The Hitchhiker (TV Series) Cabin Fever (1987) User Reviews

Pretty predictable, watch it for the performance of Jerry Orbach.

[blanbrn · 7/10 · 14 August 2007]

This "Hitchhiker" episode titled "Cabin Fever" is pretty predictable yet it contained many of the series themes of passion, lust, betrayal, and murder with fun loving suspense. You will spot TV veteran and former "Law and Order" star Jerry Orbach and really his performance carries this episode, Jerry is always just so watchable. Michael Woods is Rick Henson a male womanizer type who goes around place to place meeting up with women mostly married ones and then it's under the sheets behind the husbands back! Only this time at a secluded cabin Rick is in for more than he bargained for when he meets the husband(Jerry Orbach) of his latest prize, he finds that this man is sly and cunning. Though he has plenty of stories from his days of directing film, this old crafty veteran means business and as you see isn't one to mess with. Overall not a great episode but well worth a look due to the performance of Jerry Orbach.

The Hitchhiker--Cabin Fever

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 6 April 2013]

While the episode didn't necessarily knock my socks off (how many movies and shows have dealt with an older man, his lovely much younger wife, and the hunk that supposedly comes between them?), the result definitely left me satisfied. Orbach nails it right out of the ballpark as a movie director whose career is on the downturn, resulting in his falling prey to alcoholism and marital mistreatment of his wife. While preparing to head to their cabin, his boat in the docks, Orbach's wife (played by Season Hubley, of Vice Squad) is approached by a smooth-talking gigolo (Michael Woods) with an affinity for married women (he has an adventurous spirit when it comes to bedding married women with the risk of getting caught). Orbach "allows" his wife to hire the young man as a cabin/house boy for the weekend, with the result a hastily advanced affair behind the director's back (when he hunts wabbits or is messing around while they make love in the cellar). When Hubley proposes Woods shooting Orbach so they can be free to be together, a possible "Body Heat" scenario just might play out…or is there more to this than meets the eye? Orbach, to no surprise, owns this episode of The Hitchhiker, while Woods utilizes his smarmy attitude (he walks around like he owns the place, but the beauty of Orbach is that he knows all about these types and isn't a fool) and Marlboro Man looks to gain contempt from the audience. Hubley has a contemporary 80s femme fatale role, here, but I think right away it's easy to realize that perhaps her character's "in on it" and up to no good. What really is the pièce de résistance is that Woods is his own undoing, not necessarily anyone else involved ultimately was altogether responsible. A key (placed in a peculiar spot), a bottle of tequila, and a case of claustrophobia all tie into Woods' fate. The use of metaphor, as narrated by the hitchhiker (Page Fletcher), regarding "playing the game" is a bit heavy-handed, but anthology series with a talking voice opening and closing tales often are.

Entertaining episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 10 June 2011]

Handsome and cocky young gigolo Rick Henson (smoothly played with swaggering bravado by the hunky Michael Woods) gets a job as a cabin boy working for washed-up schlock flick director Cameron (a marvelously sharp and acid performance by the always dependable Jerry Orbach) and his lonely fed-up wife Miranda (a fine and sultry portrayal by Season Hubley). Miranda tries to convince Rick to kill Cameron, but the cunning old fox naturally suspects that something is amiss. Director Clyde Monroe, working from a tight and engrossing script by April Campbell Jones, Bruce Jones, and John Boorstin, relates the absorbing story at a brisk pace and capably crafts a good deal of claustrophobic tension from the remote enclosed location. Orbach's sly and energetic turn as a bitter and boozy has-been is the tasty icing on the cake here; he's an absolute treat to watch as his worldly character proves to be much more smart and astute than the overconfident Rick. The neat little surprise twist ending concludes on a satisfying note with Rick on the receiving end of a suitably nasty comeuppance. Ron Orieux's slick cinematography gives this episode an attractive glossy look while the shuddery score by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban further adds to the suspense. An immensely fun show.