InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Alex da Silva I'm a big baby doll" says Betty Lawford (Agnes) in one of the funniest lines in the movie. Another contender comes from Lawrence Tierney (Steve) who comments about a baby girl's ears. These two characters are the standout in the cast with Tierney running the show as a bad-guy who is being hunted by the police. He manipulates his way through the film and convinces as the tough guy that he really was in real life as well. As for Lawford, despite her strange intonation, she also does well as a lady who's slightly edgy. Tragically, this was her last film as she died the following year and Peter Lawford lost a cousin.Apart from the two cast members mentioned, the others don't fare so well with Ted North (Fergie) being the worst. There are unnecessary comedy characters that just don't belong in this film and I'm afraid to say that North is just hugely annoying and even gets a super-cheesy end sequence. The ending isn't well executed as, all of a sudden, it's over. Oh, that was convenient! This film could have been better if it was expanded and the lead good guy was replaced. He ruins the film and whilst Tierney is very good, he ultimately can't rescue the whole experience. The moral of this film is to get yourself hitch-hiking if you want some stories to tell. One of mine involves hitching on a tractor somewhere in the south of Portugal with a guy that spoke no English and my friend and I had no idea where we were going. Didn't involve murder, though – that's another story with a biker nutter going to Warrington. He was terrifying.

gordonl56 THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE 1947I was not sure how this one would work for me. It has a reputation as a hard case example of film noir. I had also read that some found it somewhat over-rated. So I took the plunge and what I found, was a surprisingly effective lower budget winner.Laurence Tierney headlines as a killer on the loose. This one starts off in San Diego, where Tierney has just robbed a man making a drop off at a bank night deposit chute. Tierney was not above shooting the man when he was less than forthcoming with the cash.He soon hitches a ride going to L.A. from a salesman heading home after an office party. The man, Ted North has had a few too many and could use the company. They stop at a gas station to fuel up. North wants to call his wife, Marian Carr. Tierney now offers a ride to two dames, Nan Leslie and Betty Crawford.The viewer knows that this arrangement is going nowhere good, and right they are. The man Tierney robbed and shot, has died and an all points is sent out. The gas jockey at the filling station, Glen Vernon, hears a report over the radio and calls the Police. He soon identifies Tierney.Now the chase is on with a wild car chase and a motorcycle cop gets a rather close view of a rear car bumper. Tierney, North and the two girls end up hiding out at a small seaside cottage of a friend of North.The minor plot holes here are nicely covered up by the rapid pacing delivered from writer, director Felix Feist. Tierney is a hoot to watch as he goes from one level of nastiness to the next. Ted North is slightly out of place, but Betty Crawford and Nan Leslie are both excellent.All in all, a 62 minute thrill ride that does not fail to entertain.

ackstasis By all accounts, Lawrence Tierney was one mean customer. He got his break in Hollywood playing the titular gangster in 'Dillinger (1945),' and its success saw him typecast as the ultimate bad-guy. In Felix Feist's 'The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947),' Tierney gives a powerhouse performance as Steve Morgan, a scheming fugitive who hitches a ride with law-abiding salesman Jimmy Ferguson (Ted North). As a short, sharp low-budget thriller, the film has plenty to recommend, any weaknesses early on compensated for by a mounting air of tension that you could cut with a knife. Steve Morgan is a riveting character from the moment he appears on screen. For one, he's not afraid to speak his mind, even insulting the appearance of the gas station attendant's (Glen Vernon) baby daughter. When Morgan propositions a virginal runaway (Nan Leslie), his flattering advances sound more like threats than complements. Only fellow hitchhiker Agnes Smith (Betty Lawford) can rival his hardness, a callous tramp looking out for herself. Given the B-movie budget, the other performances as about as good as one could expect. Ted North is almost too amiable as the main character, constantly appearing smitten by the mere thought of his pretty wife. Betty Lawford is good, playing her role precisely as Claire Trevor might have – incidentally, Tierney would co-star with Trevor that same year in 'Born to Kill (1947).' Harry Shannon's San Diego police chief inhabits the quaint universe of B-movie law enforcement, playing poker between phonecalls and recruiting an enthusiastic boy-scout gas station attendant to come along for the ride. These idiosyncracies come with the territory, I suppose – very few low-budget noirs are without the occasional weak performance or dubious plot turn. More damning is that Steve Morgan is denied an ending that befits his mighty presence, the film cutting to the next scene without allowing his fate to sink in. At least the meagre finances allow greater freedom for risk-taking: certainly, no big-budget studio picture would have delegated the young, innocent beauty to lie face-down in a lagoon.

ecjones1951 I really need to see this little gem again. Tierney really is the whole movie.TCM runs "The Devil Thumbs A Ride" early in the mornings on rare occasions. On one of those I taped it several years ago, lent it to a brother and never got it back. GRR.Its plot is one those relentless, improbable stories with so many loose ends you cannot conceive of them all being tied up in 63 minutes.BTW, Tierney was the older brother of actor Scott Brady, who appeared in "He Walked By Night," "Johnny Guitar," "The China Syndrome" and many other films. More visible, but not as good an actor as his older bro. IMHO