The Hitcher (1986)

"The terror starts the moment he stops." In this episode, we discuss the cult thriller 'The Hitcher.' The movie stars C. Thomas Howell. Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Directed by Robert Harmon.

The Hitcher - IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091209/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_the%20hitc
The Hitcher - Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hitcher

Bill's Letterboxd Ratings: https://letterboxd.com/bill_b/list/bills-all-80s-movies-podcast-ratings/
Jason's Letterboxd Ratings: https://letterboxd.com/jasonmasek/list/jasons-all-80s-movies-podcast-ratings/
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
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.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Decades from movies from nineteen eighties.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm your host Bill Banton Long m me on this
journey revisiting eighties movies. Is my co host Jason massk.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
What do you want, Jason, Bill, I want you to
stop me.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
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

(01:00):
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.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
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.

(01:36):
The passengers are already dead.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
The hitcher has killed them.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
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

(02:02):
on his slaughteris rampage quote the hitcher will leave you
so frightened you won't want to stop.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
For the next red light. The New York Post the Hitcher.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
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.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Hey, this is great for those listeners for some reason
that have not seen this movie and decided to listen
to this podcast.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Just be like, what is the Hitcher all about?

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, just read the back of the box, the VHS box,
and there you go.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
All there for you.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Okay, Jason, do you remember when you first saw The Hitcher?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I do.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
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.
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

(03:06):
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

(03:27):
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.

(03:50):
So I thank you, Bill Band, Thank you for doing
this at long last.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
It only took four seasons. Sorry about that.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
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?

Speaker 2 (04:05):
What are your memories? Man? What was your experience in
seeing this the first time? Audience?

Speaker 1 (04:10):
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.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
And this might be.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
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.
Yeah cool, Okay, So let's talk about the movie and

(04:54):
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.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
This podcast, that's right.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
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.

(05:27):
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

(05:48):
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.
I was done. My god, damn. I mean we all

(06:11):
have that, we all have that one movie that everyone likes,
and there's that one person like, Nope, don't like it.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think this is me with the hitcher. Wow.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
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.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
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,

(06:49):
is that we are no longer friends.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
As a result.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
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

(07:12):
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.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
A little bit later. This movie.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
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

(07:52):
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.
And number one is Rutger Hauer. Number two is music

(08:17):
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

(08:40):
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

(09:00):
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,

(09:22):
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.
I was still in it. And as the What's on
the Box Knopsis said, rucker Houer is so menacing you

(09:44):
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

(10:04):
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.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Through this film.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
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.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
But here's a hot take.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
I think maybe this could have even worked better as
a thirty to forty minutes short.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
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.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's dreadful.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
There are no light parts in this film whatsoever, and
it just pounds you and pounds on you and pounds
on you.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
You even think.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
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.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Fun that happened, nothing redeeming.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
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,

(11:40):
this happens is decided. All the time bad things happen,
people ask why, why?

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Why? And we never know? Right?

Speaker 1 (11:47):
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?

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Right?

Speaker 1 (12:05):
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.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
I just couldn't. I understand that completely.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
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

(12:40):
in interviews talking about his character. I don't think this
needs to be overthought. Is he is the personification of evil.
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

(13:03):
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

(13:25):
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,

(13:46):
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.
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

(14:08):
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.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Was actually seventeen when they filmed it, right, so I'm
thinking twenty.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
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.
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.

(14:52):
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.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
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

(15:44):
scrawny little kid that he's going to be able to
outsmart out with or kill you. I didn't see it,
and I.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
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.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I do.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
I read into it a little bit, but at least
it's helping me try to understand it a little bit more.
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

(16:20):
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

(16:43):
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.

Speaker 1 (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.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
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.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
He's going to be traumatized after that. But I don't
think he's going to become a killer.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
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.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Right.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
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

(18:06):
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.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, it's just just one bad thing after another. I
do like the setting, the middle of nowhere.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
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.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
For the first time. Of course, Tesslate Road, but no
one else. Thanks, That's what I wrote down. That was
number one.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
So Bill Bant, Marwan Abdurazak, myself, Waterwell Pictures. We did
a short film entitled Desolate Road back in twenty.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Twelve, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
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

(18:57):
and a duel of course.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah yeah. And then joy Ride that was, oh.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah, thank you very much. So there's a lot of
them out there, huh. It is a great setting for thriller.
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.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
You're screwed.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
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.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Really frank for him.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
I know, every time he kept running the desert, I'm like, dude,
it's like, well, how do you still going to die?

Speaker 3 (19:36):
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?

Speaker 1 (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.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
You know.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
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.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
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.
Are you kidding me? Creepy as all hell? That would
be I just wouldn't make that choice. But see Thomas

(20:46):
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,

(21:09):
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.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
I think because they kept trying to make him a
leading man and it wasn't working.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, but he'd be a great.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Second guy, your second banana. Yeah, got that for sure,
to be the friend. But maybe it's a little too
good looking.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
I don't know, right, he kind of falls in between somewhere.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
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?

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
He worked in an ensemble, like he said, with Red
Dawn The Outsiders. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
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.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Rutger Howerd's the man are.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
We covered him a bit in our Nighthawks episode We
love him Blade Runner, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
He's got the look.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
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

(22:27):
came out of nowhere, and I'm like, what the f
how is this possible? Has he got a jet an ankle.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Tracer on him? What's going on here? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
He just shows up out of nowhere time after time.
After time, and that was bugging the crap out of me.

Speaker 3 (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.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Through a stretch of the desert.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
So I figured he was like, where's the next logical
stop for Jim Halsey, and so he just went to
that place.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Of course Jim Halsey.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
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.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
At least hints at it.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, you're right, spell it out, but at least hints
at it.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
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

(23:55):
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

(24:16):
really kills it in this movie. It really worked for
me in this film. Later on he has a great nineties.
He did the Fire in the Sky Quiz Show, some
big stuff. So love the score in this.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
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.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, I got you.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Maybe I'll try to find it on YouTube and play it,
but I'm not. I'm watching it with the movie.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
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

(25:00):
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

(25:22):
sleeps in the hotel room.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Love that shot.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
And then I'll talk about the finale later, but just
wanted to give the DP a real strong shout out here.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
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.

(25:52):
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?

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Fair enough, man, fair enough?

Speaker 1 (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

(26:27):
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

(26:51):
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.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
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.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
But it's scary.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
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

(27:43):
because I love the opening shot when he's lighting his cigarette.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's just cool.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
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

(28:11):
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.

Speaker 1 (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.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
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.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
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.
So the fact they got that on one shot, I mean,

(29:07):
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.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
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,

(29:36):
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.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
But he actually the silhouette looked pretty good.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
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.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
How about you, Jason sees her moments? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (29:56):
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

(30:19):
in this because at this point I was relating to
Jim Halsey. He's been through it already. He's covered in gasoline.
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

(30:41):
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

(31:06):
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.
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

(31:28):
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.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
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?

Speaker 2 (32:05):
At that point?

Speaker 3 (32:07):
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

(32:28):
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.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
By the way, I like that name very interesting.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
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

(33:16):
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.
Semi I believe, and you have. I mean, I love
the fact that the cops are feeling useless in the scene.

(33:39):
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

(34:00):
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.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
I just love this shit.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
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,

(34:39):
It's completely horrific.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
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.
There's so much tension on her right then you only
have two inches of give before she unfortunately dies. You

(35:06):
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?

Speaker 2 (35:14):
You couldn't.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
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.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Jeez. I love I did like the gun that I used.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
Oh yeah, I'm about to announce that name of that
gun here shortly.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
But I think you might have liked a little bit
more than I did.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
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

(36:06):
and he's looking at the gun of Hiss Holster and
it's the connection there.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
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

(36:34):
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,

(36:56):
and then puts three solid holes in him.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
With the shotgun.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
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.

(37:21):
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.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
I did like that.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
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.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
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.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Okay, time to move on to Swiss cheese and complaint department.
And what do we call it Swiss cheese?

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Because although this movie is delicious, it does have spas
twelve semi automatic tactical combat shotgun holes.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Oh, come on, I can't do that one.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
How about tactical combat shotgun holes?

Speaker 1 (38:48):
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?

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Of course?

Speaker 1 (38:59):
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.

Speaker 3 (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.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
At the end.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
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.

(39:45):
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?
What's your plan?

Speaker 2 (39:55):
My man?

Speaker 3 (39:56):
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.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
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.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
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?

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Swiss cheese? No, but complaints for sure.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Please.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Yeah, I'm just putting them all together, all the complaints.
So go for it, man, Let loose.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
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

(41:22):
Jim's crotch and let it go.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
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.

Speaker 1 (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?

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Not oh yeah, Oh.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
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?

Speaker 2 (42:15):
See?

Speaker 3 (42:15):
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.

Speaker 1 (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.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Officers was a dick.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
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.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Literally going to shoot him in front of a bustle
load of people.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
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.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
Yeah, no kidding.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
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

(43:31):
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,

(43:53):
more in shape deputy, like, he lets him keep his gun.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
I'm like, what do you what is there?

Speaker 3 (43:58):
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.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
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.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
But because there's oh there's one, I will say, there's
one more point, there's one more time that yeah?

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Is it that? No?

Speaker 3 (44:55):
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.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Yep, why what.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
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.
So rider jumps through the car right, he hits the brakes,

(45:37):
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

(45:59):
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

(46:20):
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.
See there is some humor in this movie. That's actually
a comedy.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
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?

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Jason?

Speaker 3 (46:55):
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

(47:17):
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.
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

(47:39):
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.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Bractor, and yes, Quark.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
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

(48:13):
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.
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,

(48:34):
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.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
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

(49:12):
great characters in that show.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Yeah, Arvin Shimmerman is great in that role.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
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.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
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.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
Afterward.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Sam Elliott had a scheduling conflict and had to back
out of the role.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
That would be so interesting, right, I can't see that.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
It's really hard.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
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.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
It's hard.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
I'd pay to see it now. I'd like to see
what you do with it, but wouldn't be my first choice.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
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.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah yeah, read that, Bill.

Speaker 3 (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

(50:57):
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.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
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.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
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

(51:54):
and most influential europsycho performance this side of Blade Runner.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Yeah, see, I've read that and go, what am I missing?
What am I missing?

Speaker 2 (52:04):
You really do? Feel like you're the only one that doesn't.
I do? I do? I really do.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
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.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
Feeling you almost see it in that scene.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Yeah, he did.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Apparently a lot of his stunts, a lot of the
stunt driving, and everybody's really impressed.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Rut Or Howard just supreme.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
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,

(52:49):
the Phantom of the Highway, Peru the Passenger of Death,
Portugal Highway Terror, Spain Highway to Hell.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Germany the Hitcher, the highway Killer, Italy the Hitcher, the
Long Road of Fear, and finally Mexico the Hitcher, the
road Assassin.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Oh, very strong stuff. Yeah, I still I think my
favorite still is the first.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
What was the first one?

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Again? Death asked for a ride? Death asks for a ride.
I like that one too.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
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.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Yeah, hey, can you give me right?

Speaker 3 (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.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
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

(54:26):
one hundredth highest grossing movie in the United States, hence
the cold classic status that movie bombedkame. Moving on to reviews.
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.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Are you happy now?

Speaker 1 (54:51):
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

(55:12):
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?

Speaker 3 (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.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
There we go.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
I only got one other additional thought, Man, I think
I've just talked about everything else along the way here.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
It is throughout.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Everything, Jim Halsey never seems to run out of cigarettes.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Oh that's a good call.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
He's got endless, endless cigarettes. I was happy, especially had
that he got soaked by gasoline.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
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.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
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.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Mm hmm. I was trying to look for positives.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
I'm like, oh, Nash had survived, Yeah, she would ended
up with Alc Baldwin to Miami.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Blues, another great movie.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
Mm hmm. Anything else for thoughts and questions?

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Nope, that's all I had. Man, I'm ready to get
into the wrap up.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
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?

Speaker 3 (56:42):
I could have sworn you were gonna go with tactical
combat shotguns.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
Oh no, I initially was, but I'm like, I don't
know if I supposed to say Spas or Spaz.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
I'm like Spaz for.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
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

(57:15):
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,

(57:37):
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
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

(58:00):
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

(58:22):
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.
That for a little bit slower hour and thirty seven minutes,
but still entertaining.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
For me.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I find some entertainment in this still. After I had watched.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
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,

(59:10):
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

(59:33):
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.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Was in there.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
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.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Yeah, we didn't even talk about that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Yeah, but it does have Carrie Warren it who surprised surprise.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
That's all you need to know about that one. I'll
definitely watch it now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
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

(01:00:38):
is it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
But I do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
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.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
We did it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
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

(01:01:13):
it for me. I'll stick with the Freddy Krueger or
Mike Myers going around chopping up people instead.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
It's fair enough.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
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.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
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.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
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

(01:02:00):
other unforgettable gem than the greatest movie decade of all time,
the nineteen eighties. Until then, stay awesome and have an
excellent to everyone.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
There's something strange going on between the two of you.
I don't know what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
I don't want to know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
Thanks for staying up with us. Good Night world,