Mark Jennings

“	One more mile an hour and he's dead.	„
	~ The Hitchhiker threatening Mason's life.

Mark Jennings (also known as The Hitchhiker) is an antagonist in S.E. Hinton's 1979 novel Tex, and its 1982 Disney adaptation of the same name. He is a dangerous drug dealer who has murdered several other drug dealers and plans to kidnap Tex and Mason McCormick.

He was portrayed by Željko Ivanek.

Biography

When Tex and Mason head down to a pizza place and talk about Tex's interest in Jamie, they then pick up the hitchhiker, who points a gun to Mason's chest and instructs Tex to drive toward the state border. He then explains Tex why he commits crimes and if he's ever been in prison before.

To attract the attention of a following police car, Tex suddenly swerves off the road while Mason grabs the gun out of the hitchhiker's hands. The hitchhiker tries to escape, but the officers manage to shoot him dead. The hitchhiker also tried to drag Mason with him in the book during his escape.

Seeing the boys on that evening's television news report, their father "Pop" McCormick telephones to announce his return from the rodeo. He arrives early the next morning and is berated by Mason for his negligence as a parent.

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Trivia

He is revealed to be Mark Jennings from Hinton's That Was Then, This Is Now after escaping from prison.
His story of kidnapping Tex and Mason is the reason Pop came to reunite with them.
In the book, when Tex and Mason pick him up, the hitchhiker was wearing sunglasses.
In the film, Tex said that he was scared when the hitchhiker pointed his gun at Mason's chest. But in the book, he said that he wasn't scared.
When Tex distracts the hitchhiker to get the attention of the police, in the book, he says to him "I think he put his lights on" with the police car next to them before swerving off the road.
When the hitchhiker tries to escape, he tried to take Mason with him and gives them a cat-like grin in the book, but in the film, he just tries to run away before getting shot to death by the police.
When Tex and Mason run the truck into the ditch with the hitchhiker, the passenger side window that should be up is down, then up, then down again. When the driver's side window is shot out by the police, a second pane of glass with a bullet hole can be seen behind the shattered glass.

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