Detour
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Movie Reviews of Detour
Movie Review: Greatest "B" Movie Ever!!
Summary: 4 Stars
The black and white film noir genre is making a huge comeback and scores of old B&W films are now being released on DVD's in bunches. Film noir movies are ones where the protagonist, and mostly everyone else in the movie, are not very sympathetic characters. Think Bogie's Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon. Or Edmond O'Brien in D.O.A. They are flawed people, but the plot is so gripping, we follow their exploits anyway with more than a moderate degree of concern. (Roger Ebert once said the difference between a crime movie and film noir is that in a crime movie the bad guys knows that they are bad guys and want to stay that way. While a noir hero thinks he's a good guy who has been ambushed by life.)
Detour, a 1945 movie, staring Tom Neal and Ann Savage, and directed by Edgar J. Ulmer, certainly falls into this category.
Neal was a mainstay in B movies, staring in dozens of them in the 40's and into the early 50's. His career was derailed when Neal, a former boxer, KO'd actor Franchot Tone while they were fighting over a woman, breaking his nose and giving him a brain concussion. From that point on Neal, was reduced to small parts in obscure television shows. Neal was toast in the business for good, when in 1961, he shot his third wife Gale Bennett in the back of the head, killing her instantly. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in jail. He served six before he was paroled.
Savage, who acts in Detour with a permanent snarl on her face, made over twenty B movies between 1943-46. She was also a popular World War II pinup model and appeared in an Esquire centerfold. Stunningly beautiful, she steals this movie with a mouth dipped in vinegar.
Neal's troubled soul is evident in Detour, who some critics consider the greatest B movie of all time. Some critics even rate it as one the best 100 movies of all time. Detour was shot in six days, using a total of six sets, with a total budget of only $20,000. On the cheap, even for 1945.
Al Roberts (Neal) is a New York City piano player working in a cheap joint, who's in love with a singer named Sue (Claudia Drake), also struggling in the same dead-end dive. Sue decides to leave New York City for Hollywood for bigger things, leaving Roberts behind and not too happy. Lamenting the loss of his true love, Roberts decides to head west himself, but lacking the funds to go in style, he sticks out his thumb and hitchhikes. After making it as far as Arizona, he's picked up in a snazzy convertible by a man named Haskell (Edmund McDonald), who has fresh scratches on his hand and is popping pills like they were candy.
After a while, Roberts takes over the wheel, while Haskell takes a nap in the passengers seat. It starts pouring rain, so Roberts gets out to pull up the top, when he realizes Haskell is dead from an apparent heart attack. Roberts panics and drags Haskell's body onto the side of the road and down a gully. He changes into Haskell's clothes, takes his money, and afraid of being blamed for murder, he assumes Haskell's identity.
As fate would have it, Robert's makes a fatal mistake when he soon picks up a nasty-looking hitchhiker named Vera (Savage). It turns out Vera had hitched a ride earlier with Haskell and was the person who gave Haskell the scratches on his hand, apparently because Haskell had trouble keeping his hands off her drop-dead body. Vera realizes immediately that Roberts is wearing Haskell's clothes and driving Haskell's car. After pretending to sleep for a while, she bolts upright in the front passengers seat and shrieks, "Where did you leave his body? What did you do to the owner of this car? You're not Haskell! What did you do -- kiss him with a wrench?"
Playing the bitch role to the hilt, Vera, sneer in place the entire movie, starts blackmailing Roberts. She demands the money Roberts took off Haskell's body and forces Roberts to sell Haskell's car for $1600, which she immediately pockets too. They rent an apartment in Hollywood and after they polish off a bottle of booze and start on another, Roberts says, "Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you."
Vera reads in the newspaper that Haskell's rich father is dying and Haskell is set to inherit a huge fortune. She decides that Robert must impersonate Haskell so that she can divert that inheritance money to herself. Roberts refuses. The plot reaches a boiling point, then ends predictably in an unpredictable way. In a final bit of bad luck, Roberts is picked up by the police in the film's last shot.
As the film ends, Roberts laments in a voice-over, "Fate, for some mysterious force, can put a finger on me or you. For no good reason at all."
No good reason? How about calling the police next time a guy dies of a heart attack, instead of taking his clothes, his money and his car? Maybe then Roberts could have avoided the fickle finger of faith.
Darn, I hate cliques.
Fans of film noir will absolutely adore Detour. Neal and Savage both give performances for the ages, especially Savage, whose mean-spirited act leaves an indelible mark on cinematic history. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, you'll get sixty five minutes of taut suspense.
On a range of one to five stars I give Detour a strong 4½ stars. The only reason it doesn't get five stars is because the director Ulmer's lack of funds forces him to shoot scenes that are visually unappealing and downright depressing, which in this movie, may not have been such a bad thing.
Still, the plot's the thing and Detour definitely delivers on that account.
Movie Review: A chilling movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
Those of you who've read other reviews already know the plot. It won't be rehashed here.
I'd like to post some thoughts on this drama. Only one other reviewer has offered an alternate solution, viz., that Al is really a murderer who's giving us an unbelievable story. I quite agree with him.
Al's account of both deaths aren't believable; one death, while possible, is unlikely, while the other one is flat out ridiculous. It makes more sense to me that Al's trying to convince the audience with the tale he's planning to give to the police. I'm sorry, Al, but it won't do; I'd vote to convict you.
Al's account of Vera's character is very believable, though. One really has to see Ann Savage's portrayal of Vera to believe it. What an arch-*itch she is! Maybe the most evil woman to ever hit the screen. She'll make your skin crawl. The movie's worth buying just to see this performance, especially the scene in the car where she turns on him. Villany personified! It's easy to see why he "killed" her--if he did. You decide.
A couple of plot holes exist. Vera tries to get Al into some money-making schemes that wouldn't really work, from a legal standpoint--even in 1945. Moreover, the first death (supposedly from natural causes [but not really]) would have easily been detected through an autopsy; the victim is seen taking what is presumably heart medication, which would have been found in the glove department.
One point nobody's pointed out: at the end, one isn't sure whether Al's actually being picked up by the police, or if he's just daydreaming/visualizing the scene where he's actually is. This isn't really a plot hole, though, merely an ambiguity.
An interesting tidbit: even in 1945, there were inspection stations in California--"Do you have fruits, vegetables, or livestock?" Another one--evidently, in those days, driver's licenses only contained a description, not a picture.
The print I saw on TCM is in very poor condition. The dialogue is sometimes inaudible. In some of the early scenes, the picture is badly blurred. A couple of times, definite signs of nitrate decomposition are noticed.(The print has those spots in the frame that are the sign of this decomposition; it looks like moldy cheese or something.) In the scene in the car, while Vera and Al are talking, frames and dialogue are actually missing. Presumably, those frames had decomposed too much to be used. It makes the viewer realize that, sadly, tons of films are in desperate need of restoration.
4 stars. I only docked one point for the poor quality of the print.
See the movie; you won't regret it.
Movie Review: Hitchhiking is thing of the past, and this movie reminds us why....
Summary: 4 Stars
This review is for the DVD released by Alpha Video in 2002.
The storyline of this movie focuses on a piano player in an east coast nightclub named Al Roberts (Tom Neal). Al is dating a nightclub singer named Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake) and when he confronts her about getting married she tells him that she needs to establish her career in Hollywood before tying the knot. So she moves to L.A. and not too long after, Al decides to meet her in California. It appears his only option is hitchhiking across the country. By the time he reaches Arizona, he is completely broke and is picked up by a bookie named Charles Haskell. From this point on (without revealing the entire story), there is a tragic twist of fate for Al and has to make some moral choices and unfortunately makes the wrong ones. But his choices are not without consequences as he meets a woman named Vera (Ann Savage).
The movie itself is very simple. It uses rarely known actors and was probably made on a shoestring budget. Tom Neal does a great job starring as the hapless road traveler and Ann Savage wasn't much to look at, but does a respectable job as a blackmailing, browbeating scank. Without revealing the whole story, there are two tragic incidences that are crucial to the plot and neither event was convincingly executed to be fully believable in my opinion. But if you accept the outcome each major event, it's an enticing movie with an outcome that has some redemption for what these characters deserve. It's clearly a very dark and viscous movie for its time, yet its interesting to see how culturally different it was compared to movies being made today - especially in a situation where an unmarried couple is living together.
As for the DVD quality, as is the case with many of Alpha's releases, it's essentially an un-restored, non-enhanced transfer from a film with some intermittent wear. The picture lacks sharpness and contrast one expects from a DVD and the sound is fair. There is a 4 or 5 second sequence where the master film appears to have been creased thus causing a very wavy look to the picture. But if you are a little forgiving about the picture quality, you should be able to follow the story without any problems or major distractions.
Movie: B-
DVD Quality: C-
Movie Review: DETOUR (1945)
Summary: 4 Stars
Detour
DETOUR (1945) directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
****SPOILERS******
At a running time of 67 minutes this great little "poverty row" noir had the distinction of being the first of its kind to be chosen by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry.
Poor Al Roberts (Tom Neal) just can't catch a break. He plays piano in a New York dive so that he can scratch together enough money (in his words money is a piece of paper crawling with germs) so that he can get married to his girlfriend Sue (Claudia Drake). But wait! She has dreams of going to Hollywood so she decides to postpone the wedding indefinitely, and off she goes in search of her dreams.
I don't want to give too much away but things just go downhill from there. Either this film is the nightmare of a bum wallowing in self-pity or, if real, this cat is the unluckiest slob in the world. Just when you think his luck couldn't get worse he runs into a trainwreck named Vera (Ann Savage). Undoubtedly the most venal, selfish woman on the planet.
Vera: "Say who do you think you're talking to - a hick? Listen Mister, I been around, and I know a wrong guy when I see one."
Edgar Ulmer slipped into doing poverty row pictures but if you look real hard there are some gems out there. His 1934 movie "The Black Cat" with Karloff and Lugosi is one of my favorite horror films. In 1946 he directed a great film "The Strange Woman" based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams (Leave Her To Heaven). It starred Hedy Lamarr, George Sanders and Lewis Heyward.
Low-rent movie or not, "Detour" contains some dialogue that could serve as the Mantra for all "noir" films:
Al Roberts: "I keep tryin' to forget what happened and wondered what my life would have been like if that car of Haskell's hadn't stopped. But one thing I don't have to wonder about. I know. Someday a car will stop to pick me up that I never thumbed.
Yes -- fate, or some mysterious force can put the finger on you or me for no good reason at all."
The End
Movie Review: A B-Movie Noir with an Unforgettably Vicious Villainess.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Detour" is a low budget film noir whose low budget really shows. But it's a classic tale of a man who falls victim to his own foibles, with the help of an unscrupulous woman and a series of fateful coincidences. Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is a struggling pianist in New York City who plans to marry Sue (Claudia Drake), the singer in the club where they both work. But Sue doesn't want to give up on her career just yet. She wants to try her luck out in Hollywood before she settles down. A resentful Al eventually decides to stop sulking and join her in Hollywood. He can't afford transportation, so he hitchhikes his way westward. Somewhere in Arizona he is picked up by a well-to-do bookie (Edmund MacDonald) who can drive him all the way to L.A. But the man dies of apparently natural causes. Afraid that he will be suspected of murder, Al hides the body and takes the man's identity. But he makes the mistake of picking up another hitchhiker: a rough, tough-talking woman named Vera (Ann Savage), who happens to have known the dead man.
"Detour" is told mostly in flashback with voiceover narration by Al. Al is a morose man who tends toward self-pity and seems to unconsciously be seeking something other than what he admits. If you get past the low production values, this is a wonderfully sardonic story about a couple of characters who start out poorly and spiral downward from there. Ann Savage's performance is unforgettable. Vera isn't the typical femme fatale. She dispenses with such niceties as seduction and manipulation in favor of outright bullying and blackmail. She's predatory, hateful, and, yes, savage -which makes it easy to remember the actress who brought her to life. "Detour" has a distinct B-movie flavor, and even noir aficionados may be taken aback by Vera's viciousness. But this is a gritty classic.