The Devil Thumbs a Ride (Felix E. Feist, 1947)

[HerrSchreck]

Due to the good graces of a fellow NY'er, I've gotten a look at one of the harder-to-see noirs from the genre's golden age, a great piece of RKO grimness called The Devil Thumbs A Ride. The film stars Lawrence Tierney in a fantastically dark turn as a murderer who hitches a ride with what turns into a carful of unsuspecting fellow-travelers.

The set-up is instantaneous and fantastically effective. Scene one: Tierney commits a viciously cold-blooded murder in a nanosecond at the first sign of resistance from a robbery victim making a night drop at a bank's night deposit slot. Scene two: Tierney flags down a car and gets in with a happy go lucky salesman of women's haberdashery on his way back to LA and to his beloved new wife. The essential goodnaturedness of the driver and his obliviousness to the cobra that he he just let in the door launches the film from the very start-- the one-two punch of this, and the preceding murder results in (along with the unfolding to come) a knock out.

The thread of the film essentially runs on the suspense created by our knowledge of what a hair trigger psychopath the guy is, a knowledge his fellow travellers lack. They first stop at a gas station.. the driver's first clue regarding the nature of his charge is Tierney's aversion to police, which is explained away due to the fact that it is the salesman/driver's birthday, and-- having just left a party in his honor-- he's a bit tipsy, with liquor in the car, yadda, so Tierney explains his aversion due to "nosy cops" potentially smelling the booze on his breath.

The script is very good and filled with wonderfully sinister undertones and the kind of tough-guy atmosphere often found in Mann/Altons-- charismatic and hardboiled banter abounds, and the casting is fucking fantastic. At a gas station (with excellent moments as Tierney insults the nice-guy all-AMerican station attendant's baby girl, as the guy shows a pic of the girl to the amicable salesman... Tierney practically calls the kid a fucking baby elephant, the kids ears are so big)-- anyhow at a gas station the two guys pick up two more passengers in their trip to LA: two girls with a fuzzy immediate past.. all inquiries as to their doings are deflected by them sardonically. One girl is soft and sensitive, the other is big, bold, and brash, with a Clorox head of blonde hair and overextended lipstick and an acid mouth quick to reject the shit tossed in her direction by the crass & brutal Tierney. Her character and the casting of her is fantastic.

But Tierney ignites the film with a dark and ever watchful disposition. As questions grow in the minds of his fellow travellers viz his increasingly sinister actions and disposition, the tensions ratchet up. The ending is a bit weak owing to being a little sudden-- so much so as to be anticlimactic to all that exquisite buildup. I'll avoid spoilers since, despite it's age and classic pedigree, I suspect few have seen it. I'd never even heard of it before being turned on to it over the past 2 weeks. But this is a no-brainer for a WB Noir set, and I can't think of a better pairing than this with Stranger On The Third Floor. If this pops on TCM or somesuch, do not miss this well shaken & tasty glass of hydrochloric acid on the rocks.

[zedz]

This sounds fantastic. It seems appropriate to chime in with a plug for Ida Lupino's hair-raising The Hitcher, which is available on DVD, though not in pristine form. How does this measure up to that particular bitter pill, Schreck?

[jesus the mexican boi]

A small clarification: Ida Lupino's film is called The Hitch-Hiker, and it's like the black grit at the bottom of the coffeepot compared to Feist's film, which, while fierce, has a sort of playful tone, like a slightly lighter Desperate Hours. I saw The Devil Thumbs a Ride years and years ago (when AMC was really good), after being turned onto it by Barry Gifford's eponymous collection of film noir suggestions-cum-reviews. I agree with HerrSchreck that Tierney's phenomenal in it, and that service station scene always gets me, too. It's terse and fast and fun, an interesting hybrid of slick and low-budget, like a dressed up Detour, which it also calls to mind. Definitely worth watching for noir fans, Tierney fans, Barry Gifford fans, and general CC forum types.

[HerrSchreck]

You mean The Hitchhiker (dammit z this is terrible.. I know you knew it wasn't the Rutger Hauer movie but.. your performance on this board has been pretty much flawless and spectacular writing abounded with almost no weak spots... but now [lipquiver]... now you've gone and.. [cross between a gasp and gulp and a sigh].. gone and... [tears come] how could you DO this to us all?... )

Sorry.. as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by one of my multiple personalities: Actually I thought quite a bit of Lupino's film while watching and was going to mention it in this thread. The primary difference in structure is of course the fact that in The Hitchhiker the villain is identified from the relative outset to Edmund O'Brien and Lovejoy, and ther suspense derives from their conscious attempts to stay alive in his presence. Devil's conceit rests on our knowledge of Tierney, and the danger that the fellow travellers are oblivious to.

And the two hitchikers are strikingly different physically and psychologically. Tallman, with his dead, wandering eye is chilling as the human monster, someone on the level of a Green River Killer or Bundy who gets his kicks from all aspects of torment and the infliction of pain on the human race.. whereas Tierney is a cool, well-dressed, wily character, who tries to hide what he is but who is perfectly willing to kill for absolutely nothing at all. Whereas he kills when he meets resistance-- any resistance, no matter how slight-- he does so in the context of his grim, well-dressed 40's world of urban street crime. He's definitely modelled after the typical urban gangster image, just with a very itchy trigger finger and a predicliction for social disrespect.. but Lupino's killer is in the mold of what we now know as the true serial killer, raised in some nowhere town, probably beaten and abused as a kid, and looking for vengeance on the world.

Two very different takes on a similar narrative theme... both stark and fantastic films.

Much more wry humor in DEVIL. And of course DEVIL was made 6 yrs before Lupino's masterpiece.
EDIT-- ah, I see the boi beat me to the Hitcher punch, and the issue of humor.

[zedz]

No! No! I mean the Ida Lupino film with Rutger Hauer in it!

[Yojimbo]

A small clarification: Ida Lupino's film is called The Hitch-Hiker, and it's like the black grit at the bottom of the coffeepot compared to Feist's film, which, while fierce, has a sort of playful tone, like a slightly lighter Desperate Hours. I saw The Devil Thumbs a Ride years and years ago (when AMC was really good), after being turned onto it by Barry Gifford's eponymous collection of film noir suggestions-cum-reviews. I agree with HerrSchreck that Tierney's phenomenal in it, and that service station scene always gets me, too. It's terse and fast and fun, an interesting hybrid of slick and low-budget, like a dressed up Detour, which it also calls to mind. Definitely worth watching for noir fans, Tierney fans, Barry Gifford fans, and general CC forum types.

I was turned onto it by reading Gifford's book too, but I think the guy who wrote the cover blurb for the book nailed it when he said Gifford's essays were often better than the film's he wrote about it
(I should have known when I discovered Gifford was responsible for the wretched 'Wild At Heart')

Tierney's wonderfully nasty of course, but the film itself has little else to recommend it.
I also disagree with Gifford about the respective merits of the two Tierney films he writes about: give me 'Born To Kill' every time: so its slicker, and mainstream Hollywood, but its got Tierney and Trevor as two psychopathis leeches feeding off each other.
And scene-stealing Walter Slezak.

[davrow]

The brilliance of this noir is undeniable, with not a minute of its hour-long duration wasted. Tierney’s psychopathic behaviour starts with cold blooded murder in the first minute and never lets up. Yet it’s no wild-eyed craziness – it is well disguised by an authoritative and forceful presence. His smooth and convincing line of arguments and justifications holds the plot together and keeps his hapless fellow travellers and associated characters in the grip of his deadly company, in a night ride through hell which threatens not to end.
Such is Tierney’s strength of performance, as a viewer you are swept along for the ride too, as a willing passenger anxious yet keen to witness what his devious mind will come up with next, to ensure things keep rolling his way. Ever watchful and always seemingly a move ahead of his own immediate danger, he electrifies this film with his presence. I don’t think I’ve ever seen sustained suspense created so convincingly before by a character in a noir who combined his knowledge of human nature with a devious, quicksilver psychopathic personality.
“The Devil…” has a sharp and gritty script which fleshes out the various characters’ personalities and motives superbly with a degree of wit, despite the underlying menace of the drama. The dialogue is edgy and filled with hard boiled crime banter that adds much to the overbearing atmosphere created by Tierney’s presence.
Casting choices are excellent, with minor characters not just tacked on to the plot as disposable extras – they are all well characterized as they come into Tierney’s deadly orbit - even the cops. Performances are uniformly excellent, but a special word for the brassy and brash blonde. From the bit we hear about her past, she’s evidently got the worldly savvy and sordid history to allow her to trade patter with Tierney in a way that fosters a mutual admiration we can feel. We sense that this gal has lived a lot and might just have inadvertently lucked onto her soulmate in Tierney – her sharp tongue and earthy attitude make the vibe between the two of them terrific to watch.
Like the best films you see, this one stays in your mind and you don’t want it to end. As the tension mounts, inevitably Tierney’s web of lies and deception make him take one step too many, so the ending when it comes does feel sudden and thus something of a letdown. But what an hour long ride this ‘devil’ took us on!! My interest never waned; along with the performances, there’s enough smart plot ideas, pacing and dramatic momentum in evidence here to cover two or three other good quality film noirs…and that’s not to put the others down. This is a rare noir gem worthy of the very, very best - see it and know greatness.