StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
SnoopyStyle
Down and out Al Roberts (Tom Neal) recalls his life as a New York nightclub piano player. His singer girlfriend Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake) rejects his proposal and seeks fame in Hollywood. He follows her west but with no money, he is forced to hitchhike. He catches a ride in the desert from degenerate gambler Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund MacDonald) on his way to L.A. Haskell dies and Roberts fears being blamed for a killing. He hides the body and takes his identity. Along the way, he picks up hitchhiker Vera (Ann Savage) who happens to have ridden with Haskell before. Soon, she has him wrapped around her finger.Ann Savage has a fitting name. She savages the wannabe player. She's a real man eater. This is a small budget film. It can be strip down and thread bare. Its core is a B-movie noir. It's pulpy melodrama. It's not always the most technically sound but Savage rocks and it's usually a compelling watch.
Alex da Silva
Tom Neal (Al) walks into a café and is pretty unpleasant to people. We then get a flashback story as to what has just happened before returning to Neal as he walks out to continue his journey.It's a good story as we follow pianist Neal's transformation from horrible man to nice guy. He gets no favours, though. Even his girlfriend singer Claudia Drake (Sue) leaves him to pursue a career. Indeed, she is the catalyst for his downfall and the reason for his fateful journey. She's a good singer and the music pieces in the film are entertaining.Neal gets a lift with Edmund MacDonald (Haskell) and things don't go well. Then, he gives Ann Savage a lift and things take off coz she really is bad news! It's a downbeat film but good entertainment and has all the noir elements present. Savage will make you laugh out loud – she's seriously deranged. Good value on the casting front. You have to hand it to Neal – great way to stop someone making a phone call from an adjoining room.
Rainey Dawn
Well this film is not nearly as good as I've heard and read it was - at least not for me. I've seen better minor B film noirs, I've also seen worse. This one isn't too bad and is worth watching if you enjoy the dark crime films.*Spoiler*: Maybe I missed something but what I noticed is: Al Roberts was not arrested in the end of the film. They only showed him walking (or hitchhiking) and the police showed up, spoke to him and he got in the back of the police car UN-handcuffed. That means the police could have simply given him a ride in the same direction or he could have been brought in for questioning (he may or may not have been charged). The ending is left open to interpretation it seems to me. 6/10
Andrew Ray
During the 1940s & '50s, going to the movies required a commitment of an entire evening. You'd be treated to a newsreel, a cartoon, a short, previews, and then a double-feature, which included a "B" movie (typically just over an hour long) followed by the main feature (one featuring A-list actors and the top screenwriters and directors of the day). How different from today's multiplex dogma of showing just one feature as many times as possible throughout the course of a day."B" movies were often horror films, Three Stooges shorts, westerns (in the early years), or serials (such as Andy Hardy or Charlie Chan), the main features would be the expensive musicals, dramas, and other big-budget productions. "B" movies were even made by separate studios. MGM and Paramount would never stoop to producing "B" movies. Whereas "B" movies were produced by the long-defunct Monogram Pictures, Republic Pictures, and others. While the "B" movies were usually shot on shoestring budgets, and often featured actors unknown to most Americans, some of them have become classics. One such "B" movie classic is Edgar Ulmer's 1945 flick, "Detour." Starring Tom Neal as a drifter hitchhiking his way across the country, "Detour" takes his character, Al (no last name required), through a series of missteps which serve to tighten the proverbial noose of classic film noir around his neck until the (basically) decent man is faced with spending perhaps the rest of his life behind bars. First, Al is picked up by a pill-popping bookie who accidentally dies when Al is driving. Fearing the police will assume Al killed the bookie, he steals the car and the man's identity. We can call this Mistake #1. Mistake #2 occurs when he picks up a female hitchhiker named Vera, a woman with no apparent moral standards, who blackmails Al by threatening to turn him in for murder. As Vera, Ann Savage gives one of the greatest femme fatale performances ever. She's hard-blooded, ruthless, and (dare I say) savage. Suffice to say, Vera is not the kind of girl you'd bring home to mama. And I loved the fact that, contrary to almost every other picture of the day, the woman was the smartest character in the film. Years after I first saw "Detour," Ann Savage's achievement is still fresh in my mind.While the production and camera-work leave a lot to be desired, "Detour" is one of the greatest examples of film noir ever. It features all the staples of the genre – dark shadowy sets, murky black & white lighting, a no-nonsense voice-over narration, and generally good characters pulled by outside forces into a web of deceit. Film noir protagonists often operated just outside the law, on the fringes of society. These weren't men who typically had a lot of friends. And when the protagonist was a cop, he was typically a plainclothes investigator who was at odds with the boys at headquarters. Think Glenn Ford in "The Big Heat." These weren't the "white hat" heroes you'd find in the "A" movie, or main feature."Detour" masterfully draws upon these tenets of the film noir style to present, through a highly personal story featuring very few characters, a world devoid of hope and promise. Now before you ask, "Why on earth would I want to see this?," I must tell you that "Detour" is a lot of fun to watch. I suppose we know early on that things will not end well for Al, the lead character. But getting from the opening scene to the somewhat inevitable conclusion is a 68-minute thrill ride unlike almost any ever put on celluloid.Edgar G. Ulmer was a relatively unknown director. "Detour" is his claim to fame. And it's so good it makes me wonder what Ulmer could have done with a big studio budget. We'll never know, of course, but the Library of Congress was smart enough to tag "Detour" for preservation in the National Film Registry – meaning we'll always have access to this Buried Treasure.
