not describing how I feel about the movie, but this is a tone of the movie. It's dreadful. There are no light parts in this film whatsoever, and it just pounds you and pounds on you and pounds on you. You even think. About just general slashing movies, Friday thirteenth or Psycho, there's some kind of light moments in it at some point, and this one there's nothing.

11:14 Fun that happened, nothing redeeming. Yeah, And I think that just weighed on me, and I was like, I think I missed the window of when I should have watched this movie. Maybe if I had watched this in my twenties or my teens, I would appreciate it more. But now I'm like, I don't need this. I don't need all this just one bad thing after another happening to this poor kid, which we never understand. Why not that we need to know? I mean, this happens is decided. All the time bad things happen, people ask why, why? Why? And we never know? Right? Certainly with this there's no backstory for ride or whatsoever, Like, why is he doing this? I don't know? And that's that was driving me crazy too. Why did you let him survive when you just end up killing someone else in the car and then killing the next people you got in the car? What was it about Jim that was special?

12:05 Right? We don't find that out. There's just too many unanswered questions that drive me up the wall with this film that it bothered me. It bothered me, and that's why I couldn't connect to it. I just couldn't. I understand that completely. And I like the fact that you use the word dreadfil there is a sense of dread the entire film. This movie will weigh you down. It's like wearing a weight belt underwater. You're going to sink to the bottom and that's where you're going to stay while watching this movie. There's no question about it. Now, let's just talk about it the why of it, because I think that's what I connected to a little more upon this rewatch as an adult, and Rucker Howerd has said this as much in interviews talking about his character. I don't think this needs to be overthought. Is he is the personification of evil.

12:48 You can call him the devil. He is a demon. He appears from nowhere at random times. Why did he choose Jim Halsey. I think, for my take is that he saw something in Jim that he saw in himself deep down. And the fact is whether John Ryder, the personification of evil, recognizes that he is a complete psychopath or not. He is a cat, you know, playing with a ball of yarn. He's just playing with his food the entire time, his food being Jim Halsey, and toying with him but never killing him, and putting him in the most dire situations only to test him and have fun with him up to a certain point where he is looking to die. That is John Ryder. He has a death wish and he wants and he has chosen Jim to be the harbinger of doom, his harbinger to kill him in the end. He wants Jim to kill him, and he says as much. And I'd never really caught that, I don't think as a teen as much as I did now where it really could be viewed as simple as that on the surface that he wants to die.

13:59 He's so psyched he can have there's no more fun for him to be had. He's killed so many people in so many different ways, maybe gotten tired of it and wants to have one final game with this team whom he came upon and just saw something in him. And what I found interesting then at the end is that Jim himself as a teen. How old do you think Jim Halsey played by see Thomas Hall is supposed to be in this because he uh, he. Was actually seventeen when they filmed it, right, so I'm thinking twenty. Yeah, I was thinking as much as well. He just doesn't look much older than that, if at all, right, And John Ryder basically drives Jim Halsey to the brink.

14:41 He drives him mad where to the point where the darkness comes out of Jim Hals and he becomes the killer in the end, he knows what he exactly what he has to do. He has to murder John right. There is no other way, and a Rider recognizes that in Halsey, and there's some interesting moves there in the finale that I really appreciated. But yeah, that's my take. Man, At least you had some sort of explanation of why Rider wants to die. He's just tired of doing what he's doing, because I couldn't answer that question, like why did you pick Jim to kill you? Or why are you trying to pass the mantle to Jim, Because what you're really doing is just pushing Jim to the brink.

15:23 He's killing because he's got to defend himself. He's not going to make him a killer because he kills you. It's killing because you have no other option. You're pushed to that limit, and a lot of people would probably do the same thing if your life or his, You're going to do what you can to stay alive. I just couldn't figure out why Rider had picked Jim to kill him It's like, what do you see in this scrawny little kid that he's going to be able to outsmart out with or kill you. I didn't see it, and I. Think that's what bothered me too, no question about it. I think I'll be honest with you. Because of my attachment to this, I read into it a little bit. I do. I read into it a little bit, but at least it's helping me try to understand it a little bit more.

16:04 I think he really brings the darkness out of Halsey. But you're right, Halsey is put in a situation where he has no choice. But at the end when he's with the Captain Jeffrey de Munn, love that guy, love seeing him in this, and then takes his gun from him and it's like, I'm sorry, I have to do this. It's like, oh, he's made a turn there. It seems that's the way I looked at it. But I like to look at it as if John Ryder is passing along the darkness to someone else. But I think that is reading into it a little self admittedly say that it might be reading into it and this movie is just simply a twisted tail. He's a pure evil and that's all there is to it. There's no rhyme or reason to it. And that's what's supposed to be so freaking scary about it. And that's what really frightened me as a teenager, was like, he's just gonna keep coming after him. You can't escape this evil, and that's all there is to it.

16:57 I saw that scene more as Jim knw that it's never going to end unless he dies, and he's the only one to understand that, so we had to kill him. But I didn't think he was taking a dark turn. It's more of the realization, like this is what I gotta do. I'm going to save hundreds of people by killing this man, and consequences be damned at this point. For sure. Think you were one thousand percent correct in saying that. I will just say that regardless of whether he had to do it or the darkness took over at one point where he made the conscious choice to do it, He'll be changed forever from that point on. He's going to be traumatized after that. But I don't think he's going to become a killer. That's a great point. Yeah, I was about to say that too. Doesn't mean, he's going to turn into a new version of John Ryder.

17:43 Right. I understand your frustrations. I think watching this and I hear your frustrations with it. I look back upon it, I make a conscious choice to be kind of swept away by it. The way that this film is shot, and I do appreciate some of the methodical nature of it. In moments that's when I get swept up in it. But I'll admit I paused a few times to see what the where I was in the timeline there, to see how much time was left. There's no question it's it's a long hour and thirty seven minutes. Yeah, it's just just one bad thing after another. I do like the setting, the middle of nowhere. Yeah, let's talk about that for a second. I was going to ask you what movies did this make you think of when you saw it. For the first time. Of course, Tesslate Road, but no one else. Thanks, That's what I wrote down. That was number one.

18:28 So Bill Bant, Marwan Abdurazak, myself, Waterwell Pictures. We did a short film entitled Desolate Road back in twenty. Twelve, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, and we had a blast shooting that and that was an endeavor and a labor of love and all these things came out great. We're proud of that film, of course, But yeah, that made me think of Desolate Road. It made me think of Breakdown. I love that film. I love doing that film with Kurt Russell, who's the back JT. J. T. Walsh, Thank you very much, rip and a duel of course. Yeah yeah. And then joy Ride that was, oh. Yeah, thank you very much. So there's a lot of them out there, huh. It is a great setting for thriller.

19:08 That was the interesting thing. And I'll step on one of my complaints here's it's one of those feels like you got nowhere to go, right and you're lost. You're screwed. If you get stuck out there in the middle of nowhere, you're pretty much dead and that's it. There's nowhere to hide. Although in this film, for some reason, whenever see Thomas Howell runs into the desert, there's just another gas station over the hill, which is. Really frank for him. I know, every time he kept running the desert, I'm like, dude, it's like, well, how do you still going to die? Like why are you stop running? Into the desert. Man, it's crracking me up. I'm like, why is that your first go to? Yeah, stay on the road man, Hey, what did you think of see Thomas Howell in this?

19:50 I did like I felt like most of his reactions to what was going on was genuine. He wasn't doing your typical slash or horror to make mistakes that advanced the plot because he's always trying to get away, but every time he thinks he gets to similar safe, surprise, surprise, there's Rider. You know. He calls the police and tries to wait for him. Here comes Rider. So I never thought he was doing anything. I'm like, oh, what an idiot outside of letting a hitchhiker in your car. I always thought he was trying to do the right thing in order to move the story forward. So I did appreciate that. Yeah, I thought he was extremely capable in this, and I wrote that down as well as like, first of all, this is I knew right away this is going to have to be a little bit of a go with it movie. Let's just go with it, because no way in hell I'm letting that hitchhiker into my car in a dark, rainy night in the middle of the desert.

20:39 Are you kidding me? Creepy as all hell? That would be I just wouldn't make that choice. But see Thomas how and forgive me listeners and Bill bant If. We discussed this when we did our Secret Admirer episode. But man, he had a great run in the eighties et the Outsider's Read Down, Secret Admyer soul Man even side out in nineteen ninety. What happened do you think? Did he simply kind of age out? Because he has a ton of credits. He's still working, looks great, still doing it, very likable, always great to see him. But there seemed to be Yeah, it seemed to be that precipitous like drop off though from like pop culture after the eighties.

21:20 I think because they kept trying to make him a leading man and it wasn't working. Yeah, but he'd be a great. Second guy, your second banana. Yeah, got that for sure, to be the friend. But maybe it's a little too good looking. I don't know, right, he kind of falls in between somewhere. Yeah, I don't think he can carry a movie, but he almost says a little too much to be the second person. So I think it was probably where do we put this guy in the movie? Yeah, I don't know. He worked in an ensemble, like he said, with Red Dawn The Outsiders. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm gonna just say this real quick, because I think everybody out there in the world agrees, and if you don't, I don't know what's wrong with you. Rutger Howerd's the man are.

22:00 We covered him a bit in our Nighthawks episode We love him Blade Runner, et cetera, et cetera. He's got the look. He looks right through you with soulless eyes yet eyes that are on fire at the same time. I don't know how he does it. He's just a unique actor, one of one. I can't get enough of his delivery. I just can't wait to hear whatever he's about to say. Love me, Rutger Hower. I can't find any fault. It just I just didn't understand the character. And it was every time Jim thought he got away, then he just came out of nowhere, and I'm like, what the f how is this possible? Has he got a jet an ankle. Tracer on him? What's going on here? Yeah? He just shows up out of nowhere time after time. After time, and that was bugging the crap out of me.

22:42 Okay, I think he's got quite the stature and that just he's got that look. He's unpredictable. I think he's what I decided to go with during this. Like I said, I just I did get swept away by it is that there are only so many many places to go on one highway going. Through a stretch of the desert. So I figured he was like, where's the next logical stop for Jim Halsey, and so he just went to that place. Of course Jim Halsey. Is there, but I also buy into maybe there is a fantastical element here where he is a demon, the devil, where he just is now decided to make Jim Halsey his mark and is connected to him as a result, and knows and senses exactly where he's going to be at any particular point in time.

23:27 At least hints at it. Yeah, you're right, spell it out, but at least hints at it. Yeah. I wanted to give a shout out as I did real quick to Mark Isham the if that's even the correct pronunciation of his name, the composer, Did you know that Mark Isham or Esham was the composer on Point Break No. He did some good stuff in the eighties and I just wanted to mention this my childhood teenage memory. Being a fan of film scores and a collector of orchestral film scores. He did the score for a TV movie called Sketch Artist in nineteen ninety two starring Jeff Fahi and Sean Young. I had it on cassette, so that's where I first got turned on to him. That's when I first logged his name in my brain. So check out as I AMDB. This dude's done a lot and he knows how to set a mood and he really kills it in this movie. It really worked for me in this film. Later on he has a great nineties.

24:22 He did the Fire in the Sky Quiz Show, some big stuff. So love the score in this. I can't remember it that much, to be honest, Like when you said that, I don't think I was paying that much attention to the music. Yeah, I got you. Maybe I'll try to find it on YouTube and play it, but I'm not. I'm watching it with the movie. I'll tell you that much, right, I hear you, man, I'm gonna give one more shout out though, to John Seal, the DP on this our cinematographer. I'm just going to rattle off a few incredible shots in this movie. I thought this film was shot really well. There's a great shot near the beginning of a rider standing up in the middle of the highway after Halsey has kicked him out of his car. The camera just moves up to him and goes low and looks up at rider as he's looking so intimidating the car coming racing out of the gas station on fire after it explodes. There's a circle shot around Cee Thomas Howell in the police station that I loved. There's a shot at Jenator Jason Lee sleeping when the camera pans over. It's a very Michael Myers Halloween shot with John Ryder just watching her she sleeps in the hotel room.

25:24 Love that shot. And then I'll talk about the finale later, but just wanted to give the DP a real strong shout out here. Yeah, I do think the movie looks good. I thought about this after I watch it. I'm wondering if part of my issue at the movie is because of the actors, because I know who they are okay. Maybe if I've watched it three unknowns, maybe that would have helped me a little bit because my expectations of who's in it. But I think still story wise, I still would have got frustrated with why is he doing this? What is he? Why did he pick this kid to all of a sudden be the one to become his maker? I don't know? Fair enough, man, fair enough?

26:05 All right, let's move on to favorite scenes or moments. What do we have for favorite scenes of moments? And I'll start on this one because it's the very very opening of the movie and we have Jim driving. So he's driving for a car service and he's taking this car to San Diego and it's the middle of the night, it's raining, and he is tired, and we have all been there, and I think there's the most tense scene of the movie because we've all gone through it and he can't stay awake. At one point he does fall asleep behind the wheel and it just gets plowed by a truck and that scared the crap out of me. And then after that the movie was over. Could stop right there, I would have been good. But no, just the opening, because it's something we've all gone through and seeing a play out on film, and even though knowing that see Thomas Halls playing one of your main characters in the movie, that he's going to survive, it still made me think back to all the times that I've been super tired behind the wheel and like, oh my god, I'm happy I'm still here and heard horror stories about friends who have fallen asleep and they're still lucky to be on this earth.

27:08 Absolutely. I can think of one of my high school buddies right off the top of my head, shout out, Matt Stettle. I remember him telling me a story about freaking out and luckily survived after having fallen asleep at the wheel, and I think he had done it a couple times. But it's scary. It's a great way to start a scary movie. And here's it's funny, Bill Bant because I was going to watch this on my big screen TV, but the way it sits in my living room there's too much of a glare in the middle of the afternoon, So I was watching this on my laptop and I start the film and it's so damn dark. I had to move into my bedroom so I could see it, which was great for a horror film. I'm glad I did so because I love the opening shot when he's lighting his cigarette. It's just cool. It's like, just like and that lights up his face because he's in the middle of the dark, in the middle of nowhere. Great way to open the movie. Scary, it's storming, it's the mountainous hilly region there in the middle of El Paso. I think he's listened have been reminiscent of Desolate Road, a little listening to the radio going through Texas, so it establishes location. And yeah, I was like, yeah, keep pounding that coffee, that thermos of coffee. Man, been there, done that. But when you're that tired, there's no amount of coffee that's gonna save you. And that nodding off feeling is the worst. It's the absolute worst.

28:23 So it's very relatable, like pinching yourself, biting your lip, trying to do whatever you kind of stay awake, it just doesn't work. It's like, please, please, let me get to where I need to go. That helps make sense why he does pick up the hitchhiker, and he says it later, he's like, I just thought i'd pick him up. It would help me stay awake if I had a passenger. And that almost makes sense. I thought it did, I like highly justified it. Yeah, another favorite Senier moment and it's just a moment and you already mentioned it. The shot of the gas station blowing up in the flaming car driving. It was like, Oh, that's awesome, that's cool because you know it's all practical. It looks fantastic, and you figure probably was only one take, so you can't blow up a gas stage multiple times.

29:04 So the fact they got that on one shot, I mean, I can't confirm that. I mean that car is on fire. I was waiting for the tires to blow out. There was so much flame on that car. That was a cool shot. Yeah, and I apologize for stepping out it earlier when I said that earlier. But the way that that is shut because if I recall correctly, you see that gas station explosion in the background and then the car comes blazing it out back onto the freeway and you're like, oh my god, the car is completely engulfed. And now, like we do over analytical I'm looking at the stunt driver going, oh, is this one of those cases where it's just an incredible stunt, but it's clearly a stunt driver, a stunt double.

29:45 But he actually the silhouette looked pretty good. I was like, Okay, I guy, this man being on the set that day to watch that would have been impressive because it looks cool. How about you, Jason sees her moments? Yeah? Absolutely, Yeah. My first favorite scene is what I'm entitling. It's not a French fry, no, it is a severed finger. And this is one of the two what I would call most iconic scenes and most well known scenes by horror fans, and especially fans of this film in particular. It's still creepy as hell. I actually enjoyed the pacing in this because at this point I was relating to Jim Halsey. He's been through it already. He's covered in gasoline.

30:27 Is right after the scene that in that moment that Bill was describing, he's been through hell and now he's at the diner slash trading post. And this is when it's a great because we get to introduce to Jennifer Jason Lee, who we haven't talked about yet, who looks fantastic in this, and she's a breath of fresh air. She's a welcome sight. I think she's great in this as that girl next door living out in the middle of nowhere and she works with her family and she works, so I like there back and forth. But there's a moment when Jim really loses himself in thought while she's talking, because he's, just like he said, early traumatized. And he just slowly eats those fries and you know it's coming if you're a fan of this film, but if you don't, it's you know, it's the moment you always will remember.

31:16 And he picks up the next French fry. It's not a French fry, it's a severed finger. And then it goes from there as he runs outside and cops are there thinking that he's the killer and he's been framed. All these things start happening after that. But it's just creepy because if you think, what if I was not because he almost puts it in his mouth, So that's the whole thing. It's like if you were eating a plate of fries and you didn't know there was a severed finger, then you picked it up and actually chomped down on it. No boy, No, that's some good scary stuff. I'm just still trying to figure out how the finger got there. Yeah, and that just shows how like distraught Jim is to not even realize picking up the The texture is different, it's thicker feeling, and something just catches the corner of his eye at the last second. Whose finger was it? Do we know whose finger it was?

32:05 At that point? It could have been the passenger that was in the truck, that rider takes or hitches a ride with and then takes that truck over I'm assuming, But that's a great question. You just immediately this is where you start nitpicking and poking holes because is he some sort of supernatural creature that just can appear here and there and disappear without anyone seeing him? Because how did Jennifer Jason Lee not see the she served the plate to him, How does she not see the finger in the fries? So when did he put the finger on the plate. I'm sure if you were paying close enough attention, there may have been a split second when he could have slipped in and out, but I'm not sure when. But it's still it's an effective scene and it makes you go ooh, so yeah, me again. Let's keep it going, all right.

32:50 This next one is featuring Jennifer Jason Lee. She plays the character Nash. By the way, I like that name very interesting. So this is the other iconic scene that is most memorable because of its gruesome nature. And you don't even it could have been so much worse. You don't see the end result. But this one still scares the hell out of me. The staging is great. We get Jeffrey DeMont here showing up on the scene at this rest stop with the trucks all parked there, and the sound design is great, and you have Nash Jennifer Jason Lee basically being drawn and quartered here. She's tied with her arms or wrists are tied to one end of a bobtail truck and her feet tied to the end of another.

33:33 Semi I believe, and you have. I mean, I love the fact that the cops are feeling useless in the scene. They're like, you know what, Jim, you got to help us out. You know who this killer is. You've got to talk to him. We can't do anything because he's up in the truck about to release the clutch, and if he does, the truck rolls and she gets torn in half. And that scene when I just love the moments between Jim and John Ryder in the cab when Rutger Howard takes that gun and just puts it in his hand and points it right at his head and he says, do it. There's a line here that's my favorite. Rutger Howard just like streaming, sweat just dripping off his face. All this stuff just reminiscent of Blade Runner at the end time to Die with the rain coming down.

34:15 I just love this shit. And Jim can't shoot him because if he does, then he definitely releases the clutch and Nash is dead. And so he puts the gun down and you see John Ryder simply say you useless waste. This is brutal. It's an awful scene. And then he releases the clutch and you hear her screams. That's the stuff of nightmares. Man, It's completely horrific. Yeah. The whole time I'm watching that scene and I know what happens to Nash, I'm just trying to figure out, like, what could the police have done to try to stop that truck? And I couldn't think of anything. I'm like, even though they try to race a car in there, just to hit the truck to keep it from moving.

34:56 There's so much tension on her right then you only have two inches of give before she unfortunately dies. You really couldn't do anything. I think that's what even makes it worse, because you're just thinking about, Okay, is there any way you really could have stopped that from happening? You couldn't. Yep, Yeah, I think we kind of agree on the last scene. My reasons are way different than yours, but I think it's the final face off between John and Jim. I'll be honest, it's just for me because that just signals that the movie was over. Jeez. I love I did like the gun that I used. Oh yeah, I'm about to announce that name of that gun here shortly.

35:39 But I think you might have liked a little bit more than I did. Oh man, this finale is shot so well. I love the moments, the connection where you see John Ryder aboard the bus. He's in shackles, but he's already figuring out how he's gonna get away and escape and we know he will, and he's looking at the gun in the holster of one of the guards and that's parallel to then, of course Jim in the sheriff's car with Captain Estridge and he's looking at the gun of Hiss Holster and it's the connection there. I love it. And obviously then Jim takes over the captain's cop car there and goes to goes after Jim, and of course Jim kills all the guards. And then that moment was ridiculous, man, when he jumps through the wind shield of the sheriff's car is frecking amazing and looks right up at see Thomas Holland goes hi, kid, and then slams on the brakes, goes flying back out the windshield. The moment when he just nails him with the just like it's time to kill this guy. I have no choice, and gets manages to get that engine turned over and just basically blows right through John Ryder. He goes flying backward, but yeah, and then puts three solid holes in him.

36:58 With the shotgun. The backdrop, though, man, the lighting is as if they're the only two people in the desert at that moment. It oh my god, thank you very much exactly, and it's dark and the look on Rider's face it's that classic he comes back to life at the end of every eighties horror movie. That's one of those classic scenes. You think he's dead. Jim turns around to walk back to the truck, and then he stands up and you can literally see the camera the way the framing is where it's like, oh, they're allowing the space on the right side of the frame so that he can rise into frame, returning from the dead, and so that Jim can whip around and just blow him away with the shotgun.

37:41 And then he goes to the truck and you hear in the sound design, you hear the lighting of the cigarette, which bookends the film for me, which I loved. Starts with him lighting the cigarette, ends with him lighting the cigarette as darkness is upon and love it, love it strong ending. I did like that. Jim was justified doing what he did and knew that Rider was going to escape, and by the time he gets on the scene, he's already killed all the guards and is about to jump out of the bus. Yeah, like that Rider doesn't seem all that surprised that Jim is there. I love that you've just said that, because it's as if he's expecting him. Yep, he's pleased that it ends this way. This is how he had it planned from the beginning.

38:28 Okay, time to move on to Swiss cheese and complaint department. And what do we call it Swiss cheese? Because although this movie is delicious, it does have spas twelve semi automatic tactical combat shotgun holes. Oh, come on, I can't do that one. How about tactical combat shotgun holes? All right, tactical forget it, shotgun holes. I'm just saying that if it doesn't have those, yeah, make a complaint with the complaints apartment. So what do you have for swiss cheese and complaints? Of course? My big Swiss cheese is just how does Rider get everywhere that it needs a guy? Doesn't make any sense to me. You just seem to be there all the time, this mythical entity that just shows up that was driving me nuts.

39:10 And not explained, understood, understood And by the way, yes, according to the trivia it's an SPAS. I just said, SPAZ twelve semi automatic tactical combat shotgun that's what Rider has. At the end. And then it obviously ends in the hands of Jim. But complaints, Yes, Swiss cheese. I mean after the sheriff station murders, when Jim awakens after falling asleep in his cell, and then the door to his cell is open and he goes out to discover all the bodies of the cops, and then the more police show up at the sheriff station. He decides to take the gun from one of the cops in the sheriffs and go run out the back and into the desert. I was like, where are you going?

39:54 What's your plan? My man? Just go back into the cell and pretend like you're sleeping. You've got no blood out yet, There's no way you could have done this. I'm just reiterating what we said earlier. Why he keeps running into this desert. I started to drive me a little nutty. Well, how did you not hear anything that happened in the police station? That too that I didn't understand because all I'm thinking of this terminator, all the noise that made. But even if it's a silent kill, even if he's killing everyone by his hands, someone's screaming, someone's making noise. Hell yeah, he's so tense he would wake up in a second. Yeah, that's where it just feels like there's no question that dread that overhangs over it. But it is, like you said, kind of this mythical quality to this bad guy, Like how is he getting away with all of these things almost in complete silence or without anyone seeing him do it? I don't know, but I had just a couple others here. Did you have anything else for Swiss cheese?

40:52 Swiss cheese? No, but complaints for sure. Please. Yeah, I'm just putting them all together, all the complaints. So go for it, man, Let loose. Okay. So we have that scene in the beginning when Jim has picked up John for the first time and they go through that construction zone and they have that whole scene with the construction driver and the driver sees that something's kind of off. So I'm like, oh, this is going to come back into play at some point. Yeah, No, nothing, that was it. He basically just saw Rider's hand in Jim's crotch and let it go. Yeah. I don't know if we're led to that's a great point. You would think that's a serious red flag. The alert would go up. But yeah, I don't know if he the construction worker thought maybe this was a homosexual relationship that they were having, that it was none of his business, and he was just like, move along, move along, right, But you would think, clearly something is rotten in Denmark here.

41:47 Yeah, because just the way that Jim was reacting to it so uneasy, I would have thought the ladder like something something's off here? Not oh yeah, Oh. These two guys are a especially during that time period where it was still pretty under the radar. This I found funny. How do you let a station wagon with the boat hitch pass you on the road? How slow are you driving to let a station wagon with the boat hitch pass you? See? And you said there was no light moments in this film? Not there you go, there's a little there, right, I guess so I thought the same thing. I thought the exact said, there's no way, I are you doing thirty five on the white open? I mean, it doesn't make any sense. I don't know how that happened.

42:32 Here's a question, somewhat of a complaint. Who was actually worse than this movie? John Ryder or the police force? Almost every one of those. Officers was a dick. Oh yeah, I mean they assumed Jim is the killer from the Get and then after that, they're just ready to put holes in him, no question about it. Literally going to shoot him in front of a bustle load of people. Yeah. I didn't catch that at first when he's when the one trooper was like you spin on me, wipe it off right until he said the second time, like, oh, he wants him to come at him so he could shoot it right. At least I got something out of this movie. So if that ever happens to me, I just stay still so I don't get shot. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, he's trying to force him into a suicide by cop situation, and he wasn't happy. But the only time the cops don't come at Jim is the time that Jim actually takes the lead, like he takes the up hand, just coming out of the gas station and taking two of them hostage. And this is a scene I had an issue with because he just goes about it the entirely wrong way. He tells the younger cop, the clearly more fit cop, to put the handcuffs on the older cop, which should be the total reverse. You want to take out the young fit cop, Let the older guy drive the car while you're sitting in the back with them at gunpoint, and then he doesn't even disarm the younger, more in shape deputy, like, he lets him keep his gun.

43:56 I'm like, what do you what is there? And the thing is, I would understand if he he was all completely you know, shaken up and all that and wasn't thinking clearly. But in the scene the way that see Thomas Howll is playing it, he seems to be very much in control and is really calling the shots, but makes two really huge errors while taking these two police officers hostage. Oh but there was a highlight. So after he radios Estridge and decides he's going to turn himself in, and then Surpryce Sprice rider shows up and shoots both the troopers and a car goes off the road the way see Thomas how gets a car, freaks out and runs in the desert. Yeah, that was pretty genuine. I'd probably do the same thing, just like, son of a bit.

44:37 Nothing's going right totally at that point. He just loved that was a great reaction. That's great that I mean that. I still just had honestly only other complaintss him running into the desert. But because there's oh there's one, I will say, there's one more point, there's one more time that yeah? Is it that? No? It's after the giant police chase when he, Jim and Nash are in the car, he pulls over in the busted up police car, which is still running. They literally pull over with no one no longer chasing them and get out of the car and go running into the desert. Yep, why what. I understand it's a police car and it's identifiable because it's been all shot up. But I think your odds are better staying in the car and driving along the highway then just taking this poor girl and running in a random direction in the middle door. Agreed, enough, go ahead, man, my last one then yeah, yeah is the final scene.

45:33 So rider jumps through the car right, he hits the brakes, sends him flying, and then the car doesn't start, Like, what did you do the car to make it not start? After Rider shoots the car repeatedly, I could see why the car wouldn't be starting at that point, but it should have turned over the first time. There's nothing that happened to that car or truck to not start. It's like, this is fake tension because we know it's going to turn over when he uses the turnover. It's true, It's true. And if you want to go even further, when John is just blowing holes in the truck with that shotgun, why is he not aiming for the radiator? I mean, there's no way that car starts again. Yeah, even though we know or I'm going here, I am trying to find reasons to make this work. Is that Oh maybe he purposefully wasn't shooting for the grill and the radiator to allow Jim to restart the car so he could run him over. But it's all should put it neutral, put it? Uh, that's great stuff, man, love it. That's hilarious.

46:37 See there is some humor in this movie. That's actually a comedy. There you go. Time to move on to Hey, it's an actor, all right? So in this segment with Spotlight, a character you have seen in many other films, an actor making their big screen debut, or an actor that makes an uncredited cameo. It's Hey, it's an actor. Who do we choose this week? Jason? This week we chose for our Hey, it's that actor armand Shimmerman. He plays interrogation sergeant. And we chose this gentleman because it's all about Bill right now, and I'll explain why shortly. Here we go Armand Shimmerman character actor from Jersey. I recognized him immediately. He's got one of those faces, even though what I recognize him for is a part where he plays a character with a lot of makeup on. Anyway, here's his eighty snapshot. From eighty to eighty five, he does one offs, meaning a lot of TV shows, but just one episode of each, all the way from Hill Street Blues to Facts of Life.

47:31 Then he does the hitcher here in eighty six he does blind Date, like Father, Like Son. After that, but I'm going to get right into it. From eighty seven to ninety four, he's in four episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation as characters named I think it is it l Tech or Leitech, Diamond. Bractor, and yes, Quark. And that's who we really know armand Shimmerman as because he portrays the Ferengi named Quark and one hundred and seventy two or one hundred and seven. I saw both these numbers episodes that is of Star Trek Deep Space nine. From nineteen ninety three to nineteen ninety nine, he shows up as Quark elsewhere in the Star Trek universe. Over the years, goes on to do a ton more TV and voiceover work in video games Little Trivia. Here he was the first actor ever to play a Ferengi on Star Trek, as Lee Tech or Lateech on the Star Trek The Next Generation nineteen eighty seven episode The Last Outpost.

48:26 Five years later, he was off the role of Quark on Star Trek Deep Space nine and was the first Farrangi character in the main cast of any Star Trek series, and a role that he would play for seven years. And Bill Bant, if I'm not mistaken, you recently completed being the completest you are watch the entire Star Trek Deep Space nine series. Yeah, it took me about five months. I've tried to watch an episode a night, unless it was a two parter that I would watch too. And then so you got to the final season, and then I have to find out what was going on. I finally been DS nine, which I just couldn't get into when it originally came out, and wow, that was a great show. And the whole Quark Odo back and forth was awesome. A lot of great characters in that show.

49:13 Yeah, Arvin Shimmerman is great in that role. He's terrible in this though. Yeah, a little different. You're not a very good interrogator. Time to move on to facts and trivia. What are some facts in trivia we have about the Hitcher. In Rutger Howard's book All Those Moments, Howard mentioned how executive producer Edward S. Feldman settled on Sam Elliott for the role of John Ryder. Howard states that apparently Elliott was so scary when he came into audition that Feldman was afraid to go out to his car. Afterward. Sam Elliott had a scheduling conflict and had to back out of the role. That would be so interesting, right, I can't see that.

49:54 It's really hard. I love Sam Elliott, freaking love that guy, and I just, yeah, don't see see him as this psycho, serial killer, this stalker, hitchhiker. It's hard. I'd pay to see it now. I'd like to see what you do with it, but wouldn't be my first choice. No, that blowed me away when I read that. So see Thomas Howell's fear when Ruckerhower was holding the knife near his eye was genuine. Howard improvised the line and the position of the knife, and see Toom's Howe admit it that he was actually afraid of Ruckerhower on and off the set because of Howard's general intensity. Yeah yeah, read that, Bill.

50:36 You thought this felt long for an hour and thirty seven minute movie, Well, the original script was long enough to make a three hour movie. Scenes that were never filmed include writer slaughtering an entire family, an eyeball appearing in a hamburger. This was replaced with the finger in the plate of French fries, a graphic sex scene between a character named Gal Galveston, which was a girl that appears in the film before Nash. The sex was supposed to between this Gal and Jim, and a character being decapitated. This movie underwent several rewrites which removed the gorrier moments. This could have been a lot gorrier, that's for sure. Wow, three hours, come on, so Eric read The screenwriter can be seen in a cameo role towards the end of this movie as a deputy sheriff escorting John Ryder to the transfer bus. There's so many troopers, I got them all mixed up.

51:31 Mm hmm. There's a lot of them, but as recent as twenty twenty four, filmmaker Christopher Nolan cited it This Being the Hitcher as one of his favorite films, saying, as a teenager, I never questioned the logic of this eighties chiller, but now it seems mind bendingly arbitrary plot wise. However, it does feature the criminally underappreciated Ruttor Howard in his finest and most influential europsycho performance this side of Blade Runner. Yeah, see, I've read that and go, what am I missing? What am I missing? You really do? Feel like you're the only one that doesn't. I do? I do? I really do. While performing that last sequence of the windshield stunt which we mentioned, Rutger howerd knocked out one of his teeth with the shotgun he was holding in his hands.

52:16 Feeling you almost see it in that scene. Yeah, he did. Apparently a lot of his stunts, a lot of the stunt driving, and everybody's really impressed. Rut Or Howard just supreme. Badass, all right, Jason. Alternative titles, Yes, my favorite. It's some of these I think I actually like more than the movie itself. So let's see what you like, all right? Here we go from Brazil, Death asks for a ride, Denmark on Stop was a Killer, Grease, the Hitchhiker of Horror, Hungry, the Phantom of the Highway, Peru the Passenger of Death, Portugal Highway Terror, Spain Highway to Hell.

53:01 Yeah, there you go. Germany the Hitcher, the highway Killer, Italy the Hitcher, the Long Road of Fear, and finally Mexico the Hitcher, the road Assassin. Oh, very strong stuff. Yeah, I still I think my favorite still is the first. What was the first one? Again? Death asked for a ride? Death asks for a ride. I like that one too. Instead of like death goes for a ride, Death takes a ride, it's Death asks for a ride like see like the grim Reaper on the side of the road. Just being really polite. Yeah, hey, can you give me right?

53:42 Hey, I got a question Bill, real quick. Have you ever heard I'd never heard before this a hitchhiker being referred to as a hitcher like short for hitchhiker. Have you heard that before? I always thought of them as hitchhikers. Yeah, I just had never hurt that in like nomenclature or whatever, like that was a thing in the term. But obviously it is Yeah, I just want to mention it. Okay, let's move on to box office. So The Hitcher was released on February twenty first, nineteen eighty six, in seven hundred and ninety four theaters, with a production budget of approximately eight million. The Hitcher went on to gross five point eight million in North America. It opened number eight at the box office and dropped out the top ten the following week. The movie ended up being the one hundredth highest grossing movie in the United States, hence the cold classic status that movie bombedkame. Moving on to reviews.

54:35 From growing up in the eighties, we would watch at the movies with Geens Cisco and Roger Eber to hear their reviews and watch clips of upcoming movies. Their review of The Hitcher was unanimous two thumbs way, way way down. Are you happy now? This is how they summed up the film. When they recapped their reviews, we gave two thumbs down to The Hitcher, the disgusting exploitation of perverted violence. We hated it Rotten Tomatoes because a Tomato Meter score of sixty two percent was a Popcorn Meter score of seventy five percent. It also has an IMDb rating of seven point two. Those are pretty good, though, and that takes us to additional thoughts and questions. What are some additional thoughts and questions you have about The Hitcher?

55:20 My first additional thought is that there are actually three people that didn't like this movie, Bill Ban, Gene Cisco, and Roger Eater. There we go. I only got one other additional thought, Man, I think I've just talked about everything else along the way here. It is throughout. Everything, Jim Halsey never seems to run out of cigarettes. Oh that's a good call. He's got endless, endless cigarettes. I was happy, especially had that he got soaked by gasoline. Every time he pulls on. I'm like, what, how does he still have cigarettes? At this point? He keeps just you want to smoke, You want to smoke. I gotta smoke this. I kept thinking about Jennifer Jason Lee's character Nash, if she had survived the move. She reminded me so much of her character from Miami Blues. I'm like, if she'd got now this town. Yeah, I know, she said joined to go to California, but if she went to Florida instead, that's what she would have become same universe. Maybe the way she kind of talked she had some of that.

56:15 Mm hmm. I was trying to look for positives. I'm like, oh, Nash had survived, Yeah, she would ended up with Alc Baldwin to Miami. Blues, another great movie. Mm hmm. Anything else for thoughts and questions? Nope, that's all I had. Man, I'm ready to get into the wrap up. All right, So let's give it our rating. So on a scale of one to five. Dismembered fingers, what did you give the hitcher? I could have sworn you were gonna go with tactical combat shotguns. Oh no, I initially was, but I'm like, I don't know if I supposed to say Spas or Spaz. I'm like Spaz for. An automatic hilarious. Yes, let's go with dismembered face. I'm giving it a really strong three point five. You might feel after my sharing of love for this film, it might have been higher, but I recognize its flaws. This is far from a perfect film. It does have some pacing issues. I agree with the Bill Band on a lot of the points that he made, especially if you had not seen this as a teenager and you didn't have any attachment to it, but I did, and I do, and it stays with me. This film had a profound effect on me. I vividly remember seeing these things, so much so that my memory embellished, Like I said, the Mandela effect, where I thought there was a lot more gore, especially in the beginning when they come across the two abandoned vehicles or what seemed to be abandoned vehicles that actually have dead bodies in them. And man, when you

57:47 see this stuff, it's more impactful the way they film it, when they don't show you everything, because then as a kid, your imagination runs away with it and it's really horrific. So rutger Hower, I'm just such a fan, such a fan of his look, of his delivery, his presence. It was him, the music, the way it was shot. I just wish, you know, maybe ten, maybe twenty thirty minutes could have been cut out of this and it could have been a tighter package, but still delivers for me. I get into the psychological aspect of it. I like reading into this trying to figure out why, and then being maybe even more scared to think there really is no why at all. So I will still recommend this movie to those that haven't seen it. Just try to watch it when you're fully awake and alert and be ready.

58:38 That for a little bit slower hour and thirty seven minutes, but still entertaining. For me. I find some entertainment in this still. After I had watched. This movie, I went online and I'm like, Okay, let's see what other people think about this. I can't be the only one that doesn't like this movie. And Jason, there was a girl who did a first watch video of the Hitcher and the first orson our mouthware how much he loved this movie, and I was like, God, damn it. Is there not anyone else that's not a critic that doesn't like this film. With all that being said, though, I'm only giving it two dismembered fingers, so it's not a one, it's not a zero. It's okay, all right. I think it's well made. I do think it's a well made movie. There's just too many questions and just the dread that you feel throughout this whole movie. It just weighs me down too much and I couldn't get into it. Nothing wrong with the performance. Is way too many troopers to keep track of it. Seemed like every ten minutes there's another set of troopers coming in. If we did a quiz like here's the trooper who was the actor? I would fail horribly. There was a handstad actor Jack Tibau.

59:46 Was in there. Oh yeah from Escape from Alcatraz. Oh I know that guy from something right. I could not connect to this movie. I wasn't feeling it and will I go back and ever tried to watch it again now. I think I saw the remake which everyone killed, and then I didn't realize there was a second one. Holy crap. Yeah, we didn't even talk about that. Yeah, but it does have Carrie Warren it who surprised surprise. That's all you need to know about that one. I'll definitely watch it now. I'm just that guy who just doesn't like that movie. That's all there is to it. And for all of you listening who love it and think it's I wouldn't say a masterpiece, but just really enjoy it, just own it, watch it all the time. Ey, difference of opinion, it is what it is. There's movies out there that you like that I don't like, or vice versa, and this is it.

1:00:39 But I do. Thank Jason for handing me for the last four years to finally watch this movie. And we had it on the schedule last year. No, we've had it on the schedule twice and he ended up getting bumped. So we finally got around to it. We did it. Hopefully there'll be some other movies that Jason has seen that I have not seen that we will do and I will like them. Because right now, Jason pushed Ice Pirates and that was crap. Now you push the Hitcher, So now I'm a little wary the next time you really want another movie we want to watch in the future episode, but two dismembered fingers. Sorry, just didn't do it for me. I'll stick with the Freddy Krueger or Mike Myers going around chopping up people instead.

1:01:19 It's fair enough. I may not like your opinion, bill Band, but damn it, I respect it. And I have to say, Cisco and Ebert are not happy. They're looking down from above, not happy that you didn't give it zero stars. That's all I'm saying. Zero, rob yeah, Robert zero. They both yeah killed. I didn't think it was that best, all right, all. Right, that wraps up this week's episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. We really appreciate it. If you enjoy the show, be sure to follow us on your favorite streaming platform, leave a rating, interroper review, the nicer the better. Curious for more we knew you would be, check out All Eightiesmovies podcast dot com for everything you need to know about our show. We'll catch you with you next time, so you jump into an other unforgettable gem than the greatest movie decade of all time, the nineteen eighties. Until then, stay awesome and have an excellent to everyone.

1:02:08 There's something strange going on between the two of you. I don't know what it is. I don't want to know. Thanks for staying up with us. Good Night world,