Writer Eric Red had written a short film. ‘Gunmen’s Blues’ (1981) but his debut feature film was still five years away and, already in debt, he was working as a cab driver to pay it off but it was a job that wasn’t conducive to writing. But it was still a job where, listening to the radio, he heard The Doors ‘Riders on the storm’ whose opening lines as warbled by snake hipped, drug addled alcohol enthusiast Jim Morrison put the idea into the fledgling writers head for a script he would title, The Hitcher. Around the same time director Robert Harmon had helmed his own debut short film ‘China Lake’ about a police officer on holiday riding around on his motorbike targeting the residents and travellers around the lake. And then there was Rutger Hauer, a Dutch actor who had made such an impression in his home country and had made his Hollywood debut in Night Hawks opposite Sylvester Stallone but had international recognition with his role in Blade Runner.
The trio made a decent combo supplemented by C Thomas Howell who had appeared in E.T and later Red Dawn and was joined by Jennifer Jason Leigh in the only female role in the film that saw a would-be Samaritan (Howell) pick up a hitchhiker (Hauer) and soon discovers the man is a relentless serial killer. Framed by the cold-blooded murderer for a string of slayings, his only help comes from a caring waitress (Leigh)as they attempt to flee from both the law and the hitcher. A decent opening ten minutes sets the tone as Howell comes to realize he’s picked up someone who at best was unbalanced and at worst a murderous lunatic which was soon proved right when the hitch hiker frames him for a series of bloody and brutal murders.
Despite its relatively low budget there was plenty of decent set pieces here that saw trucks career through petrol stations, helicopters crash and all complimented by several unforgettable moments to make you wince that included the ’french fries’ diner scene and most memorably Leigh chained to the back of an articulated lorry in a tense stand off between Howell and Hauer. The film did modest business but quickly became a cult favourite especially on the home video market and for Hauer it became a signature role alongside that in Blade Runner and his bizarre Guinness adverts later in his career.
The Hitcher is now released on a 4K restored version supervised by director Harmon himself and is the latest release from Second Sight who lavish so much care and attention to their releases that puts other companies releases to shame. The special features on this release include
- Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
- UHD presented in HDR with Dolby Vision
- Features Dolby Atmos and original stereo audio mixes
- New audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- Audio commentary with Robert Harmon and Writer Eric Red
- Scene specific audio commentary with Robert Harmon, Eric Red, Executive Producer Edward S Feldman, Composer Mark Isham, Director of Photography John Seale and Actors Rutger Hauer and C Thomas Howell
- The Projection Booth Podcast: featuring
Robert Harmon and Rutger Hauer - Bullseye: a new interview with Robert Harmon (41 Minutes)
- Penning the Ripper: a new interview with Eric Red (41 Minutes)
- Doomed to Live: a new interview with C Thomas Howell (28 Minutes)
- The Man from Oz: a new interview with John Seale (10 Minutes)
- A Very Formative Score: a new interview with Mark Isham (15 Minutes)
- Duel Runner: Leigh Singer on the evolution of The Hitcher and Rutger Hauer (20 Minutes)
- China Lake: a short film by Robert Harmon newly restored (35 Minutes)
- The Calling Card: Robert Harmon on China Lake (15 Minutes)
- Telephone: a short film by Eric Red (26 Minutes)
- The Hitcher: How do these movies get made? (38 Minutes)
- Trailers (5 Minutes)
Limited Edition Contents
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Adam Stothard
- 200-page hardback book with exclusive Robert Harmon interview by Lou Thomas, exclusive Eric Red interview by Matthew Thrift, new essays by Heather Drain, David Kittredge, Craig Ian Mann, Rebecca McCallum, Meagan Navarro and Jon Towlson, archival Fangoria article and Behind the Scenes photo gallery
- Eric Red’s original screenplay book
- 6 collectors’ art cards
It’s a mixture of new and archive features and the Harmon & Red commentary is very good with Harmon’s short film demonstrating how ideally suited he was to helm The Hitcher. Hauer passed away in 2019 so all of his featurettes are archive but the present day interview with C Thomas Howell who is almost unrecognizable and enthuses about what is probably the best film in his 200+ film career. He recounts anecdotes with of variable quality notably one where he opines about how the sun came out from behind a cloud at the right time illuminating his face at a crucial moment of realization for his character and praises the director and DoP not shouting, ‘Cut’! when it happened. Relevant enough but is does sound a bit flaky LA actor-ish.
But as ever Second Sight excel with this latest release with the attention that we’ve come to expect from a label that’s proved itself as one of the best for these retro releases.
related feature : Rutger Hauer obituary
related feature : We ask director Luc Besson – Will there be a Leon 2?
Here’s The Hitcher trailer.,….
