R.I.P. Rutger Hauer

In early 1986, my Uncles Ali and Len took me to see a forgettable Kevin Bacon movie called QUICKSILVER.  When it was over, however, they suggested we sneak into a second movie, and that movie was THE HITCHER.

Most folks remember Rutger Hauer from BLADE RUNNER, and that's fine (easily his most iconic performance), but THE HITCHER made me a fan of the man.  It was a dark, scary, and fun movie that happened to be the first R-rated film I saw in the theater, and afterward, my Uncle Ali kept telling me that John Ryder was coming for me, and we made fun (via puns) of the rather horrible death of Jennifer Jason Leigh's character.  A seminal experience for me.

The man passed away this week, at the age of seventy-five, due to an (really?) unspecified illness. 

I really loved Rutger Hauer.  I was excited to see him in anything he showed up in, from BATMAN BEGINS to LADYHAWKE, from one of the DRACULA 2000s to BLIND FURY ("I also do circumcisions"), from an ALIEN rip-off called SPLIT SECOND to a recent movie actually titled HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN.  When Sam Raimi started making Spider-man movies, I hoped that eventually they'd get to Kraven the Hunter, and that Rutger Hauer would be their go-to guy. 

But for me, it will always be John Ryder, my favorite Eighties film Slasher.