Riding the Bullet (2004)

Director:

Mick Garris

Writers (WGA):

Stephen King (novel)
Mick Garris (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The dead travel fast

Plot:

When a man finds out his mother is dying and tries to hitchike his way to the hospital, he is picked up by a stranger with a deadly secret.

Plot Keywords:

Mother | Hospital | Dilemma | Hitch Hiker | Suicide Attempt

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jonathan Jackson	...	Alan Parker
David Arquette	...	George Staub
Cliff Robertson	...	Farmer
Barbara Hershey	...	Jean Parker
Erika Christensen	...	Jessica Hadley
Barry W. Levy	...	Julian Parker (as Barry Levy)
Jackson Warris	...	Alan - Age 6
Jeffrey Ballard	...	Alan - Age 12 (as Jeff Ballard)
Peter LaCroix	...	Mature Alan
Chris Gauthier	...	Hector Passmore
Robin Nielsen	...	Archie Howard
Matt Frewer	...	Mr. Clarkson
Simon Webb	...	Grim Reaper
Keith Dallas	...	Orderly
Danielle Dunn-Morris	...	Mrs. Janey McCurdy

Also Known As:

Stephen King's Riding the Bullet (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images, language, drug use and some nudity.

Runtime:

USA:98 min | Argentina:98 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/16 | UK:15 (DVD rating) | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA)

Trivia:

In the short story, George Staub's car was a Ford Mustang. The filmmakers decided to go with a red and white Plymouth as a nod to Stephen King's Christine. However Christine was a 1958 Plymouth Fury and George's car was a 1960 Plymouth Fury.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Alan's "inner voice" says, "You are not going to Toronto with Cheech & Chong here while your mom's lying in a hospital...." The story is set in 1969, when Cheech & Chong were still unknown comics working in Canada. Their first album wouldn't come out till 1972.

Quotes:

George Staub: Do you know who I am, Adam?
Alan Parker: You're a ghost...
George Staub: BOO!

Movie Connections:

Features "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962)

Soundtrack:

Time Has Come Today

This is Your Red Herring on Drugs

This is not one of the worse adaptations of Stephen King's work, but it's another one that makes the successful ones (De Palma's "Carrie," Reiner's "Stand by Me," and Kubrick's "The Shining" come immediately to mind) seem all the more remarkable. Jonathan Jackson does a fine job of playing a self-absorbed and death-fixated jerk. David Arquette does a fine job of playing a weirdo, which I know comes as a shock, but this one is threatening. It's nice to see Barbara Hershey and Cliff Robertson working, but the film is an incoherent, drug-trippy, red-herring-loaded road movie in which each succeeding segment and flashback builds to a huge.... mind-numbing yawn. If you fast-forward to long segments you may miss some details but in the end, you won't care.