Recent Reviews for Detour
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MCT:August 1, 2008Generally speaking, whenever I watch a "classic" film noir, I'm deeply disappointed (as was the case with LAURA and GILDA, just to name two), but I found Edgar G. Ulmer's DETOUR to actually live up to the ballyhoo. DETOUR is, in fact, one of the very few noirs I've seen that actually has the "haunting" feel often attributed to the genre. Tom Neal (an effective thug in the Lugosi chiller BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT) is a fine anti-hero; whether he's an innocent victim of circumstances or a lying multiple murderer really doesn't matter. And Ann Savage may be the most vitriolic femme fatale I've ever come across; she's quite beautiful but her character is so damn EVIL it's tough to not be repulsed by her.
A triumph for the brilliant Edgar G. Ulmer! -
MCT:April 27, 2008Good little Noir from 1945. Its not a long film, around 1hr and 15 mins or so, but it packs alot of punch with in its short time. The relationship between Al and Vera is like hot oil and cold water. Its great. She's such a bitch, i loved her. I wasnt to hip with the way it ended but thats how it goes with some of these films. All in all a great little film that needs to be seen.
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MCT:March 14, 2008DETOUR (1945)
directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
starring Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia DrakeA man walks into a bar. Some dude get up and plays the jukebox. The songs remind that man that just entered the bar why he is there. His story begins. After his girlfriend left him to go make it big to Hollywood he decides to move as well. Except he has no money, so he hitchhikes. At one point a rich man invites him aboard his car but later mysteriously dies. Our man his confused. He believes he cant go to the police cause they wont believe him so he hides the body and still the man's identity. Only later he pick up a girl, hitchhicking and she knows the car. So she knows there is something wrong, he aint who he claims to be. She will force him to help her with a scheme to steal some money from the dead rich man's dying dad.This is a classic film noir. The plot is classic as well but its quite interesting. The camera surprisingly movies well, even if its a classical way of shooting a movie. Okay, I stop it with the word «classic» now.
The main character narrates the story which helps it move well and develop the psychology. Tom Neal plays in the right tone, nothing special but he is dedicated to his character and its works.
Detour is a very short film with interesting ideas. The ending is particularly inspired. Slow paced but not bad.
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MCT:February 25, 2008
Great, moody and gritty noir piece. The whole tone of the film is downbeat and the actors wallow in the atmosphere. Excellent.
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MCT:February 5, 2008
Very well made early noir, especially considering the lack of budget. The acting is pretty bad though, to be honest. Savage especially makes me want to slap her in the mouth, and not in the good way. But still quite watchable and well directed.
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MCT:January 15, 2008
Well made noir. Story builds up in an intriguing way, and has some original twists, but evaporates very quickly without a real climax.
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MCT:October 10, 2007Doh! Hate it when I think I there is a great movie that I haven't seen - and it turns out I've actually seen it.
Pretty killer z-budget noir. Great femme fatale / nagging sloppy drunk live-in girlfriend. Lesson: fate will crush a wus, everytime. -
MCT:October 5, 2007
I've seen this classic about 12 times. It has come to define noir for a lot of critics. It's dirt cheap and awesomely raw. It probably has the best examples of the noir archetypes known as the femme fatale and the put-upton, sad sack hero.
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MCT:September 16, 2007
This is another nice little film noir. The main character makes one really big mistake and things then fall apart from there. The only thing that was unnecessary was the last little short scene.
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MCT:July 11, 2007To start, I saw this a few hours ago on a cheap Public Domain movie set that I bought for $12. Obviously, the quality wasn't too good which most likely took a lot away from the experience. As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it, but the flaws were noticeable. The narration, which is essentially a part of your average noir, is quite well done. The lead performance is great, and the plot is intriguing. Outside of the lead performance, I find just about the rest of the acting to be sub-par while the film runs far too short at 67 minutes. There are some faults in editing here and there, and while comparing it to other noirs, it doesn't have the 'style' down. Overall, it's worth a viewing - just don't set any special time aside.
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MCT:June 11, 2007
A great early film noir that is incomprehensible in its choppy style, absurd plot, and over-the-top acting. It was filmed in a rush, but its sloppiness only adds to its story of panic and greed. A true cult classic.
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MCT:June 4, 2007
This is one of the classics of "film noir!" There's always some that isn't what is may seems and that film style is such a "lost art" now.
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MCT:April 25, 2007
Al Roberts: That's life. Whichever way you turn, Fate sticks out a foot to trip you.
Oh man, this is like the El Mariachi of Film Noir. Its a dirt cheap film, that's only 67 minutes long. Because of that however, you take care of having unnecessary filler scenes and the pacing stays pretty level.
The movie has a number of twists that make it hard to explain without giving too much away. Suffice it to say that the lead character starts the film, narrates his past, meets some unexpected issues and has to deal with a bitch of a women for a long portion of the film.
For a cheap movie, it is well done, but I'd imagine its rare enough where you'd be luck to catch it anywhere anytime soon.
Vera: I'm gonna see that you sell this car so you don't get caught.
Al Roberts: Thanks! Of course your interest wouldn't be financial, would it? You wouldn't want a small percentage of the profits?
Vera: Well, now that you insist, how can I refuse? 100% will do!
Al Roberts: Fine! I'm relieved! I thought for a moment you were gonna take it all!
Vera: I don't wanna be a hog! -
MCT:March 28, 2007
Only the GREAT Edgar G. Ulmer could have walked into PRC and came out with this 68-minute MASTERPIECE! Now, granted the Goldsmith script is pricelessly filled with hardbitten dialog, but Ulmer's low-budget artisty (which at times dips it's pinky toe into the surreal) is what seperated this from poverty row obscurity. My favorite film of 1945 right behind Lang's Scarlet Street. "Fate, or some mysterious force, can put the finger on you or me for no good reason at all."
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MCT:March 5, 2007
In its heyday, Detour probably seemed to be a serious Film Noir. Today, it's just plain mindless fun. The holes are more than evident in this film (like using a flashlight to illuminate Tom Neal's eye line during a psychological solliloquy or the dubious legitimacy of whether you could strangle some body with a telephone cable purely as an accident). Still, you don't feel bad when the murder does happen. Ann Savage plays her role of unconventional femme fatale with such vitriol and bitterness that by the end the audience kind of wants her to die. A B-movie through and through, Detour may lack the gore and it may lack the prestige, but its still funny as hell and a must for fans of the classical film noir.
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MCT:February 13, 2007
The words "film noir" were coined on the back of movies like this. In fact no other film defines the landmark genre better than Detour.
A triumph of talent and inspiration over budget, it was made on the cheap by a Poverty Row studio in just six days.
If only Hollywood could shake the notion that the answer to recapturing the glory days means "REMAKE". The industry could learn a lot from this film, and I'm sure quite a few directors and writers have. -
MCT:December 5, 2006God damnit, this film suck's, I'll never understand how this cheap-ass, poorly written piece of shit got on to Roger Eberts Greatest movie's list.
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MCT:November 22, 2006
Saw this in my film class as examples of film noir and B-movies. Prime example of both. :-) However, as far as B-movies go, it's actually fairly decent. Plays the genre nicely, and although the acting is even more over-the-top than the well-known, classic noir, it was still a fairly satisfying film overall. I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who couldn't get past the cheesiness of it all, though.
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MCT:September 7, 2006It's no-budget cheese, but also quite captivating in its strange, over-the-top, archaic way. It's not so much that it has all the noir conventions in spades (because honestly, who the fuck cares), it's that they're strung together with such breathtaking, sharp-edged, dark-souled energy.
