The Hitcher (1986)

	Directed by: Robert Harmon	COUNTRY USA GENRE Horror thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Haikeren RUNNING TIME 97 minutes
	Produced by: David Bombyk Kip Ohman
	Written by: Eric Red

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
John Ryder	Rutger Hauer
Jim Halsey	C. Thomas Howell
Nash	Jennifer Jason Leigh	½
Captain Esteridge	Jeffrey DeMunn	-
Sergeant Starr	John M. Jackson	-
Trooper Donner	Billy Greenbush	-
Trooper Prestone	Jack Thibeau	-

Review

Drawing inspiration from Steven Spielberg’s Duel as well as the era's hitchhiking scare and the grim action film aesthetic of the 1980s, The Hitcher made an indelible impression on audiences in 1986 and has continued to do so ever since. C. Thomas Howell plays a young drifter driving across the U.S. to relocate to Los Angeles. Rutger Hauer is the mysterious hitchhiker with a mean streak that Howell picks up along the way. Director Robert Harmon and writer Eric Red barely made another good film between them, but what a way to seal their legacy. It’s atmospheric, it’s sinister, it’s conflicted – The Hitcher both holds up and lives up to its cult status.