The Hitcher
A weary trucker racing to deliver a priceless luxury car across desolate highways must survive a relentless, murderous hitchhiker who turns the open road into a deadly cat‑and‑mouse game.
“The terror starts the moment he stops.”
Synopsis
On a stormy night, young Jim, who is transporting a luxury car from Chicago to California for delivery to its owner, becomes tired and drowsy. To stay alert, he picks up a mysterious hitchhiker who appears suddenly, hoping that conversation will help him remain awake. He soon comes to regret this impulsive decision.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 23
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Frank J UriosteShot by John SealeScored by Mark IshamDesigned by Dennis Gassner
Box Office
1986 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 1.0× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$5.8M
Opening weekend: $2.1M — 37% of its US run. Front-loaded — most of its money arrived opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $2.4M — 42% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 794 theaters
Also known as
- Hitcher, der Highway Killerde
- Hitcher, der Highwaykillerde
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Cast & Crew
23 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Rutger Hauer
as John Ryder
C Thomas Howell
as Jim Halsey
Jennifer Jason Leigh
as Nash
Jeffrey Demunn
as Captain Esteridge
John M Jackson
as Sergeant Starr
Billy Green Bush
as Trooper Donner
Jack Thibeau
as Trooper Prestone
Henry Darrow
as Trooper Hancock
Armin Shimerman
as Interrogation Sergeant
Jon Van Ness
as Trooper Hapscomb
Gene Davis
as Trooper Dodge
Tony Epper
as Trooper Conners
Supporting cast
2Directors
1Writers
1Producers
2Other crew
5Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
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