"The Hitcher" (1986)

Guess

Rutger Hauer, how could you act in second-rate films? You could have won all major film award; you could have acted with the best directors! Remember Roy Batti, Eric and Martin – in all those roles he was 146% authentic. Instead of following this path, Rutger Hauer torpedoed himself with second-rate films. Despite that, if a great actor takes his job seriously, he could make a second rate film shine like a diamond.

Jim Halsey got an easy job – to deliver a brand new Cadillac from Chicago to San Diego. The ride a rather joyful, until Jim picks in West Texas a hitchhiker, who goes under a name of John Rider.  For a first few minutes, everything goes smoothly, but then the hitcher starts acting strangely and threatening Jim with knife. The hitcher tries to make Jim say «I want to die», but Jim is able to dump him on the road. On the next day, Jim again spots the hitcher and he realizes, that it won’t be an easy trip…

The 1980s were an age of supernatural creeps, as Freddie Kruger and Jason Voorhees.  Those film paid a lot of attention to explanation of the creep’s past and modus operandi. The American folk, especially the Southern, is full of stories about maniacs and maniacs families. Such folk was a ground for some rather creepy films. Remember the original low budget «Texas Chainsaw Massacre», which was scarier, than both Freddie and Jason.

In real life, you wouldn’t know a damn thing about a creep and no nun would tell you about his Achilles heel. In real life you would be left alone again a scary maniac and you would be left only to decide, whether he would be merciful enough to kill you instantly or he would like to play. The best thrillers and horror movies won’t spend much time on pseudo-psychological side (quoting Stanley Kubrick), they would leave all fantasies to the scared viewer.

A Rutger Hauer’s creep – is a creature without past and name. He doesn’t belong to no database and he perfectly spots weak-spirited victims. From the beginning, the man with a strange accent radiates an aura of ruthlessness and disregard for any constraints. He perfectly feels the impotence of John and he wants to play. He is like a street smart big cat, who is bored with merely eating a mouse, instead of that he would play and even let the mouse ran, but he would jump and catch the mouse again.

The mouse is trapped on the cat’s territory, who perfectly know the terrain of West Texas. The cat would all Texas against the mouse, and from every corner mouse is in constant danger. But this mouse belongs to the cat and if someone else would get close to the mouse, the cat would slaughter him and continue his sadistic and unpredictable game. Only in «Tom and Jerry» mouse is able to beat the shit out of a cat, but in real life mouse have almost no chances. Or naïve viewer is an optimist?

Coolness of «Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man» was a result of Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson, and following their lead, Rutger Hauer turns «The Hitcher» into a creepy thriller, which keep you tense until the last second. After watching this films, I am willing to beg Rutger Hauer on my knees to show us again his capabilities. Come on, Rutger, show us what you are capable of!