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The Hitcher (1986)
24 Plays18 days ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris catch a ride with 1986's The Hitcher as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Rutger Hauer stars as John Ryder, a terrifying hitchhiking serial killer who targets Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell), who is on the road trying to deliver a car from Chicago to San Diego. Ryder starts to stalk and terrorize Jim, pushing him to the edge and trying to get him to finally snap and kill Ryder. Zach and Chris discuss Hauer's amazing performance, the odd business of drive-away car delivery, the bizarre cut-away from the most horrific moment in the film, how everyone in the area besides Jennifer Jason Leigh's Nash is a trigger-happy cop, and more.
You can watch The Hitcher on Cinemax, but the quality is horrific, so your best bet is physical media. Next week, we're celebrating both the Lunar New Year and the 30th anniversary of Rumble in the Bronx, the movie that finally made Jackie Chan a superstar in the West.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your movie suggestions for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and The Hitcher Anniversary
00:00:19
Zach Sheets
Hello and welcome to the Everything Actioncast podcast week of February 16th, 2026. I'm host, Zach.
00:00:26
Chris Prime
I'm your co-host, Chris.
00:00:28
Zach Sheets
And this week we're catching a ride with The Hitcher because the cult classic celebrating its 40th anniversary came out on February 21st, 1986.
Road Horror Genre Exploration
00:00:36
Zach Sheets
And definitely one of the best entries in the subgenre of road horror where, you know, it's like you're driving and then something terrible happens.
00:00:45
Zach Sheets
There's like Joyride and Duel and the hills have eyes.
00:00:52
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's not, like I said, just the, the, the exploitation films of driving through open country.
00:00:58
Zach Sheets
Usually the desert. They always seem to happen like the southwest and then it's like, oh no, we're in the middle of the desert and then something horrible happens.
Western and Apocalyptic Tone in The Hitcher
00:01:06
Chris Prime
Yeah. Anytime it's like, is there like hills that are doneut like barren? That's when you're like, oh no.
00:01:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah, just like it's like my there's just miles and miles of empty, there's nothing, there's no gas stations, no houses, just like empty road.
00:01:15
Chris Prime
But
00:01:23
Chris Prime
I think like, they they They try to make it seem like it's a Western, sort of. like That was the tone I was getting, where it's like, nothing out here, but the like the law, like justice is in your hands, or whatever, you know? like It's a lawless county.
00:01:40
Zach Sheets
It kind of feels like apocalyptic at times. Like they're coming across like abandoned buildings. It's like the nuclear apocalypse happened. This is the like the building that's left standing.
00:01:50
Chris Prime
I see what you mean by that.
00:01:53
Zach Sheets
It's like
00:01:55
Chris Prime
It kind
Rutger Hauer's Performance as John Ryder
00:01:55
Chris Prime
of is. I mean, especially when the Hitcher is sort of like perfectly designed to be a predator in this area. And if you just change this movie slightly to be like set in the Mad Max universe, it it still fits.
00:02:09
Chris Prime
You just swap out everyone's Midwest like costumes and you put them all in like biker gear. It still makes sense.
00:02:18
Chris Prime
Like if if it does, it sort of explains why half these people are so cartoonish.
00:02:25
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because there're they they survived like the the end of society.
00:02:30
Chris Prime
And that's why it's like everything that's open is just diners and like travel lines and then like very ready to go cops that are just more than happy to chase villains.
00:02:43
Zach Sheets
But i think I think the main thing carrying this movie is definitely Rutger Hauer as a John Ryder. Yeah.
00:02:51
Zach Sheets
One of the classic Riker Howard performances.
00:02:54
Chris Prime
Oh yeah. This is a year or three after Blade Runner, I think.
Casting Choices and Reflections
00:03:02
Zach Sheets
Yeah, Blade Runner is 82, so...
00:03:04
Chris Prime
Oh wow. I mean, Rucker Stower still looks pretty good in this era of just that 80s look of just being menacing. But for whatever reason in this one, he because he acts very like intense, you know it's it's hard not to think he's Roy still.
00:03:22
Zach Sheets
who
00:03:24
Zach Sheets
just He starts like like made like talking about things that happened in space to to see Thomas Howell.
00:03:31
Chris Prime
yeah like I've seen things you wouldn't believe.
00:03:36
Zach Sheets
but guess I guess according to the IDB trivia, apparently like Sam Elliott was like done like done deal cast as a writer to start with, but he had a scheduling conflict.
00:03:47
Chris Prime
maybe?
00:03:48
Zach Sheets
but Maybe, yeah.
C. Thomas Howell's Character and Gig Economy
00:03:50
Zach Sheets
But, like, I guess Rucker Howard in his book said, like, apparently Sam Elliott's, like, like like audition was, like, so terrifying, the executive producer was, like, didn't even want to like, walk out with him to his car.
00:03:59
Chris Prime
I think Rucker Hauer's gonna follow him.
00:04:01
Zach Sheets
No, like, Sam Elliott's audition was, like, so terrifying, and you're like, oh, I don't even want to be in, like, the same areas as this guy.
00:04:10
Zach Sheets
But then Rucker Howard stood in, it's like and and he's, like, you know, I can't even imagine if if if Rucker Howard is, like, that scary, like, in movie now, like Sam Elliott, even scarier. It's just it says a little hard, it's hard to like, i can't remember like like a menacing Sam Elliott performance recently, or like, like, when I don't know they jump out at me. He's He's always just like the, like you know, like the the cowboy dude.
00:04:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, I can't even imagine him, like, but without a mustache. I know he's been in movies without a mustache, but I insert one on his face.
00:04:48
Chris Prime
Like, I could imagine a Sam Elliott with a mustache in the way he looked in, like, Roadhouse era. As just some, like, like,
00:04:58
Chris Prime
wise word-giving cowboy killer.
00:05:01
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah I guess he ask he would fit more in like the Texas area as like the like a Texas serial killer, I guess.
Protagonist's Lifestyle and Vulnerability
00:05:08
Chris Prime
does make sense, but it just I think it conflicts so much with C. Thomas Howell, where C.
00:05:14
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:05:15
Chris Prime
Thomas Howell is supposed be a boy from Chicago, even though he sounds more like a like California guy.
00:05:24
Zach Sheets
Who is, a he's doing a car delivery, which I feel like is kind of like an, like, they I think companies like that still exist today, but it's not really something you hear about.
00:05:36
Zach Sheets
Where someone like drive like someone's hired to drive a car from one place to another place.
00:05:41
Chris Prime
Usually it's like rentals, where if another rental agencies are out of cars, they will send another one. But it also seems like the most fuel-inefficient system.
00:05:55
Chris Prime
Because you could just wait for the next rental, and like someone's going that way, and then it's like, I'll drop it off at this kiosk, and then like you'll slowly get there.
00:05:58
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:06:04
Chris Prime
Because he's going from Chicago to California, San Diego.
00:06:09
Zach Sheets
San Diego. Yep. Yep.
00:06:12
Chris Prime
So I guess he took that route because it's better than flying. He took the courier job of driving the car.
00:06:18
Zach Sheets
Well, I guess i guess there's like some people like don't trust like a car like a transport or like like a truck transport or something. They want like someone to like drive the car themselves to get to them.
00:06:30
Chris Prime
But then you just added like a crazy amount of mileage on the car.
00:06:33
Zach Sheets
Yeah. it's it's It's a very odd system. like a very Like a weird gig like economy thing to have.
00:06:42
Chris Prime
I understand if like you drove the truck that drove the car, but you were driving the car itself.
00:06:49
Zach Sheets
And then what do you what do what do you do when you get to like the place that you drive the car off? You just take another job from another car? and Like, go like oh this car needs to go back to Chicago so that you can drive back to Chicago with this car.
00:07:01
Zach Sheets
Or you fly yourself or something?
00:07:01
Chris Prime
Yeah, man.
00:07:02
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:07:02
Chris Prime
No, that that literally is the job. It's a very niche job, and it's not really a job, it's a gig. It's to show you that basically this character doesn't have any ties. He's, in his own way, he's a drifter because he doesn't have stability.
00:07:21
Chris Prime
But that's what makes him, like, sort of the perfect prey for Ruckert Howard because everyone has, like, a family. they They want to go places and do things. That could be explored better, but this movie doesn't really focus in on that.
00:07:33
Chris Prime
That's sort of just, like, what's happening in the background. And you just have to fill in the blank. But from just what we see and hear, like, see Thomas Howe is just sort of like doesn't have any urgency because he's obviously not because he's just like, hey, I'm a hitchhiker. Hell yeah, get in the car.
00:07:50
Zach Sheets
He'll keep me awake because I'm passing out and almost getting smashed by a truck.
00:07:55
Chris Prime
I've done long road trips, but I'm just like, it's not worth trying to turbo power like more, like, coffee, so that, like, you are more of a danger in this open road.
00:08:10
Zach Sheets
Well, I would, I'm assuming he has
Film's Artistic Elements and Tension
00:08:11
Zach Sheets
like a deadline. He has like, he has to get San Diego in like a certain amount of time.
00:08:15
Chris Prime
That makes sense. Probably got bonus.
00:08:16
Zach Sheets
So that's why he's it's why he's like powering through because I got to be there like two days. mean, mean, he doesn't say that, but I'm just, I'm i'm assuming that. I'm assuming like when you're driving a car, like you have to be there at certain amount time.
00:08:24
Chris Prime
Yeah, see, like, we...
00:08:26
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:08:27
Chris Prime
So that's the problem with this movie. It's a lot of assuming.
00:08:31
Chris Prime
But I'm fine with it. like I get why this this movie sort of had an issue trying to make back its cost in the beginning. But the reason why we're talking about this movie because you know it's still like a decent movie.
00:08:44
Chris Prime
It's not just like a movie we are just going to poop on. But it definitely has like a very arthouse-y vibe where I think there's long stretches of like no one talking, not like just more establishing shots than story.
00:09:01
Zach Sheets
it's Apparently it's one of Christopher Nolan's favorite movies.
00:09:04
Chris Prime
I think it's because it's it's tense. If you follow the character study, I can sort of see that kind of like filmmaker obsession about things.
00:09:13
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:09:15
Chris Prime
But I can also see why if someone's looking for like an action-packed thriller or something, it's sorely like not that.
00:09:24
Chris Prime
You know? I always thought the hit genre would be more like, you know, the this guy that basically it's it's like one giant car chase sequence after another.
00:09:32
Zach Sheets
like Like it's like like it's dual. like It's Rucker Hauer like playing like psychological mind games with C.T.O.P.S.O.L.
00:09:34
Chris Prime
Yeah, like it's dual. and it's It's not quite that. Like, it's very slow-paced.
00:09:47
Zach Sheets
Or like, it reminded me a lot of, you speaking of Christopher Nolan, which I wonder if this this is where you like got inspired from it a little bit, where it's like, you know how in like Dark Knight where like Joker's like, I'm trying to push Harvey Dent to like the brink and like make turning him to me, basically.
00:10:00
Zach Sheets
Like, I feel like that's kind of like what Ryder's doing. it Like he's trying to push C. Thomas Howell to like the brink so that, and then he'll like, he'll finally like kill him.
Ryder's Psychological Manipulations
00:10:10
Chris Prime
I could see that. like
00:10:11
Zach Sheets
turn Like turn turnur him into him. Like, I'm gonna turn you into me.
00:10:15
Chris Prime
He basically wanted to brainwash him into like taking a life after, especially C. Thomas Howe had like a rule, of like I guess sort of like a moral code he couldn't kill.
00:10:28
Chris Prime
And that was the point, is that like he pushed him.
00:10:31
Zach Sheets
Yeah, cause right because Ryder's whole thing is he like, I'm seeing this with everyone. is' like He checks in the car and then he's like, I'm going to kill you, but if you like you you better you guys should just stop me.
00:10:44
Zach Sheets
And then Noah stops him because they're too afraid of him and then he just is murders them.
00:10:49
Chris Prime
I mean, like, average people don't just kill.
00:10:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:53
Chris Prime
It's sort of a, you know, morality instinct where it's like, we're sort of taught not to do that, but for whatever reason, Rickerhauer is just broken. So he just assumes that, like, you know, I can kill. I can get away with anything. You know, that psychopath nature of just, like, no morality. He's doing it for, because he can.
00:11:17
Zach Sheets
I feel and and i seems like like either way, like I think in his mind he wins. Because it kind of seems like he does actually want to die so if So if someone kills them, like he wins because he gets killed.
00:11:30
Zach Sheets
But then if if the person doesn't kill him, then he gets to kill that person and be like the thrill of like killing them. So then he wins that way too. Mm-hmm.
00:11:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's it's like a lose-lose for everyone, except for him. Because secretly he just wants to like show like the chaos of it. it's like It doesn't make sense. It's just more of a... like i i I'm trying to do something for whatever reason, because that makes it scarier.
00:11:58
Chris Prime
you know like It's not like a, oh, this guy's doing it for money, this guy's doing for fame. He literally, like we don't even know his real name.
00:12:05
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:12:07
Chris Prime
So it didn't he didn't want to do it for the infamy.
00:12:11
Zach Sheets
And then when I think when, like, when CM Thomas Hala, like, kicks him off the out of the car, like, gets away from him, I think that kind of, like, he's like, oh, this he has potential. Like, he could, like, kill me. i could if i could like If I push him hard enough, he might kill me.
00:12:25
Zach Sheets
So that's why he starts like, just like obsessively tracking him.
00:12:25
Chris Prime
I see that.
00:12:29
Chris Prime
he This guy uses like Green Beret training to get everywhere to see Thomas Howell is. Like, silently.
00:12:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah, he, he, and this this is, this is the 80s. There's no GPS. There's no airtags. You can't track someone easily. But he just shows up everywhere. C-Termin's all show is like, is is like, like going or appearing in.
00:12:51
Zach Sheets
he's like,
00:12:51
Chris Prime
It's crazy how...
00:12:52
Zach Sheets
He's like ahead of time too. Mm-hmm.
00:12:57
Chris Prime
Yeah, which is kind of, like, bizarre, because at some points, like, they're on the same roof, and i't know how he beats them.
00:13:07
Zach Sheets
Because at some point he's walking because he got kicked kicked out the car He gets picked up by another car. He gets picked picked up like a family. then C-Town Salad gets in that wreck with the bus. His bumper gets smashed, which at that point just abandoned your driving job because you've damaged the car. Even if you make the San Diego, the guy that you're driving the car to is probably going to seriously dock your pay.
00:13:36
Chris Prime
yeah It's like, now you owe money now.
00:13:39
Zach Sheets
But yeah, but then, but like, Ruckcarver's ending up on foot a lot of times, but he's like still able to keep up with Steve Salam in his car.
00:13:49
Chris Prime
I think that's also the slasher part of this movie. the
00:13:54
Zach Sheets
he's like He's like Jason Powers. Yeah.
00:13:55
Chris Prime
Yeah, like he can just jog faster than a car to where he needs to be.
00:14:03
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because they go to like the abandoned garage that looks like it's like in the apocalypse. Is that where the left used to
00:14:09
Chris Prime
Wait, why does that man in garage also have like a pit? it It looks like there's like a fight pit in that garage.
00:14:14
Zach Sheets
i is that like where the left used to be for like the cars?
00:14:21
Chris Prime
Okay, that could make sense. I don't know. It's such a quick shot. I was like sort of paying attention to, but I was like, did they? Yeah, you're right. Like they entered a mine.
00:14:33
Zach Sheets
But there so there's like somewhat like somewhat nice classy cars that are like just left in that building. like i don't People are just like, i just leave leave the cars here. We can't afford we can't afford this place anymore.
00:14:46
Chris Prime
So was that an abandoned garage?
00:14:48
Zach Sheets
It seemed like it was abandoned. I mean, it was covered in dust and like no one was there.
00:14:52
Chris Prime
But it seems like that whole area just is covered in dust. So that's not enough.
00:14:55
Zach Sheets
yeah It's a desert, I guess, yeah.
00:14:58
Zach Sheets
That's like the first weird, because Ryder just like steals his keys and then tosses it back to them. Like, hey, like I got your keys.
00:15:06
Chris Prime
I think he did it just prove he can.
00:15:08
Zach Sheets
Yeah. It's like, I tracked you.
00:15:10
Chris Prime
Yeah, he's playing with them. He definitely enjoys the thrill. And I think that's like different because maybe in his previous victims, it was more like, oh, this guy's like, you know, not what I want.
00:15:25
Chris Prime
So that's it. But C. Thomas Howe was, you know, the catch for him.
00:15:29
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. Yep. So Sam Bieler, like, he sees, like, potential. Like, he's got potential because, like, he stood up to me.
00:15:37
Chris Prime
I think if this movie was a little bit more ambiguous about the brainwashing and like pushing him to like break and then become like him, I would have liked it. Like, okay.
00:15:49
Chris Prime
In retrospect, it would have been too formalic of like where it's going, where it's like, oh that's the whole point of the movie is that anyone can be corrupted with enough like pressure and like conditions.
00:16:03
Chris Prime
But, it It sort of makes the hitchhiker more menacing because it's more of a psychological challenge than an outrun this guy with a gun.
00:16:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:16:15
Chris Prime
And for whatever reason, this everyone can get guns really easily.
00:16:19
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:16:21
Chris Prime
So that sort of downplays the whole terror.
00:16:22
Zach Sheets
I mean, it's it's Texas.
00:16:24
Chris Prime
Yeah, but like, what's more scary than like, if if he basically was always getting close and he had like, just he killed with whatever was around in the room. So it's like, oh, you don't even need... He doesn't even have, like, a special weapon.
00:16:39
Chris Prime
It's not like he's walking around like, a special hiker cleaver.
00:16:43
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:16:43
Chris Prime
He literally is just like, oh, that's cool. Thanks for this gun that I found. I'm using this. Or, like... I don't know. He has, like, a switchblade he then gave to see Thomas Howell.
00:16:54
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:16:55
Chris Prime
So, like, he's just giving away weapons. So I think have been more, like... eerie if that basically the Rucker Hauer also like his kills were more like personal like getting up close and not just driving by and just shooting because he does he's got an insane aim for what's going on in this movie
00:17:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah, like shooting out a music a moving vehicle.
00:17:19
Chris Prime
and then shooting at a helicopter
00:17:21
Zach Sheets
but Yeah, it that's later, yeah.
00:17:23
Chris Prime
But yeah, like it it wouldn't be the same. it would be actually scary if he threw like a toaster at the helicopter and he was able to take it out, you know, like very suspicious things that because he's so like heartless and and just like unstoppable, like he he just grabbed things and that's a weapon. So like anything in a room is a weapon to him.
00:17:45
Zach Sheets
Maybe that's what he did to those cops they killed, because like we never really saw we't but we just see the aftermath. We don't really see what he did.
00:17:51
Zach Sheets
There's a lot of... Ryder is like able to like stealth into an area and just like do whatever like just do whatever he wants and and like leave without no one seeing him. like He's basically a ghost. He shows up and can like yeah plant things or like like kill people and then like disappear.
00:18:10
Zach Sheets
but he doesn't He does make a big big a big bang with like when he blows up that gas station.
00:18:17
Chris Prime
Yeah. Well, I mean,
00:18:17
Zach Sheets
he like he hitches a ride with like like a guy with like a pickup truck and then he like kills that guy and then that's like his main vehicle for rest of the movie, like this pickup truck and then he like drives it, smashes through a gas station and almost blows C. Thomas Hall up and then like his like the car he's driving is even more like destroyed. like so like its it's at that point, like it's like he's not getting paid at all for that car. like The car is like on fire, exploded, the bumper is destroyed.
00:18:46
Chris Prime
i mean We reassume that once he hit that bus, that that's it. The car is just like a total.
00:18:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:18:55
Zach Sheets
You think, I mean, was he still, was he still like, like, I gotta get to San Diego or like, why why don't you just like turn around and be like, all right, I'm going back to so go back to Chicago.
00:19:04
Chris Prime
I think he's closer to San Diego from the desert than he is to turn around go to Chicago.
00:19:06
Zach Sheets
it Maybe.
00:19:10
Zach Sheets
I gotta, I gotta, I gotta finish this job.
00:19:12
Chris Prime
I got to see things through.
00:19:14
Zach Sheets
It's not even like modern day where like you he'd get like stars, like it's Uber. Like it's no like it's like there's not an app he's like on. It's like, i got to get like my five stars. got to deliver this car.
00:19:28
Zach Sheets
but he does But he does manage to, like, yeah, he escapes the explosion. the car Like, the car is still somehow driving. And then he makes to, like, the diner where we meet Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nash.
00:19:42
Zach Sheets
Who's, like, i think we're talking before, like, we started recording. Like, it's, like, she's, like, the only normal person in the town, it seems like. Or, like, this area. Because everyone else is, like, like a trick-or-happy cop.
00:19:53
Zach Sheets
Or a tourist.
00:19:55
Chris Prime
Or her cousin.
00:19:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like her her her uncle and her cousin and then her and then everyone else is like a cop. Mm-hmm.
00:20:03
Chris Prime
That's the whole town.
00:20:05
Zach Sheets
I mean, we we don't really see a town. It's just like, these are all places just like off
Framing and Protagonist's Arrest
00:20:09
Zach Sheets
the highway. There's not we there's not like a town, a small town.
00:20:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah, but C-Town's all like, mary like, convinces her like, let him in, even though the diner's not open. And then, she she makes him like a burger of fries but then somehow Ryder got in there slipped a finger into the fries and also stole C-Town's wallet and then planted like his like switchblade covered in blood into his jacket and then no one saw him no one saw him do that he just got in there and then vanished
00:20:41
Chris Prime
Whose finger was that?
00:20:44
Zach Sheets
one of the like one of the like killed like three cardi cars before like before and after meeting like Stas Howell so I guess he's got maybe just keeps like the fingers
00:20:55
Chris Prime
Just like a pocket finger, just in case he wants to make a message.
00:20:58
Zach Sheets
to like to frame someone for murder
00:21:01
Chris Prime
But is it murder? Because it they just found like a finger and they're like, this guy did it.
00:21:06
Zach Sheets
Well, it seems like like like the cops know... Well, C. Thomas Howell calls the cops and says, like, hey, I'm being hunted by the guy that like killed those people. So I guess they they're aware that there's like a serial killer out there like killing people on the road.
00:21:22
Zach Sheets
And then when the cops show up, it's like they think that C. Thomas Howell is like the killer. And then it's like confirmed, basically, when he has like the knife and there's a finger in his food.
00:21:34
Zach Sheets
And he has no wallet.
00:21:36
Chris Prime
And like, you did it. Look at the cop, the deputies are just like, open and shut case.
00:21:45
Zach Sheets
You crazy Chicago kids coming to our state.
00:21:47
Chris Prime
Always taking them fingers. Eating our diner food.
00:21:51
Zach Sheets
Yep. Yep.
00:21:55
Zach Sheets
I do love the detail, too, of they, because he has no wallet, so they're trying to like, confirm his identity, but they they call, like, the drive-away car company, it's and it's closed. It's, like, i mean, it's, he says it's, like, closed until, like, it's, like, the weekend, so it's closed to, like, Monday or something.
00:22:11
Zach Sheets
And they try calling his brother, and his brother doesn't answer, so he's just, like, all right, we, you're lying to us. Like, we can't, we can't confirm your identity, like.
00:22:18
Chris Prime
Well, we can't confirm... Yeah, we can't confirm anything. There's no internet, so they can't, like, look it up. They would have to fax it, but I feel like that police station doesn't have a fax machine.
00:22:29
Zach Sheets
You're going to spend the weekend in in the in the jail.
00:22:32
Chris Prime
Okay, so speaking about the jail, do they lock him
00:22:36
Zach Sheets
i i believe so, yeah. Because he's he's like, you know, the suspects. They're like, we're we're holding you in jail. we figure out what's going on.
00:22:44
Chris Prime
Because there's a whole movie scene missing for what happens in that jail. But I don't mind it because it adds to like a supernatural part of the movie. It almost reminds me Resident Evil 2 after C-Times Howe wakes up and explores the the like police station.
00:23:01
Zach Sheets
The aftermath, yeah. but he I mean, he must be like a sound sleeper something, because he didn't like... I don't know how loud it was when Rucker Howard came and it like just killed everyone in in the police station, but...
00:23:11
Chris Prime
So Rucker Hauer had to have a gun because it seems like one of the guys has a shotgun wound.
00:23:15
Zach Sheets
there There was like there's a blast wound on like the wall, yeah.
00:23:15
Chris Prime
like that
00:23:18
Chris Prime
Yeah, so did did he sleep through that noise? like
00:23:22
Zach Sheets
Yeah. He's a super sound sleeper, apparently.
00:23:26
Chris Prime
That's why I can't figure out like how he did that. how did Did Rucker Hauer also have like the silent shotgun from like Go Country from Old Men?
00:23:34
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:23:36
Zach Sheets
The cattle gun.
00:23:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, like, was he just walking around just just quietly pew pew?
00:23:42
Chris Prime
It doesn't look like It looked like it was a gunfight.
00:23:44
Zach Sheets
Yeah. a knife and a gun. because like i think I'm going to guess that his throat slit.
00:23:49
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:23:49
Zach Sheets
But then... some
00:23:50
Chris Prime
That's where the dog was, like, having a few tastes.
Ryder's Constant Threat
00:23:52
Chris Prime
And we're like, what's up with this dog?
00:23:53
Zach Sheets
honest Was it a police thaw or was just like a random desert coyote?
00:23:56
Chris Prime
No, no, it's it a police dog.
00:23:57
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:23:58
Chris Prime
would have been funnier if it was a coyote, but I think it's just the police dog who is poorly trained and just licking and chewing on one of the deputies.
00:24:07
Zach Sheets
And it's also it's it's it's also crazy that, like, apparently Ryder predicted that C. Thomas Howell would pick up the one gun, like the revolver, because you might have learned that took all the bullets out of it.
00:24:15
Chris Prime
would have no bullets.
00:24:19
Chris Prime
Do you think that maybe he took out all the ammo in the station?
00:24:24
Zach Sheets
but maybe Yeah, I mean, that I guess that would make more sense than predicting, like, he's going to this specific gun. I'll leave all the guns, except and then but he'll take this one.
00:24:34
Zach Sheets
Which, because, yeah, so then the rest cops show up and then, like, Seedal runs off into the desert and then he ends up at a, uh, like a truck stop.
00:24:44
Chris Prime
like another truck stop.
00:24:45
Zach Sheets
but just Just, just, it's, it's, all this this entire highway is just gas stations it's,
00:24:51
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. I mean, this one around, it seems like, is everyone afraid of the Hitcher? Because as soon as he's there, like no one's there but see Thomas Howell, the Hitcher shows up again.
00:25:03
Zach Sheets
Well, I think this is when he takes like, he shows up at this other gas station and he takes like the like the the two cops hostage and forces them to drive him like to...
00:25:14
Chris Prime
Oh yeah, yeah, we're missing a scene where he goes there and yeah, like he basically outran a police like search.
00:25:26
Zach Sheets
he's well just He's ran out the back door. They ran the front door. He ran out the back door and escaped to the desert.
00:25:33
Zach Sheets
And then, yeah, he takes some other cops hostage. And he manages contact the captain, who's played by like later Jeffrey DeMunn.
00:25:43
Chris Prime
Yeah, it took me while to realize that was him.
00:25:45
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because this is is like one of his first movies, I think. Early, early movie for him.
00:25:51
Chris Prime
And he kills it in this small roll.
00:25:53
Zach Sheets
Before he hooked up with like Frank Darabont, he's in like every Frank Darabont movie. And then The Walking Dead.
00:26:02
Zach Sheets
But then, but then, Ryder shows up again, because you like, cause i because Ryder knows wherever, like, C-Towns Alice at all times, and, like, kills the cops, and then, it just disappears again. He's like, it's like, I'll see you later. Bye.
00:26:17
Zach Sheets
this is right
00:26:17
Chris Prime
Well, he drives off not knowing that if he he got C.
00:26:23
Chris Prime
Thomas Howell, he's just sort of like, all right, shoot these guys. Hopefully I'll see you later. Like he just he doesn't care. Like if I don't know if that if like what would happen if that he died in there and then C.
00:26:36
Chris Prime
Thomas Howell would be like, where is this guy? I've been waiting at this diner for like an hour.
00:26:41
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:26:43
Chris Prime
Because that's essentially what happened. like he He didn't know that C. Thomas Howe would be there. He just sort of camped out at a location in the hopes that that would be the right one.
00:26:54
Zach Sheets
but the next Like the next stop down the road?
00:26:58
Chris Prime
Yeah, but it's like a desert. There's no like barrier stopping you. like You could just go the somewhere else.
00:27:05
Zach Sheets
but the the diary is is like such a like great weird scene where like see stump i like like just sorry like shoot him with the gun that they but it is empty but then writer gives him the bullets but he also like puts like pennies on his eyes like it's like like uh like chair like what was it like like qran like the the underworld like yeah pay the repay the toll
00:27:26
Chris Prime
oh Oh. It doesn't always for the underworld thing. I mean, it is, but it's also like a lot of cultures do like that one.
00:27:34
Zach Sheets
coins on your eyes. Yeah.
00:27:35
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it's another tactic done by this psychological monster.
00:27:44
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:27:49
Zach Sheets
And C.T.O.S.O.L. gets on a bus, which just happens to have, like, Nash is just having to ride that bus. Like, I don't i don't know how long it's been since he was at, like, her restaurant.
00:28:00
Zach Sheets
But I guess her, like, her shift's over. Because because we we see her we see her arrive on the bus. she She, like, takes the bus, like, to and from work. But, so but it must have been it's but must have been, like, hours since C.T.O.S.O.L. got arrested. Because like now she's like, well, I'm going home now.
00:28:17
Chris Prime
Wait, that was her home bus?
00:28:19
Zach Sheets
she i don't She takes a bus because like she shows up at at like the diner that she works at on a bus. She doesn't have a car of her own.
00:28:27
Zach Sheets
But like let's like luckily it's like luckily he just happened to get on the bus that she was riding on.
00:28:33
Chris Prime
And for whatever reason, he's like, I need to kidnap her right now. I need her to believe me.
00:28:37
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:39
Chris Prime
like, Let's just say, oh no, they let me off of a misdemeanor. It's like, oh, okay. Like, she can't confirm it. You know, they're not like blasting on the radio.
00:28:48
Zach Sheets
it's like Yeah, the last thing she saw was like him getting you like putting handcuffs and throwing it into a cop car.
00:28:52
Zach Sheets
And so it' somehow like there was a finger in his in his in his french fries.
00:28:58
Chris Prime
Wouldn't she have noticed the finger later at the counter? Like, whose finger is that? You know, it's like...
00:29:02
Zach Sheets
Yeah, how how did this get in like the french fries that I made?
00:29:05
Chris Prime
If anything, like, something's wrong with the restaurant, not him.
00:29:10
Zach Sheets
like someone at the the french fry factory like lost their finger in the machine. Yeah.
00:29:15
Chris Prime
Like, did she think later he did that on purpose so he didn't have to pay?
00:29:20
Zach Sheets
feel like I feel like she she was giving him like that for free.
00:29:23
Chris Prime
free meal, right?
00:29:23
Zach Sheets
like Yeah, it's like, I feel so i feel bad for you. like here's Here's a burger and fries.
00:29:28
Chris Prime
So, thinking that, i was like, It's just funny to think that that finger was so she's not even fazed by the finger. She doesn't bring it up. She doesn't ask about it.
00:29:38
Chris Prime
You know, like it just, oh, oh, you're asking me super not guilty.
00:29:39
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:29:42
Chris Prime
Like, you you know, like what?
00:29:45
Zach Sheets
she's She's pretty much all in. like She's just like, oh, okay, I'm all in with you now.
00:29:50
Zach Sheets
When, like, because, like, the cops the cops are figuring out that, like, Stam's house on that bus, and they and they pull it over and arrest him, like, arrest him again, but then they're going like, they think he's a cop killer now, so then they're going like, force it, like, make it look like he, like, tried to pull their gun and then kill him.
00:30:07
Chris Prime
Yeah, they're they're more mad, so they're willing to bend the law.
00:30:07
Zach Sheets
He's like,
00:30:10
Zach Sheets
you spit on my hand, wipe it off.
00:30:14
Zach Sheets
And then, mm-hmm.
00:30:14
Chris Prime
So yeah, it's a legal defense of he's going for my gun.
00:30:19
Zach Sheets
But then Nash pulls like, like, i think she takes, she has C. Thomas Howell's gun that he had.
00:30:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, that he threw on the bus.
00:30:24
Zach Sheets
He left on the bus. And and then but they they steal a cop car. And then we get probably like the biggest, probably like set piece of the movie where it's like this this big like car chase with the cops. And then Ryder shows up again because he knows, obviously because he knows where everyone is at all times. And it's just like shooting at the cops with his shotgun.
00:30:42
Chris Prime
Yeah, Ryder has sort of like a superpower where he can just be like, oh, is is my target nearby? Cool. And how can I make it worse for him? How can I keep blaming more more crazy stuff on C. Thomas Howe?
00:30:58
Zach Sheets
but think i was I was saying before we started recording, it's like in Furious 7 where Jason Statham just like knew where they were across the entire globe. like He would just show up at every place they were and start attacking them. like this is It's like Ryder knows. like it's like yeah i know I sense where he is at all times.
00:31:16
Zach Sheets
But yeah, but so yeah so some Some crazy stuff that I chased. I love like how like the the car that C-Town Sal and Jennifer Tracer Lee are driving in just gets dismantled. like The door fall falls off. Because they keep shooting at the car, all the pieces start falling off of it.
00:31:33
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's where this becomes like a post-apocalyptic road warrior movie.
00:31:38
Zach Sheets
And then then like some some cool practical 80s car flips and explosions.
00:31:43
Chris Prime
I really mention that like those cops may or may not be dead.
00:31:49
Zach Sheets
I those are some pretty horrific crashes. Like, they both, like, did, like they like, synchronized spins in the air and, like, crashed into the, like, did, like, a bunch of rolls. They're probably dead.
00:32:00
Chris Prime
I mean, I can see why the police are more, like, feverish. It's like, alright, now you're doing, like, GTA-style, uh, like, evasion moves, and now cars are flipping.
00:32:14
Zach Sheets
And then do I do like the setup where they think they got away from the cars, but then a helicopter shows and starts shooting at them.
00:32:20
Zach Sheets
And then the rider starts shooting at the helicopter and manages to take it out. Mm-hmm.
00:32:24
Chris Prime
Pretty impressive. From, like, just, like,
00:32:26
Zach Sheets
should should Like shooting from from a moving truck at a moving helicopter and manages to take it out.
00:32:33
Chris Prime
I mean, he takes out, like, the engine because just completely dies.
00:32:39
Chris Prime
i mean, it's a pretty cool scene because at the time it's just filmed very realistically of, like, what happens when helicopter sort of crashes on the road and then just everything else not ready for it.
00:32:51
Zach Sheets
it's It's just you know some yeah good old-fashioned studs and car flipping cars and blown-up cars. and
00:33:02
Zach Sheets
no no No CG, just like, we've got some crappy cars, we're gonna throw em off a ramp and flip them.
00:33:07
Chris Prime
Yep.
Moral Dilemma and Showdown
00:33:10
Zach Sheets
But yeah, see, that's how Jeffrey Lee, they manage to escape. They end up in a okay cheap motel and trying to hide out and Rucker Hauer again knows where they are tracks them down and then like but like like Again, while Steph's house distracted in like another room, like it's it's kind like he's constantly unaware of like what's happening in a room next to him.
00:33:37
Zach Sheets
like It's like the police station and like the bathroom. He's like cleaning up in the diner. and now this like He's in the bathroom in the hotel. But Rucker Hauer gets in and kidnaps Jeremy Lee and then like brings up this whole...
00:33:51
Zach Sheets
like torture set up where he ties her between the trailer and the truck of like a tractor trailer. And so if he pulls the truck away, she's go get ripped in half. It's its basically drawn in quarters or something like a bit, or it's just like a, it's like a medieval, like torture thing.
00:34:09
Zach Sheets
Kinda.
00:34:11
Zach Sheets
it feels like something to like do to like, know, in like medieval times, like this, we're, we're, yeah.
00:34:17
Chris Prime
it's It's what you do like, horses.
00:34:18
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:34:20
Chris Prime
It's how you get, like, drawn and quartered. Except they didn't do the quartering. It's a drawn attack where they just pull you apart.
00:34:24
Zach Sheets
this
00:34:26
Zach Sheets
but But Jeffrey DeMond shows up in in person finally. like He was on the radio before, but he shows he shows up as the captain. and he's like But then the the cops are like, hey, kid, you you need to go talk to him.
00:34:40
Zach Sheets
Get in the cab of that truck and talk to him. the negotiat they got You got negotiate for us.
00:34:45
Zach Sheets
Which is is not great. That's not great police work.
00:34:48
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:34:50
Zach Sheets
The traumatized victim who's been like... This guy's been like like tracking down like trying to kill for like two days. it's It's like... go go Yeah, go go in there talk him down. And then Ruckerhauer gives him a gun again and says like... like do it like do it now. like Kill me now. like like But then, so suggest ill still can't do it.
00:35:13
Zach Sheets
And then Rucker Howard's just like, you're a waste. And then, like, yeah they start pulling the truck away.
00:35:19
Chris Prime
Well, it's a tense moment because it's like now he's really testing to see if C.
00:35:19
Zach Sheets
And then we get...
00:35:26
Chris Prime
Thomas Howell could be a killer.
00:35:27
Zach Sheets
Has he pushed him far enough? Like, is this far enough? Like, it's... It's like it's gotten it's gotten insane at this point. like He's going to rip a girl in half by the truck and if he doesn't kill her. If if he doesn't kill him.
00:35:38
Chris Prime
And this is one of those like, did C. Thomas Howell just have like a speech about anti-killing in life or something? Because it didn't seem like that was the case.
00:35:48
Zach Sheets
Well, they do they set up that if if he... Jeffrey DeMond is like, if if we shoot him, hes his foot's going to go off the clutch and the truck's going to start rolling forward and we can't stop it. so he like Jeffrey, he'll get ripped half anyway.
00:36:00
Chris Prime
I mean, couldn't they just, like, when he's being distracted, like, put a barricade under the wheels or something? Or, or like, cut the, like, gas line?
00:36:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah, could couldn't someone, well when C-Done's was talking to him in the cab, like just sneak up and like untie her?
00:36:16
Zach Sheets
Something, yeah.
00:36:17
Chris Prime
something? I feel like they just, like, stood there and watched, because the van is just shoddy police work. Or, like, disabled the engine.
00:36:22
Zach Sheets
yes yes shoot the Yeah, shoot it.
00:36:25
Chris Prime
Like,
00:36:27
Zach Sheets
Shoot the engine.
00:36:28
Chris Prime
The cops are so eager at shooting things that you couldn't shoot the engine and then, like, ram the car? Ram a car into the, like, another truck?
00:36:38
Zach Sheets
They're just like, let's let's see how this plays out.
00:36:42
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like...
00:36:42
Zach Sheets
Let him cook.
00:36:43
Chris Prime
Yeah, I know.
00:36:43
Zach Sheets
Let's see that was how this all cook.
00:36:45
Chris Prime
they They pretty much were just, like, gambling on, like, we don't got a rule for this, so we'll send in, we send in like, the boy.
00:36:50
Zach Sheets
like this teenage kid.
00:36:52
Chris Prime
Yeah. We'll send the teenager who will, like... He'll know what to do. You know what?
00:36:58
Zach Sheets
he knows this guy.
00:37:00
Chris Prime
they only he met like nine hours ago.
00:37:03
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:37:06
Zach Sheets
But yeah but yes he does look yeah, he can't kill Ryder still, even though it's like this extreme situation. But then we get, like, this is probably like the my biggest criticism of this movie, is like this cut that happens. in the like it Because you hear, like, the truck starts pulling away, and then cuts away. You don't see Jennifer Jason Leigh get like ripped in half. It just cuts like a scene like the next day or like later, like hours later, where C.S. Thomas is in like another police station.
00:37:35
Zach Sheets
And Ryder's, like, arrested. but it's it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, like, an awkward, like, they just, like, they couldn't figure out where to, like, transition from, like, that scene to the next scene. it's like, I just...
00:37:46
Chris Prime
I couldn't tell it was like a budget issue either because there could have been one more scene where, you know, a cop could have ran up and said like, like, freeze.
00:37:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah, pull up, pull up. Yeah, pull him out of, like... Like, JeraVision Lee is dead. like Like, pull him out of the car truck now be like, you're under arrest. Like, at least show that part. Like, show him to get arrested.
00:38:05
Chris Prime
Yeah, and like a traumatized C. Thomas Howell like screaming or something.
00:38:08
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:38:09
Chris Prime
We don't even get that. We just get like how you end a dream sequence. fade to white, whiting out.
00:38:17
Zach Sheets
I mean, I can kind of understand. I guess they maybe they they thought, like, showing JeraVision Lee getting ripped in half would be too gratuitous.
00:38:24
Zach Sheets
but then But it's also like, it's the 80s, it probably would have been a like a really awesome like like there so special effect.
00:38:31
Chris Prime
Like, I didn't even care for the effect, you know? It's like, I got the message completely. Jennifer Jason Leigh sells it that she's being tortured.
00:38:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:39
Chris Prime
and drawn really horribly. So her death is probably like horrific if you if they depicted it. But they could at least like transist the scene better.
00:38:52
Chris Prime
But they go for such an earthy look that it doesn't fit the rest of the movie.
00:38:53
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:38:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah, cause because they don't they don't do like like a transition like that any other time. We've got to cope we gotta cut away do a hard cut flight for the sea. It's too gruesome.
00:39:05
Chris Prime
See, if they did that, I think the Hills Have Eyes has one of those fade-out transition scenes. like It's always like showing you how oppressive the sun is. Where it's like, oh, it's so hot, like it's so chaotic out here.
00:39:18
Chris Prime
At least in the remake, they do a few scenes like that, if I remember correctly.
00:39:18
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:39:23
Chris Prime
Do do you know what I'm talking about?
00:39:25
Zach Sheets
it's but It's been like forever since I saw that
00:39:28
Chris Prime
Well, to give you the visual setup, it's when order they need to show like how much time has transits between like the one scene until they get to like what what someone else is doing somewhere else in the movie.
00:39:41
Chris Prime
They do that. Like, let's look at the sun. The sun like transits from there. You know, it's that like.
00:39:45
Zach Sheets
Is there like the heat waves coming off of it too or something like that?
00:39:47
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:39:48
Zach Sheets
Okay.
00:39:49
Chris Prime
is As if like in the truck sequence, as if like they entered like a desert again. That's how like jarring the visuals are in this one.
00:39:56
Zach Sheets
a
00:39:57
Chris Prime
It's like they use that kind of scene transition as if it's getting really hot outside. But for some whatever reason, like it's during this like, you know, truck torture scene.
00:40:10
Zach Sheets
but uh but yeah but Ryder is arrested though off so off screen don't see and then they're they're like a tre they're cheer game that they have yeah he has no idea they have no idea who he is his name is fake that he gave Thomas Howell the fingerprints don't show up in the system so it's like he's he's like a ghost and then they also like they let C.
00:40:32
Zach Sheets
Thomas Howell go in the room and like it's like I want to talk to him they're alright fine yes go talk to him that's fine
00:40:38
Chris Prime
Yeah, we're in Texas. There's loose rules.
00:40:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah. And he just kind of spits his face and then like, yeah, spit
00:40:47
Chris Prime
But Rucker Howard seems like he's in on He's like, yeah.
00:40:50
Zach Sheets
on me more. Mm-hmm. but i mean more like
00:40:54
Chris Prime
Yeah, gets really awkward there, but it it sets that basically like they don't need words anymore.
Protagonist's Transformation
00:41:04
Zach Sheets
And then he's getting he's getting sent on a prison bus and Jeffrey DeMond is going to give
00:41:25
Zach Sheets
please truck and then chases after the prison bus
00:41:29
Chris Prime
But, you know, that scene was pretty, like, understandable. It's not like a, okay, tension. It really is just like, are you sure you're up for this kind of moment? it Because the sheriff goes, all right, I'm not to stop you, but just know that when you do this, like, you're just doing it worse. But, I mean, C. Thomas Howell was right.
00:41:49
Zach Sheets
And then Rucker Howard, like he manages to get himself like like out of his handcuffs. He gets free on the bus and like kills everyone the bus.
00:41:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, he he frees himself and he arms himself all at the right time when C.
00:41:59
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:01
Chris Prime
Thomas Howell was driving right behind the bus, which i don't even know his plan. Was he just going to, like, drive by?
00:42:05
Zach Sheets
He knew he was coming. Yeah.
00:42:06
Chris Prime
Yeah, but, like, was he going to drive by the bus and just shoot through the window? Something he's never done before?
00:42:13
Zach Sheets
yeah He doesn't have like a team like Fast and Furious when they freed Dom from the prison bus. He's just pulling in front of it and stopped or something.
00:42:21
Chris Prime
Yeah, no, they're just going to shoot him
00:42:22
Zach Sheets
yeah because i mean Yeah. There's like but five or six cops in that on that bus. They're not going to let him get the rider.
00:42:31
Zach Sheets
But luckily yeah but luck for C-Town's holiday, they're all dead. And I love Rucker Hauer's insane move of, I'm not going to shoot you from the the boss, I'm going to jump through your windshield and attack you.
00:42:48
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's such a, like, and it's not, like, a clean, like, entrance. He really pops in, like, broken glass, and Rucker Howers is, like, way more injured than he's ever been from that now.
00:43:00
Zach Sheets
like i mean like I can see him jumping on the hood, but like he he'd or like shoot shoot him from the bus.
00:43:03
Chris Prime
Yep, I can see that, too.
00:43:06
Zach Sheets
You have a shotgun now. like Shoot him from the bus, but he like jumps through the windshield with his head. like at first.
00:43:12
Chris Prime
It's, like, a comical thing.
00:43:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:43:14
Chris Prime
when Like, he crashes in, like, he's gonna... like say something. And he does. He crashes and is like, hey kid. like
00:43:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:43:20
Chris Prime
He's very calm and cool about that that. It's kind of ridiculous.
00:43:25
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:43:27
Chris Prime
But I like it. like It's very like brutal. See Tom's Howl? He could have just braked. But he kept up enough speed with the bus that Riker Howl flew into the window.
00:43:42
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Well, yeah he does slam on the brakes in the red flies off on the road. And then he's and he kind of does the Joker like, hit me! Come on! Which, see how it does. like hit He hits him with the truck.
00:43:54
Zach Sheets
And then he, like, rider goes flying off at the side of the road.
00:43:58
Chris Prime
But I think, okay, so think C. Tom's Howell wanted to hit him with the truck because that's, you know, like it wasn't Tom's Howell, it was the truck. So it's like not a responsibility on him.
00:44:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah. I didn't kill him. The truck killed him.
00:44:12
Chris Prime
Yeah. The impact of, you know, the force of the engine. Blame the car.
00:44:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:44:19
Zach Sheets
But yeah, yeah but of course, you know of of course like he goes over to check the body and like of course Rucker Hauer is not done yet. But but she know all like he has the shotgun now and he just blasts Rucker Hauer four or five times and kills him finally.
00:44:36
Zach Sheets
He's finally been pushed too far. like he went like Rucker got what he wanted finally.
00:44:42
Chris Prime
Which I think would have been fun to see, like, basically the transition. Like, now that C. Thomas Howe was killed, he's like, the taste of blood. and It's like, uh, what I do with this rage now? And then C.
00:44:52
Zach Sheets
what What if... what if
00:44:53
Chris Prime
Thomas, but then Rutger Howe is like, smiling because he's like, I'm free. I'm free from this.
00:44:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:44:57
Chris Prime
Some weird hitchhiker curse.
00:44:57
Zach Sheets
there
00:45:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah, what what if like... What what if Stanislaw became the new hit... Like, he became the new hitcher. He started like hitching rides people and killing people.
00:45:07
Chris Prime
So, interesting enough, I did look up where the sequel was that happens like 13 years later. that like Yeah, like they re made they they made a se second sequel and it's like it's weird because like C.
00:45:13
Zach Sheets
like 2003? Yeah.
00:45:23
Chris Prime
Thomas Howell's character becomes a cop and then he encounters another Hitchirk and it's Gary Busey and it has nothing to do with like Rucker Hauer.
00:45:25
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:45:29
Zach Sheets
It's Jake Busey.
00:45:34
Chris Prime
It's just sort of like another serial killer.
00:45:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:45:40
Chris Prime
I mean, how did did see Thomas Howard get like a police license?
00:45:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah. what What was that background check like? It's like, oh, you but What happened in Texas in the 80s? They you of being a killer and then you killed a guy on the side of the road?
00:46:00
Chris Prime
You were part of like this multiple manhunt incident?
00:46:03
Zach Sheets
bunch cops killed crazy shots or killing car crashes? crazy fat like shot shot or like killing car crashes
00:46:10
Chris Prime
And then, yeah well, it's maybe he became a cop in Chicago, so it's not as crazy. Or maybe he became a cop in that state, whatever, like, Texas, Arizona state they're in.
00:46:24
Zach Sheets
I guess so i'm I'm reading on like the Wikipedia page for the sequel. I guess he has... like He kind of starts using excessive force. so he's he's like getting like He's on probation or something. thing or he's like he's like He has PTSD still from like the Hitcher 1 experience.
00:46:39
Chris Prime
yeah I think becoming a cop shouldn't have been the thing he he did, you know
00:46:42
Zach Sheets
Yeah, if he has like PTSD and excessive force issues, he should never have been a cop in the first place. So it's just like, when do I get the freaking gun, man?
00:46:53
Chris Prime
know? For the gun. Alright, cool.
00:46:57
Chris Prime
But, I mean...
00:46:57
Zach Sheets
yeah I gotta kill these criminals.
00:47:00
Chris Prime
So, yeah, I mean, basically just becomes the Punisher.
00:47:02
Zach Sheets
see
00:47:04
Chris Prime
In the movie ends, what do you think about the ending? Where it just sort of abruptly ends.
00:47:09
Zach Sheets
Where he just starts smoking a cigarette and is like, Welp, it's over.
Film's Legacy and Personal Anecdotes
00:47:13
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:47:15
Zach Sheets
I mean, i I like that, like, you know, it like kind of fulfilled, like, the thing of yeah he finally got pushed too far, and then, like, the hitter kind of got what he wanted.
00:47:26
Chris Prime
I like that, it's It's still left to us as the audience to figure out that if C. Tom's Howe is going to become like the Hitcher, if he's going to become like more of a morality gray kind of guy where like some killings. Okay. know, like did he change his philosophy?
00:47:44
Chris Prime
Is his brother ever going to call him back? What's up with the car company? Like all these other issues that are just like, it's whatever.
00:47:52
Zach Sheets
Does he owe money for that car that he like got blown up?
00:47:57
Chris Prime
You know that other sheriff?
00:48:00
Chris Prime
I think that was chasing him. The one that like dared him to go for the gun. Clean his sleeve. Did he? Did he survive the movie?
00:48:09
Zach Sheets
I mean, last we saw, he was just like on the side of the road with like his like deputy. i i don't know if they were involved in the car chase or not, so they're probably they're probably okay.
00:48:19
Chris Prime
I feel like they're kind of like petty enough that they're going to somehow blame C. Thomas Howell.
00:48:23
Zach Sheets
It's like he was he was his accomplice. He was like his young accomplice.
00:48:26
Chris Prime
Yeah, it was this, like, lover's quarrel.
00:48:29
Zach Sheets
They were team.
00:48:30
Chris Prime
Yeah, they were very intimate. Because, like, if you if you see a lot of scenes in some lights, it just, it, Rucker Howard looks very, like, hey. Like, he was so infatuated with C. Thomas Howell, that level.
00:48:42
Chris Prime
He wanted to, like, live like him a little bit. Because he does, in one scene in the hotel, he lays in bed with Jennifer Jason Leigh, just so that, like, he could feel.
00:48:49
Zach Sheets
He experienced it.
00:48:50
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's just like, whoa, that's creepy.
00:48:52
Zach Sheets
was There's also that scene like early on when they but they they end up, with a it's like that construction stop.
00:48:57
Chris Prime
I
00:48:58
Zach Sheets
And then he's just like, he's like, he leans over like, yeah, tell him, tell him where you're from. then the guy's like, all right, sweethearts, go move on.
00:49:08
Chris Prime
mean, that could just be constructor talk back then.
00:49:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:49:11
Chris Prime
That was like his other cat yeah trash talking construction crew.
00:49:12
Zach Sheets
Trash talking. Yeah.
00:49:15
Chris Prime
But it's weird. That construction crew was like is like, are they also from Texas? like That's like a different state that they were in.
00:49:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:49:24
Zach Sheets
and it's it's like' It's a shitty like construction shift. because i think I think on the radio, when we're listening to the radio, it's like 4 a.m.
00:49:33
Chris Prime
Goddamn, that sucks.
00:49:34
Zach Sheets
yeah that's like yeah yeah its seems like been at it for a while. so they're like The overnight construction crew.
00:49:41
Chris Prime
I mean, it's a needed job, but...
00:49:43
Zach Sheets
Yeah, you gotta do it at night because it's less busy, but that still sucks.
00:49:46
Chris Prime
Right, yeah yeah, and then it's like, alright, then you want to hang out with this like group of, i don't know, perverts? They're like, get out of here.
00:49:56
Zach Sheets
Those damn Chicago people.
00:49:58
Chris Prime
I was coming in, making this state liberal. always like rubbing their knees. Because it's supposed to imply that.
00:50:05
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:50:07
Chris Prime
like The construction crew, yeah fancy your rental car.
00:50:08
Zach Sheets
In their fancy cars.
00:50:12
Chris Prime
I mean, that's why the the construction worker sort of flags them on. He doesn't care about them anymore. He's like, nah, get out of here. But I mean, like it's weird to just make small talk like that.
00:50:22
Chris Prime
You're just waiting for something to go. like In all my like times I've driven in this construction crew, the guy doesn't come to my car window and have a conversation with me.
00:50:30
Zach Sheets
yeahs it Yeah, was it wasn't like a police stop. It wasn't like a DUI stop. It was like a construction... you this wave you They either stop you and they or they wave you past. They don't stop and like, hey, where are you guys headed?
00:50:41
Chris Prime
Yeah, if they're looking for like a manhunt or something, or DUI checkpoint, they'll do that.
00:50:45
Zach Sheets
see
00:50:47
Chris Prime
But if it's just literally construction, the construction worker is not going to have a conversation with you. They've got so many other things to do in their mind, the fact like their priority isn't just hang out.
00:50:58
Zach Sheets
oh Chicago, eh?
00:51:00
Chris Prime
unless they're one of those people Unless they're one of those people that like they charge by the hour, so they're just delaying working, you know?
00:51:00
Zach Sheets
Deep dish pizza.
00:51:06
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:51:07
Zach Sheets
How about them bears? For
00:51:11
Chris Prime
I mean, he does that thing where some people do mention, like, oh, I got family that lives in that state. Do you know them?
00:51:16
Zach Sheets
this town. You know that town? Yeah.
00:51:22
Chris Prime
But if they're from, like, certain towns, but the way he was describing, well, Chicago is, like, so Chicago, the city, the main city is, like, you know, proper Chicago. But then I don't know, 15 minutes outside the city, they still call themselves Chicago.
00:51:37
Chris Prime
But then there's Chicagoland, which I still think is a crazy title.
00:51:38
Zach Sheets
Okay.
00:51:41
Chris Prime
And that's a vague county. It's, you know, like Chicagoland is up until like a certain part. And then it's like, oh, now it's like you can no longer call it Chicagoland. But then some parts are like, well, no, it's sort of Chicagoland over here. i'm like, this is like an hour outside of Chicago. are You kidding me?
00:51:59
Chris Prime
I got a problem about Chicago when I go there. Because I'm not from there, so i have to look up like addresses. And it's like, oh, Chicagoland. Okay, well, that's within distance. Look it up. i'm like, this is BS. This is not in the same distance.
00:52:13
Chris Prime
Is the same thing by you? Ever ever done ever done like this long distance traveler travel hiker travel? And you're just like, this is nowhere near this county.
00:52:23
Zach Sheets
Well, we just get a lot of like, if you say you're from New York, it's like, oh, the city? It's like, no, not the city. there's more There's more than just the city in New York.
00:52:30
Chris Prime
People don't know that. They just think New York City and that's it.
00:52:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:52:33
Chris Prime
i it I'm from New York City.
00:52:34
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:52:35
Chris Prime
and It took me while to whileer realize how big the rest of the state is compared to the one area.
00:52:38
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:52:40
Chris Prime
And it's so crazy because probably some New Yorkers who, you know, really don't look at maps or travel a lot. They just think like the five boroughs is like, that's all New York. Welcome to New York.
00:52:51
Chris Prime
Just it's all this. And then the rest of it, they think it's like Connecticut. You know, they think it's like, oh, that's New Hampshire.
00:52:57
Zach Sheets
a
00:52:58
Chris Prime
it's like, no, that's still New York.
00:53:00
Chris Prime
But there's mountains and trees and lakes. I'm like, yep, that's still New York.
00:53:05
Zach Sheets
Or it's like, oh, you're from upstate New York. It's like, oh, like Westchester?
00:53:10
Chris Prime
Yeah, i've I seriously heard that. I'm like, that's nowhere near upstate.
00:53:15
Chris Prime
Now that I've hung out in those regions, I'm like, that oh boy. je Westchester is nothing.
00:53:18
Zach Sheets
e
00:53:21
Chris Prime
Technically, Westchester where the Xavier mansion is.
00:53:24
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:53:25
Chris Prime
where Where are their stewards? Where is their... The pizza cookie.
00:53:33
Chris Prime
All the New York staples.
00:53:34
Zach Sheets
hey Anyway, but the Hitcher...
00:53:38
Chris Prime
Yeah. i think it's I think of the road exploitation movies, it's it holds up.
00:53:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I mean, like it holds up... Rutger Hauer main thing that like he holds it up. if If he wasn't in this movie, it it would probably be like way more forgotten. But he's just he's just like such a memorable, like crazy, weird villain.
00:54:02
Chris Prime
i think I think the only problem is that like at the time, it just wasn't where people thought the 80s thriller genre would be.
00:54:02
Zach Sheets
i haven't... don't think...
00:54:12
Chris Prime
i think they didn't realize it would be more of a slow burn action movie. i mean, there was a thriller element in it, but I never seen the original trailer, so I don't know how it was marketed.
00:54:25
Zach Sheets
I mean, what else was coming out in like 86 for like horror movies? I feel like it was like...
00:54:30
Chris Prime
Ghostbusters
00:54:34
Chris Prime
and then Jason movies.
00:54:35
Zach Sheets
Chopping Mall, Critters.
00:54:39
Zach Sheets
Like Friday 36, Jason Lives, The Fly.
00:54:44
Zach Sheets
yeah like I think like if you go in expecting it to be like a slasher movie, like because i i mean this is like the height of slasher movies, like it's not a slasher movie.
Remake and Streaming Challenges
00:54:53
Zach Sheets
it's yeah it's so It's more like a psychological thriller on the road.
00:54:59
Zach Sheets
hes play so much like many like It's more like about mind games than him killing people. mean, he kills bunch people, but still it's more more like him just like pushing Thomas Hounds to the breaking point.
00:55:11
Zach Sheets
and i don't think I don't think either of us have seen the remake. Right, Chris?
00:55:15
Chris Prime
No, haven't seen that.
00:55:15
Zach Sheets
Hmm.
00:55:17
Chris Prime
Nope, I haven't seen it, but I'm interested. interested how it compares. I think it's like, it came out that era of the 2000s where remakes weren't doing super creative remakes, reimaginings.
00:55:32
Chris Prime
They were just like, we'll take almost like certain plot beats and
00:55:36
Zach Sheets
It was just... Well, it was just like every 80s horror movie got remade in that like two thousand early 2000s before 2010. Because I think the Hitcher one is like a Michael Bay, Platinum Dunes one.
00:55:54
Zach Sheets
Which, I mean, they were you know they're doing Friday the 13th and then we're on the street. But then also there's like it was like the new prom night. There was like the new like Black Christmas. There's always like, was like every kind of like 80s horror, slasher horror movie got like a remake. like, oh, what else is out there? Oh, the Hitcher. Okay.
00:56:13
Chris Prime
Yeah, I mean, it could have done something where I guess they could have done a re-release of the movie of Hitcher 1 and then get people excited for this remake. Because I think when I saw like a trailer for the Hitcher and I was like, oh, this is based on original. Like, where can I see the original? It's like, oh, you got to own like a VHS copy. I was like, I'm not watching this then.
00:56:37
Zach Sheets
Oh, you you you still can't really watch it. i i tried to watch it on... The only place right now where it's streaming is Cinemax. And I watched it... i was i So I did like a trial on Amazon.
00:56:50
Zach Sheets
the The image of like the actual movie is in... like a like I don't know how how it it got they're allowing it to like be played this way. It's in a tiny little box in the middle of the screen.
00:57:00
Chris Prime
Oh my god. I watched a German version that like some parts are are like... Like, der, hitchhiker. You know, like, it's...
00:57:10
Zach Sheets
yeah look Luckily I found one.
00:57:10
Chris Prime
it's
00:57:12
Zach Sheets
Someone uploaded it on YouTube, so I found i found a copy on YouTube. but yeah The official one on Amazon via Cinemax is atrocious.
00:57:20
Chris Prime
Oh my It's like, that's really upsetting. If you actually did pay money, and then it's like, oh, we are... We do not understand, like, video restoration whatsoever.
00:57:31
Chris Prime
I think, like you something they are planning to do this, hopefully one day, like a nice clear version.
00:57:38
Zach Sheets
I mean, i think i think it's already got I think there already was like a 4K release of it. so i mean there's just But physical media has better ways of watching it. so
00:57:45
Chris Prime
Yeah, but but the problem is, like, if you can't get physical media, I understand that, at least upconvert the ones you can. You know, like, it it's weird to not do that.
00:57:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:57:56
Chris Prime
Even if like it's not as crisp as a four k just respecting a certain movie on a streaming version. Understand this was like a free movie on like Tubi. And was like, well, this is copied from a VHS. It's this or nothing.
00:58:12
Chris Prime
But to basically just be like, oh, we did not understand at all what resolution is. Yeah.
00:58:18
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i was just like, is there is there on my TV? Like, what do I need like, zoom in? Like, I guess I could have zoomed in, but that's it's just, like, it's insane how, like, like like super it's just, like, in the middle of the screen, cropped, like, what it how is it even, like, allowed to be released?
00:58:35
Chris Prime
So you got to use the zoom in on your TV like youre your your natural. I have never zoomed in on my TV. The natural zoom feature and not like ever.
00:58:45
Zach Sheets
I mean, you probably have to if you want to watch that version.
Rutger Hauer's Legacy and Episode Conclusion
00:58:49
Chris Prime
Jeez.
00:58:50
Zach Sheets
Weirdly, the same thing happened in a similar theme movie, but I found a DVD of Breakdown, the Kurt Russell movie, at a thrift store, and I was playing on my PS5, and that was also weirdly a tiny little box in the middle of the screen.
00:58:59
Chris Prime
hmm.
00:59:08
Zach Sheets
So I had to zoom into that too to watch it.
00:59:11
Zach Sheets
these these road horror movies it's like you gotta yeah yep
00:59:14
Chris Prime
They love watching like movies that should be played on like an iPad. Like, play it on an iPad that you then like wear the iPad on your face like glasses.
00:59:24
Zach Sheets
but yeah but if if you can find the hitcher it's definitely worth checking out it's a you know cult classic another great Rucker Hauer I don't think Rucker Hauer had like gave like a bad performance even if he was in like some weird like B schlocky movie like he was giving like a thousand percent
00:59:43
Chris Prime
Agreed.
00:59:44
Zach Sheets
like split second or like some something like that like one those like weird where he's like chasing down like serial killer monsters in like a apocalyptic London or something
00:59:54
Chris Prime
Yeah, he's got this, like, very classic grit to him that he reminds me of, like, not John Wayne, but that, like, that weathered face.
01:00:06
Chris Prime
The, like, the feel of someone that basically can chew up chew up scenery.
01:00:11
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:00:12
Chris Prime
He does it so well.
01:00:15
Zach Sheets
But yeah, so I think that'll do it for this week. Come back next week, we'll be celebrating, guess, like, the new year. And it's actually, going to be a double dose of Jackie Chan because we're going to have our commentary for Panda Plan up next week. We're also going to be re-watching Rumble in the Bronx because that's going to, it's celebrating its anniversary next week. So we'll dive into both those, you would get both those movies for the the year of the horse. Even don't think either of them has anything to do with the horse, but...
01:00:45
Zach Sheets
It's Jackie Chan.
01:00:45
Chris Prime
It's hard to find like, an well, they said that other Jackie Chan movie where he tames like a Hollywood horse.
01:00:51
Zach Sheets
Yes.
01:00:52
Chris Prime
But there's like no martial arts in that movie, I think.
01:00:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i think I think Panda Plan is much more ridiculous than what that one was. The the horse movie. and we're also And we're getting Panda Plan 2 this year, so we gotta watch the first one.
01:01:07
Zach Sheets
So yeah, check out both those next week. And the head over to the site, we all our usual stuff there. We got news, news, trailers, tons of trailers. I don't know what's going on but like this is something like an avalanche trailer. It's Toy Story 5, Mandalorian Grogu, like oh House of the Dragon, all kinds of stuff out there on the site.
01:01:23
Zach Sheets
So i yeah, head to check all that stuff out. And yes, for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week.