chaos-rampant I just want to quote the tagline for the film here, someone's deliciously demented hokum: "NOT EVEN HER KISSES COULD HALT HIS FURY...when his evil brain cried "KILL!"So there you have it, Detour's sibling film in the hitchhike b-noir subgenre is every bit as feverish. Once more a plucky all-American guy picks up disastrous company from out of the Californian night. Once more hidden urges threaten to pull apart the soul.Like that film, on the surface we have blackmail, deceit and all the other ordinary tropes of the potboiler, but it's the deeper noir engine that makes all the difference; our guy was on his way to a dream late at night, a dreamy wife waiting for him in Los Angeles (she's a dainty being and her room seems to be shot through with lace and frills), an anniversary that morning, but the gods of the crossroads have other plans in store, sardonic plans, mischievous.So he has no sooner finished talking on a gas-station phone with the wife, reassuring, sweet-talking, he's going to be there in a couple of hours tops, than two broads are in the backseat of his car. With booze spilled all over him and that stupid grin on his face, he'd have trouble convincing anyone he's not on his way back from partying in Vegas with a bunch of girls, the stuff about co-workers and a birthday party only the lame excuse.The sense of anxious nightmare becomes more evident when they hole up for the night in a friend's empty lakehouse. His panic to do the right thing and be back home in time for the wife not to be upset, in retrospect testimony makes him out to be the only one suspect. Turns out that every move he made incriminates him, every desperate phonecall in the middle of the night, the smell of booze all over him.The final beat is all about the horrifying dissolution of identity and self, so characteristic of noir.Meanwhile, cops are solving the case from the side of poker tables. It's all about fates dealing the cards cops assume, but the young gas-station attendant demonstrates there's clear math to it.The math is that there is no fate, the dreamer is always what is being dreamed. There is no difference between who you are and the narratives you surround yourself with. You will need no better clue than a miraculous last-minute apparition by the wife in that lakehouse that extricates him from nightmare. Whatever it is he was up to in Vegas, the film as a whole is one hell of a guilt trip.

dougdoepke Tierney's an authentic tough guy, but this movie misfire from normally competent RKO undercuts his impact at every turn. The script is about as plausible as OJ Simpson at a Ten Cmmandments dinner. Just count the times Tierney's incredible car companions swallow one lame excuse after another for his evasive and violent acts. The old cliché about it "only happening in the movies" applies here in spades. Then there's the guy playing the watchman, who appears to have wandered in from a boozy WC Fields comedy, ruining the menacing mood in the process. The static one-room sets don't help either, and neither does director Feist's obvious lack of feel for the material. Then add a final car chase missing both imagination and pay-off, and the results are pretty flat. In fact the movie only picks up in the station-house scenes where hard-bitten cops discover the hidden powers of innocent-looking gas station attendants. Too bad that Tieney's career never really gelled. I gather that was due largely to being as big a tough guy off-screen as on and getting in one sleazy scrape after another. His ice-cold manner and clarity of emotion remind me at times of Lee Marvin at his tough-guy best. Anyway this project might have worked as a radio play, but as a movie with a promising noir title, it's a disappointment.

drednm This little gem sure packs a punch---or a low blow. Lawrence Tierney is wonderful as the psycho who tricks a dope (Ted North) into giving him a ride from San Diego to Los Aangeles. Along the way they pick up two stranded women: a tough blond (Betty Lawford), and an innocent (Nan Leslie). Of course Tierney is on the lam from a robbery and murder but he fools them into dodging the cops (after he runs one down) by going to the dope's friend's beach house for the night. Several sub plots involve some interesting characters. No on is really what they seem to be. The dope is driving drunk across state but he's actually a devoted husband trying to get home. Tierney is a vicious killer. The blond is a willing accomplice, and the innocent wants to be an actress. The cops (especially Harry Shannon) are almost comical in their rapport, and the gas station kid (Glen Vernon) turns out to be a card shark. Great characters here with everyone having some nice screen time. Andrew Tombes is the night watchman who makes a spectacular drunk. Minerva Urecal is the widow with THE phone (Laguna Beach was the STICKS in 1947), and Marian Carr is the little wife who makes a surprise appearance. Josephine Whittell is the mother in law. Dick Elliott is the guy with the stupid dog.Tierney is the driving force and he's really good in his patented tough guy role. Lawford is surprisingly good. She hadn't made a film since 1937 and never made another after this one. She kept reminding me of Lizabeth Scott. Vernon almost steals the film as the gas station kid who goes along for a ride with the cops. North is the weakest actor but his dope part doesn't really call for much. Interesting little noir film with a totally unrepentant main character. He never even bats an eye!

Adam (VonCouch) In 2002, Reservoir Dogs came out with their 10th Anniversary Edition DVD. Included in the set was a tribute to the actor who played Joe Cabot: Lawrence Tierney. The cast had mixed feelings towards Tierney but all agreed on one thing: he was amazing in The Devil Thumbs A Ride. I had never heard of this film, but immediately went on a hunt for it. I checked every tape trader online and couldn't find the sucker. For a year and a half it became my Unicorn (something you want but always seem to just miss). So when through dumb luck I found that TCM was showing it one Friday night I canceled my plans and set my VCR.The film is about bank robber Steve Morgan. After pulling a late night robbery, he takes a ride with slightly tipsy salesman Jimmy Ferguson driving back home to California. On the way they pick up two ladies who are also on their way to Cali. Through several seemingly logical mishaps, Morgan convinces Fergie to evade police, back up over an officer and hide out at a friend's house until morning. The way Morgan manipulates the passengers is really quite something, and there are moments of true suspense in the friend's house. Some of the acting from the lesser characters can be a little corny, but Tierney is more than enough reason to watch. And the climax is especially good.This is a film that I highly recommend. That is, if you can find it. Good luck and happy hunting.