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Suspense as startling as a strangled scream! This is it, the defining motion picture in all of "film noir," written by Academy Award-nominee Martin Goldsmith (The Narrow Margin) and directed by legendary B-movie maker Edgar G. Ulmer (Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, The Black Cat). Tom Neal (The Brute Man, The Pride of the Yankees), handsome 1940's leading man, brings to thrilling life a down-on-his-luck nightclub performer who takes one wrong turn and picks up the meanest femme fatale in all of "noir," played to perfection by the incomparable Ann Savage (The Dark Horse, The Spider) in one of the most powerful and riveting performances ever recorded on celluloid.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Detour ...
July 29 2001
Format:DVD
I am a great admirer of "Detour" which is probably the best low-budget film noir ever made. But this DVD is a piece of junk. It is transferred from a lousy, battered 35mm print that has badly spliced gaps and screwed-up film footage in crucial scenes, obliterating some of the best dialogue. The company that put this out should be ashamed of itself, especially considering this film is now considered a low-budget masterpiece. If you have no copy of this, get the Sinister Cinema VHS. It is a much higher quality print.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Want a ride?
July 5 2004
Format:DVD
An unshaven and weather-beaten young man sits brooding over a cup of coffee in an anonymous roadside café. A man of means by no means, as Roger Miller would put it. But Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is king of no road, and by the end of DETOUR we wonder whether he is even sovereign over his own soul.
A potential ride in the form of a friendly trucker strikes up a conversation. Where you coming from? West. Where you going to? East.
Roberts is wrong, though. He's coming from Hell and he's going to Nowhere, and the last thing he needs is a chatty trucker along for company.
DETOUR is told in a flashback from that lonely stool. Roberts and his girlfriend work as pianist/singer in a fleabag club out east. Comes a foggy night and she splits up with him to pursue fame out west. Weeks later he calls and they agree to get back together. He'll come out west and they can be married.
Being down at his heels Roberts is forced to hitchhike to California. All goes well until he reaches Arizona, where Fate deals Roberts one nasty hand after another. In short order the innocent Roberts finds and feels himself a hunted man.
DETOUR is a wonderful film. Neal is perfect as the moody young musician who finds himself trapped first by and accident and later by femme fatale Ann Savage, who know his terrible secret and has no scruples against using it against him for her own nefarious purposes. Veteran B-movie director Edgar Ulmer has enough tricks up his sleeves to surmount the Poverty Row studio conditions he was working under. If you're a fan of film noir, or enjoy hard-bitten stories, you'll enjoy DETOUR.
A potential ride in the form of a friendly trucker strikes up a conversation. Where you coming from? West. Where you going to? East.
Roberts is wrong, though. He's coming from Hell and he's going to Nowhere, and the last thing he needs is a chatty trucker along for company.
DETOUR is told in a flashback from that lonely stool. Roberts and his girlfriend work as pianist/singer in a fleabag club out east. Comes a foggy night and she splits up with him to pursue fame out west. Weeks later he calls and they agree to get back together. He'll come out west and they can be married.
Being down at his heels Roberts is forced to hitchhike to California. All goes well until he reaches Arizona, where Fate deals Roberts one nasty hand after another. In short order the innocent Roberts finds and feels himself a hunted man.
DETOUR is a wonderful film. Neal is perfect as the moody young musician who finds himself trapped first by and accident and later by femme fatale Ann Savage, who know his terrible secret and has no scruples against using it against him for her own nefarious purposes. Veteran B-movie director Edgar Ulmer has enough tricks up his sleeves to surmount the Poverty Row studio conditions he was working under. If you're a fan of film noir, or enjoy hard-bitten stories, you'll enjoy DETOUR.
By the way, my thirty year old first edition copy of The Film Encyclopedia had an interesting entry on DETOUR'S star Tom Neal. He received a law degree from Harvard University in 1938. Throughout the forties he appeared in a number of B-movies, usually cast as a tough guy. In 1951 he found himself in the middle of a love triangle involving Franchot Tone and Barbara Payton. Neal "smashed" Tone's nose and a scandal ensued. Neal became poison and no studio would employ him, so he became a gardener and later established a landscaping business. In 1965 he was accused of murdering his wife. Able to prove that the gun went off accidentally, Neal had the charges reduced to manslaughter and served a six-year sentence. He died in 1971.
One of the Greatest Film Noirs Ever Made
Jan 8 2011
Format:DVD
Detour is one of the finest examples of the magic of film noir. Made with an unbelievably low budget, you would never guess it was because it comes across as a professionally well made film. A simple story, yet has dialogue that one would find in a complex story from a major studio release. No name actors who perform like stars. A director who through a flash of genius directs one of the greatest film noirs ever made. This film is so good, that in 1992 it was chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being what they call, "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Now a cult classic, it gives hope to any aspiring film maker that he or she can indeed make a classic film no matter what the resources at their disposal may be.
What I particularly like about this film is its atmospheric mood and style. It is like the recipe for Coke, try as you like, you simply cannot replicate it. The film has a transcendent quality to it as a film noir that makes it a distinctly unique cinematic experience.
I liked Tom Neal in this movie very much. It is too bad we did not see more of him, probably because his real life was very much like a film noir.
If you want to learn and understand the beauty and magic of film noir as an art form, this film would be a good starting point.
What I particularly like about this film is its atmospheric mood and style. It is like the recipe for Coke, try as you like, you simply cannot replicate it. The film has a transcendent quality to it as a film noir that makes it a distinctly unique cinematic experience.
I liked Tom Neal in this movie very much. It is too bad we did not see more of him, probably because his real life was very much like a film noir.
If you want to learn and understand the beauty and magic of film noir as an art form, this film would be a good starting point.
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Most recent customer reviews
Hitching a Ride
Well, Steve said most of what I'd say, but I was struck by the unique dynamic between the two leads. She calls the shots, but then he ignores her obvious invitation. Read more
Published on April 19 2006 by Ken McLean
"Stop makin' noises like a husband," said the femme fatale
One of my favourite movies of all time. A sleazy tale filled with bleakness that never lets up. Tom Neal plays the fatalistic Al spot-on. Read more
Published on Jun 24 2004 by A zealous gun girl
A PARTICULARLY HAUNTING FILM NOIR
This is a short, low-budget film, but it leaves a BIG impact!
I'm not going to give away the plot except to write:
You wouldn't want to trade places with Tom Neal's... Read more
I'm not going to give away the plot except to write:
You wouldn't want to trade places with Tom Neal's... Read more
Published on April 7 2004 by Coleen
One thought about the transfer to dvd...
... It was awful, in my opinion... I can't believe that they couldn't have come up with a cleaner copy. For a DVD with no extras, this was pretty edgy quality. Read more
Published on Dec 29 2003 by Dwight Jaynes
Terse, taut, and vicious.
"Detour" is an accomplished work--and was recognized as such at the time of its original release, (see the "Parent's Magazine" review from 1945 for example). Read more
Published on Dec 26 2003
Great Little Movie
Again Edgar Ulmer hits a home run. For a PRC production this is one great little film noir. But we all know that. Read more
Published on Dec 8 2003 by SeaWasp
A low-budget film noir classic
1945's Detour is not only one of your truly vintage film noir classics of all-time, it is also ranked by many among the best low-budget films ever made, largely due to the... Read more
Published on Sep 10 2003 by Daniel Jolley
You will feel what Tom Neal feels!
Considered to be one of the best film noirs ever made. In my opinion, this is a darn good, rainy day/late night film. Read more
Published on Aug 27 2003 by James McDonald
Which Is It?
'Detour' is either the worst B movie ever made or it's a masterpiece, I can't decide which. Roger Ebert includes the film in his book 'The Great Movies,' yet other critics dismiss... Read more
Published on Jun 30 2003 by A. Wolverton
No exit for anyone caught in this Detour
Film noir describes Detour well. Everything about this film is dark, from the black and white print shot mostly at night, to the plot, no hope for any of the characters, to the... Read more
Published on Mar 13 2003 by Russell Fanelli
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