The Devil Thumbs a Ride is a 1947 film noir directed by Felix E. Feist and featuring Lawrence Tierney and Ted North..
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Hess had earlier played a similar role in The Last House on the Left."The Devil Thumbs a Ride." Hitch-Hike DVD, Blue Underground, Inc. 2002. Just a few days before the shooting of the film began, Nero broke his arm at the set of the Spaghetti Western Keoma while giving a misbehaving horse a punch.
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Walter brings Konitz's body from their trailer and plants it on the accident scene. He then tells the dying Eve that the thieves had only helped him. He had planned to stop after 15 to 20 miles, kill her and make it look like an accident. After lighting up a cigarette and setting the car and the trailer on fire, Walter starts walking and, hearing a car come by, thumbs a ride.
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Following this, Carr relocated Los Angeles, where she began acting in local theater productions. She subsequently signed a film contract with RKO Pictures in 1946 under Howard Hughes. She made her feature film debut in San Quentin (1946), followed by a minor part in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (also 1946). Carr had lead roles in several films, including the Westerns The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) and Northern Patrol (1953).
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Ted North Jr. (born Edward Ernest Steinel) (November 3, 1916 - November 22, 1975) was an American film actor of the 1940s, sometimes credited as Michael North. The son of tent show operator Ted North, he was born in Topeka, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1939. North gained early acting experience in some of his father's stock theater productions. He appeared in several films including the films noir The Unsuspected and The Devil Thumbs a Ride (both 1947).
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The film was based on The Violence and the Fury by Peter Kane. In The Devil Thumbs a Ride, a short documentary on the film, Nero states that he became involved in the film because he already knew Campanile well, and Campanile had earlier stated his wish to work with him. Nero was in Germany shooting 21 Hours at Munich, in which Hess also had a small role, when Campanile called him and suggested starring in Autostop rosso sangue. Because Hess wanted to work in Italy, Nero suggested him as the second male lead.
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When the film was released The New York Times film critic identified as BC (Bosley Crowther) dismissed the film, writing, "The Devil Thumbs a Ride, which came to the Rialto yesterday, is a distinctly pick-up affair ... In the role of the thug Lawrence Tierney, who played Dillinger a couple of years back, behaves with the customary arrogance of all gunmen in cheap Hollywood films. It is pictures like this which give the movies a black eye and give us a pain in the neck."B.C. [Bosley Crowther] The New York Times. Film review, March 22, 1947.
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162 Tierney was well known for playing villains in 1940s film noirs, including Dillinger (1945) and The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947). After his performance in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Tierney gained new fame playing Joe Cabot in Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs (1992). Wheaton later recalled he felt intimidated by Tierney during filming, as he was 15 and Tierney had a reputation for having a character similar to the tough guys he typically played. Tierney returned to Star Trek in 1997 to play an alien Regent in the Deep Space Nine episode, "Business as Usual".
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In addition to several noir programmers and full-flight A pictures, the studio put out two straight B noirs: Desperate, directed by Anthony Mann, and The Devil Thumbs a Ride, directed by Felix E. Feist. Ten straight B noirs that year came from Poverty Row's big three: Republic (Blackmail and The Pretender), Monogram (Fall Guy, The Guilty, High Tide, and Violence), and PRC/Eagle-Lion (Bury Me Dead, Lighthouse, Whispering City, and Railroaded, another work of Mann). One came from tiny Screen Guild (Shoot to Kill). Three majors beside RKO also contributed: Columbia (Blind Spot and Framed), Paramount (Fear in the Night), and 20th Century-Fox (Backlash and The Brasher Doubloon).
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Feist was the son of a MGM sales executive, Felix F. Feist (1884–1936), and nephew of a publishing house magnate, Leo Feist. He was educated at Columbia University. In the late 1920s he found work as a newsreel cameraman, and he was on staff at MGM from 1929-1932, directing screen tests and producing one- reel travelogues. He is probably best remembered for Deluge (1933), for writing and directing the film noirs The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) and The Threat (1949), and for helming the second screen version of the Curt Siodmak sci-fi tale Donovan's Brain (1953), which starred Nancy Davis before she became known as Nancy Reagan.
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