What's new

Tell me how The Hitcher ends. (1 Viewer)

Evan Case

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 22, 2000
Messages
1,113
Well, I was at the library the other day for my weekly round of movie borrowing when I came across the DVD for The Hitcher.

I'm not a horror maven by any means, but as the hitchhiker genre of urban legends have always given me the creeps, I decided to check it out.

Well, the first ten-fifteen minutes or so are sensational--just what I'd hoped for. I cut off his legs. And his arms. And his head.
Brrrr.

Unfortunately, it gets kinda silly after that, with Rutger Hauer taking on the qualities of an all-seeing and unstoppable supernatural force, while several good folks die unimaginably violent deaths, replacing the good kind of scares with the distasteful sort. But I digress.

My reason for starting the thread is to find out how the film ends (even though I can probably guess). Some unthinking fool had seriously scratched up the DVD I was watching (a serious epidemic at this library, unfortunately), so my player would not function for the last ten minutes or so of the film. It stops for good right after Hauer has been thrown through the front of Howell's windshield after first escaping from the prison van/bus. He's lying on the ground, then picks up the big gun laying next to him.
Then it all freezes and the image goes to hell.

What happens next?

Evan
 

JeremySt

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 19, 2001
Messages
1,771
Real Name
Jeremy
If you really want to know...

Hauer gets up, starts shooting the shit out of the truck, Howell struggles to start the vehicle as Hauer continues to fire. Howell finally starts up the truck, and mows Hauer down. He gets out to verify that Hauer is dead. Howell grabs the shotgun, and Hauer gets up. They stand there, staring at each other for a couple seconds. Howell points the gun at Hauer. Hauer smiles, as though he is pleased that he is finally going to die. Howell unloads 4 or 5 rounds into him, and he drops dead. Howell walks over to the truck, fires up a smoke... and the credits roll.



Spoiler edited in by moderator - Cees.
 

Evan Case

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 22, 2000
Messages
1,113
Jeremy, thanks for the info, though you put it as strikethrough [ s ] instead of spoiler [ spoiler ].

And yeah, that's pretty much how I thought it was gonna end. :)

Evan
 

Justin_S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Messages
3,581
This masterpiece is one of my top three favorite films of all time! Grade A classic! :emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Evan Case

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 22, 2000
Messages
1,113
By all means, feel free to sidetrack my thread into a more general Hitcher discussion. I've no objections.

Like I said, I felt the first 15 minutes or so are brilliant, but it afterwards becomes much less interesting by making Hauer an unstoppable superman.

I'd be interested in hearing why others think more highly of it though.

Evan
 

Justin_S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Messages
3,581
THE HITCHER is simply one of the most amazing and effective films I've ever witnessed, and just about everything in the movie is spectacular in my opinion. I disagree with your "superman" assessment, because I have always viewed the film in the same way Matthew said he has,... that John Ryder might not be a normal human, and we don't know exactly what he is. There are several other people who feel this way as well, as I've seen some reviews on the IMDB mention it. Also, Hauer is just so absolutely perfect in this role, managing to be extremely creepy, convincingly psychotic and sadistic, and also very myterious. Quite simply, I think it is easily his greatest performance to date.

The film's score is also very moody and effective, and it compliments the film perfectly. It douses the film in a sense of dread, as well as a sense of the unkown. It is one of my favorite scores in any film.

When I first saw this film many years ago, I was simply in awe as each scene unfolded, and I honestly think every single scene in this film is either downright spectacular, compelling, terrifying, suspensful, disturbing, and even saddening. Every scene also unfolds perfectly, and the film just effects me like no other on every level.

My favorite scene in the film (which is saying something, as every scene is pure gold to me) is definitely the disturbing, yet very saddening scene where the poor police dog is sadly licking his dead master
. That little scene is just so very powerful for me.

Anyhow, as I said, this my third favorite film of all time, and I could easily watch it every day without getting the least bit bored. On a scale of :star: to :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:, this gem easily gets a perfect :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:!
 

Inspector Hammer!

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 15, 1999
Messages
11,063
Location
Houston, Texas
Real Name
John Williamson
Agreed, The Hitcher rocks...hard! John Ryder is one of the most evil screen villians to ever come along, and he's also oddly amusing at times, like in the diner when he put the pennies on Jim's eye's. The film proves it's skill by not giving us any background for Ryder, it really does make you wonder who he is, where he comes from and how he's always one step ahead of poor Jim throughout the film. The film has balls of steel too! Do you think they would even suggest that a whole family in a station wagon is brutily mutilated by a psycho
in todays Hollywood? Nope.

Their is one thing i've always wondered about though...

when he tied Jennifer Jason Leigh to the truck, did he rip her in half, or rip her arms or legs off?

That's a sick thing to ponder, I know, but still i'm never sure.
 

LennyP

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 20, 2002
Messages
587
HOLY BLEEPING CRAP Matthew_V!!! Thanks a LOT for that, I'd have missed it probably, gona go get more info on that, I gotta get that DVD, just for commentaries and especialy if extras are not dubbed or just in german.
 

Mark Zimmer

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
4,318
Hm, that Hitcher SE sounds mighty darned tempting. I may wait a little bit though and see if any news of it coming to R1 shows up. I've always had a fondness for this since one day decades ago when I decided to see as many movies in one day as I could--this is in the days before multiplexes, when I had to go to different theaters to do it--and The Hitcher was my first stop. It's also by far the best of the six movies I saw that day. Brutally nasty from the first scene.:emoji_thumbsup:
 

BrettB

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
3,019
Great movie!

As others have said, I think the key is Rutger Hauer's performance. Constantly trying to figure out what the hell is going on in his sick head and the connection between Ryder and CTH's character.

John W
"when he tied Jennifer Jason Leigh to the truck, did he rip her in half, or rip her arms or legs off?"

I'm not a doctor but my guess would be that 2 (or more) limbs became unattached

This is the worst disc in my collection. The last time I watched it I was trying to figure out exactly what was going on with the transfer. Is it "anamorphic letterbox"? Hopefully that German release bodes well for an eventual R1 release.
 

Inspector Hammer!

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 15, 1999
Messages
11,063
Location
Houston, Texas
Real Name
John Williamson
Brett,

the transfer is anamorphic, and I know what you mean, it's grainy as hell. I don't know if this disc is an accurate representation of the film or not, but I don't remember the vhs ever being this grainy, probably because of the low resolutuion of tape hid the flaws that were always there.
 

Steve Christou

Long Member
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2000
Messages
16,333
Location
Manchester, England
Real Name
Steve Christou
Yep, great great film, Rutger Hauer was just perfect as The Hitcher (from hell), he just wanted C.Thomas Howell to stop him and thats what he did... or did he? ooooooh the hitcher is still out there folks, watch out! Yes there's a message to the story, don't pick up hitch-hikers that look like Rutger Hauer, its that simple!
 

Joseph Young

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 30, 2001
Messages
1,352
After seeing the Hitcher, I never looked at [rant]RANCH STYLE FRENCH FRIES[/rant] the same way again... ;)

You know of what I speak....

~j
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,697
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top