The Hitcher (1986)

Sometimes I worry that my own experience with a movie is different from the way others viewed it, but sometimes it feels as if I have recently been able to talk with film fans who all have some kind of collected memory that keeps us all connected. The Hitcher is one of those collected memories. It's a film that many seemed to find on video, having come and gone from cinemas with no real fanfare, and no record-breaking box office. It's also a film that people have gone back to, or they've often recommended to others, which just helped to grow the reputation of it. A long-overdue bit of TLC has now given fans a fantastic Blu-ray/4K UHD set that should only lead to it getting even more love. I'm all for that.

The premise is quite simple. C. Thomas Howell plays Jim Halsey, a young man who is driving a car from Chicago to the new owner in San Diego. Struggling to stay awake behind the wheel, and maybe even a bit thrilled by the idea of doing something that he was always warned against, Jim picks up a hitchhiker, John Ryder (Rutger Hauer). That's when his problems begin, because Ryder claims to be a killer. It soon becomes clear that Ryder isn't lying, and Jim ends up in a game of cat and mouse with someone who claims that his main objective is to encounter someone who can stop him.

Written by Eric Red, a man who has written about half a dozen movies that I would consider well worth your time, and the three features he wrote in the 1980s are all either classics or close enough, The Hitcher is a tight and tense screenplay helped by the committed performances from the leads and the way that director Robert Harmon (hitting the high point of his directorial career with this, only his second feature) makes the most out of what is a relatively low budget. It could have been very different, especially when you consider how much more Red packed into the screenplay that he originally sent out to producers when he was putting all of his energy into getting someone to greenlight it.

Aside from the not-insignificant contributions from both Red and Harmon, I am not sure about where to start with my praise. I want to also mention the wonderful score by Mark Isham, and the new restoration really showcases the gorgeous cinematography from John Seale, whether our lead is travelling through a dark and stormy night or a hot and sweaty day. There's also some excellent work by a stunt team who are required to step up for one or two impressive set-pieces, including a finale that impressively elevates things above what you would expect to see in this kind of fairly small-scale work.

Hauer is the heart of the film though, a devil with his thumb in the air and a glint in his eye. The man has delivered a couple of iconic performances, and this easily sits alongside anything else that he's done onscreen. Yes, I said it . . . anything (and that includes a certain android who ponders the fleeting joys of life as his own death approaches). Howell has a tougher job, having to sell his fear, his confusion, and his trauma in ways that sometimes wrack his entire body with painful emotional overload. One other main character, a young woman named Nash, is played by a young Jennifer Jason Leigh (who had enjoyed working with Hauer on Flesh + Blood the previous year), and she does well to make herself into someone that you care about and believe in. Other familiar faces to look out for are Billy Greenbush, Gene Davis, Henry Darrow, and Jeffrey DeMunn, all playing various law enforcement officers who end up initially believing that our young hero is actually the villain of the piece, making his situation even more desperate and dangerous.

A perfect blend of strange surrealism and straightforward thrills, The Hitcher remains a fantastic fever-dream that, whether you end up loving or hating it, is very hard to forget. In fact, this recent rewatch has reminded me of how much it feels like a touchstone for some of the more successful mainstream thrillers that came along many years later (Se7en being the one that came to mind as I tried to remember how long was left once a major set-piece started to play out). Maybe it won't ever become popular enough to break away from that "cult favourite" label, but that's okay. And I suspect many of those other film fans who share fond memories of this will agree with me.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Blue Steel (1990)

It is a happy coincidence that I have spent the past few months hankering for a rewatch of Blue Steel and it has now appeared on the MUBI streaming service. I couldn’t remember many details, but I remembered liking it. I hoped it would hold up as a solid thriller.

It does.

Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Megan Turner, a young woman who we see at the start of the movie finally achieving her dream of becoming a cop. She is barely on the streets for a few hours when she foils an armed robber in a store (a small turn from Tom Sizemore). One of the customers lying terrified on the floor is Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), a man impressed by Megan, and also impressed by the gun dropped by the robber. Taking the gun away for his own personal use, Eugene complicates the situation for Megan, who is subsequently investigated for shooting an “unarmed” man. And things get even more complicated when people turn up dead, shot with bullets that literally have the name of our heroine on them. What could make the situation even worse? Maybe Megan and Eugene becoming romantically involved with one another?

Co-written by director Kathryn Bigelow and Eric Red, Blue Steel is a 1990 thriller that feels as if it belongs in a later part of the decade. It has everything you expect from this type of thing, including a supporting cast of characters containing one or two people you know aren’t going to make it to the end, but one or two elements that help it to stand out from the crowd.

The first USP here is Ron Silver’s villain, equal parts charming and completely psychopathic. Silver is the kind of actor I miss nowadays, we don’t have a modern equivalent, and he is superb here, especially once he drops any facade and reveals his true nature, at a surprisingly early stage in the proceedings.

The second USP here is the brilliant commentary on the fetishization of guns. From the title to the opening credits, from the motivation of the villain to the changing power dynamics that depend on who is or isn’t armed at any one time, Blue Steel isn’t just a typical thriller with gunfights here and there. It’s a film that uses the broken mind of one man to show just how strange and dangerous the typical American “gun-worship” mindset is.

Curtis is fine in the lead role, if a bit unconvincing, but her main reason for being onscreen is to look attractive while holding an attractively alluring weapon (in the eyes of the villain anyway). Elizabeth Peña is the best friend, which immediately puts her in danger, and Clancy Brown is a gruff detective who enlists the help of our lead, which immediately puts HIM in danger. Kevin Dunn is a standard superior officer, reminding our lead of the rules and her duty, and there’s an enjoyable little turn from Richard Jenkins, the sharp lawyer defending his “innocent” client, as well as welcome, albeit brief, performances from Louise Fletcher and Philip Bosco, playing the parents who view the career choice of their daughter in very different ways.

Although it feels a bit flat during the final scenes, and those thinking Bigelow would throw more action scenes into this will be disappointed, Blue Steel works as well as it does because it never loses focus. It’s about a dangerous man falling in love with a woman, but he falls in love with her only because he sees her attached to a gun. And it’s a gun that drives almost every decision in this film, by being present or being absent.

8/10

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Near Dark (1987)

Near Dark is a revisionist vampire movie from director Kathryn Bigelow, who also co-wrote the script with Eric Red, that didn't really do as well as it should have upon its initial release for one main reason*. The Lost Boys. I have made peace with the fact that I love both movies, but back in 1987 it was The Lost Boys that had the mass appeal, that quickly wormed its way into the popular culture of that generation (thanks to the hot stars and the cracking soundtrack) and that ruled the box office roost. Thankfully, Near Dark never disappeared, thanks to a small, loyal fanbase that would continue to recommend the film to those who had missed it while being dazzled by Keifer Sutherland and Jason Patric.

A small, loyal fanbase, however, can only do so much for any movie. What ends up gaining a film a cult following is usually one thing, it's really quite a good film. Okay, there are also terrible films that gain cult followings so there are two things. The film has to either be really good or really bad. Near Dark is really good. REALLY good.

It starts off with a young man named Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) picking up a lovely young woman named Mae (Jenny Wright). Enjoying the company as he drives Mae home, Caleb then tries his luck for a kiss. He stops and won't go any further. Mae ends up biting Caleb, and then things get strange and dangerous as Caleb gets pulled into Mae's "family", a group of vampires who initially consider just killing Caleb but then decide to give him a chance. IF he makes his first kill within the allotted time limit then he will join them. If not, he'll be killed. Confused, ill, repulsed and worried, Caleb just wants to get home.

With an absolutely fantastic cast (many of whom helpfully taken from the cast of Aliens), a nice mix of vampire genre elements with some Western tropes and an aesthetic arguably unmatched by anything else in Kathryn Bigelow's impressive filmography, Near Dark is an easy film to recommend to horror fans after something that reeks of quality. A lush score from Tangerine Dream, and other musical treats such as a cover of "Fever" by The Cramps, as well as a script full of some fine one-liners makes this just as pleasurable for the ears as the eyes. The film takes its time in between the memorable set-pieces and there are one or two ideas that may not sit well with those who like things a bit more traditional, but neither of those things bothered me at all.

Pasdar and Wright are easy to like as the ill-fated lovers. Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein are both at their best in their sorta-parental roles, Jesse and Diamondback, respectively. Bill Paxton puts his shit-eating grin (sorry, I can't think of a more appropriate phrase in this instance) to its best use as the obnoxious and dangerous Severen and young Joshua John Miller proves constantly fascinating as the young boy, Homer, with mood swings varying between a need for childish companionship and a thirst for blood. Tim Thomerson (who will always be Jack Deth to me and so many others) plays the concerned father of Caleb and Troy Evans has a very small role as an undercover policeman.

At the end of the day, this is the most important thing to remember: it's okay for you to own, and love, The Lost Boys. But you should really leave room on a shelf for Near Dark too.

9/10

*There WERE other reasons, but the simplistic approach suits my simple mind.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Near-Dark-Disc-Special-Edition/dp/B000KRNMQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369771634&sr=8-1&keywords=near+dark