The Hitcher (1986): Filming Locations

This is definitely not a definitive locations guide to the 1986 film The Hitcher, nor does it cover all of the filming locations. However, when I do make it to the other locations, I will certainly update this. Here are the locations from the Death Valley, Shoshone, and Tecopa, California areas used in the film.

Above is one of the first locations in the film. When Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) arrives to a seemingly deserted town to use the phone, he passes the Amargosa Cafe in Death Valley Junction, California and stops at the old Death Valley Junction service station.

The Amargosa Cafe is still up and running, but the service stations has long been abandon. The town itself only has one permanent resident and is the site of the famous Amargosa Opera House & Hotel, which was also used in the David Lynch film Lost Highway. 

I travel to this area quite often, and if you aren't aware where you are at it can be quite desolate. Death Valley Junction site about 30 miles from Death Valley, Shoshone, and Pahrump, Nevada in each direction. In the movie, when Jim Halsey arrives in Death Valley Junction, he is met with a dust storm. Ironically, the last time that I was out here, I was caught in a dust storm myself that lasted all night. 

Inside the abandon service station, which has been in Death Valley Junction for close to 100 years when it was built by the Pacific Borax Company.

Below are some scenes from the car chase and before Jim Halsey makes it to Death Valley Junction. The stretch of road with the mud mounds is outside of Shoshone, California going towards Death Valley Junction and about 30 miles from the cafe and service station.

It's really hard to pinpoint these exact locations, but it seems most of this was filmed in a very short area. It's a very distinct area on Highway 127 right outside of Shoshone, California. 

This is at the end of the film, and is most likely "Little Dunes" which are between Tecopa, California and Baker, California on Highway 127. If you are heading East, the Little Dunes are right before the larger Dumont Dunes. Both are destination spots for ORV riders and Off-Roaders.

The rest of the movie appears to have been filmed along Route 66, in iconic towns like Amboy, California, Newberry Springs, California and Chambliss, California. I will be out there later this year and update this with those locations.

----UPDATE!---

June 25, 2015

I recently visited the small desert town of Amboy, California. This town is most known for Roy's Cafe and Motel, which is actually the only business in this town (and in a 30 mile each-way drive) of only four people. Amboy was also seen in this movie - the Hitcher - when Rutger Hauer's character meets C. Thomas Howell's character in the cafe.

The town has not changed a bit, and pretty much every inch of the cafe is as it is shown in the movie.

Roy's as seen in the movie