Detour: Movie Review

Introduction

The movie Detour launched in 1945 containing two lead characters by the name of Ann savage and Tom Neal. These are two characters that have given name and fame to the movie through their superb acting. The story focuses on a troubled young man who is sitting at the dinner table and is having his diner. The young man is obviously on edge due to his interactions with other patrons and staff. His mood is further worsening by a song played on the jukebox. He becomes almost manic before settling back down on his barstool, defeated (Noah, pp. 39).

Discussion

The main story of “Detour” begins with the unfolding of flashbacks; the movie focuses in on the young man's eyes as if to see directly through them and into the recent past. Al works as a piano player at a bar, where his girlfriend Sue sings. Sue decides that she is going to try her luck out in Hollywood, leaving Al behind. He grows sullen but continues his late-night piano-playing gig. One night a large tip from a drunken patron sets Al on a journey from New York to Los Angeles. The trip is long and miserable, with Al's “big” $10 tip not getting him very far. When Al meets Charles Haskell, Jr. a bookie on his way to L.A., things look like they've taken a turn for the better. An accident leads to a major “detour” (John, pp. 1110).

Al Roberts is the main concern of the film (Tom Neal, who ironically would go on to serve time in prison for manslaughter), who is a pianist in a New York nightclub. His fiancée goes to Hollywood to try to make it as an actress, and he decides to hitchhike to go see her. He gets a ride with a high-rolling bookie, and they hit it off, at least until the man accidentally dies. Neal, realizing the police would never believe his story, hides the body and takes the man's car.

Later, he stops at a gas station and gives a lift to a woman. He describes her, in thrilling pulp language, as looking like “she thrown off the crummiest freight train in the world.” She has played by Anne Savage, in one of the nastiest performances in all of noir. In technical terms, it is not a veritable performance-it would seem that Ulmer just told her to be the bitchiest she could ...