Maitland Favorites: The Hitcher

Latest in an occasional series recommending lesser-known, kick-you-in-the-gut classics

White-bread pretty-boy Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell ) is doing a “driveaway” — a professional transportation service that involves hiring someone to pick up a car and drive it to a desired destination when, say, the customer is making a long-distance move and wants his car waiting in San Diego when he and the family arrive with the moving van.

On this particular night it’s dark, it’s raining and Halsey is so tired he momentarily falls asleep at the wheel. Well and truly spooked, he spots a hitchhiker by the roadside and figures he’s better off with someone in the car to spell him. “My mother told me never to do this,” he says, as he opens the door to a tall, sturdy-looking blond fellow who says his name is John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) — really ... the hitcher’s name is rider? — and not much else. “You gonna tell me where you’re going?” Halsey asks. “Yeah, sure,” Ryder replies, and then doesn’t. He also strongly discourages Halsey from slowing down and pulling over when they see a Volkswagen askew on the roadside. And then the mood turns really ugly, really fast. Eventually Halsey asks about the driver in that car. No need to worry about him, Ryder says calmly: “I cut off his legs. And his arms. And his head. And I’m gonna do the same to you.”