by sunny » Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:42 pm
Found by way of xymphora, this is the story of Eric Red, screenwriter of <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>The Hitcher</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, a bizarre and fatal traffic incident, subtle hints of mind control induced suicide attempts, and even an FBI agent involved in investigating Carlos Marcello! Thought you all might be interested.<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.laweekly.com/ink/06/08/features-cullum.php">www.laweekly.com/ink/06/0...cullum.php</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>an excerpt:<br><br>To me, at least, the most persistent explanation is that Howell and Hauer are actually the same person, two sides of a split personality, and the film is an allegory for schizophrenia — with one side goading the other into suicide. Moments after Howell has picked him up, Hauer’s hitcher holds a knife to his throat and commands, “Say four words: ‘I-want-to-die.’” Unable to do so, Howell screams, “I don’t want to die!” and pushes his assailant out the open passenger door. Later, overcome by his circumstances, Howell holds a police revolver under his chin, but is unable to pull the trigger. As a policeman says to him, not quite able to articulate the rather squeamish strain of homoeroticism running throughout the film, or the pronounced father-son relationship that bonds them, “There’s something strange going on between the two of you; I don’t know what it is, and I don’t want to know what it is.” <br> <p></p><i></i>
