Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Rated 5 out of 5!
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 memorable performances of Tom Neal and Ann Savage. The directorial slant which frames the story is dead on, and one has to think that a larger budget would probably have done more harm than good to this gritty, realistic, film noir tour de force. Tom Neal plays Al Roberts, one of those unfortunate men who was born both stupid and incredibly unlucky. Shortly after his girl Sue up and goes to California looking for stardom, Roberts decides to go west and join her, hitchhiking his way across the country. This one fellow picks him up in Arizona and says he will take him all the way to L.A.; then the guy has the audacity to keel over dead. Afraid he will be accused of murdering the guy, Roberts decides to hide the body, take the guy’’s money, and assume his identity until such time as he can ditch the car in a big city. Then he himself picks up a hitchhiker, a woman who ends up being the last person on earth he would ever have wanted to encounter. Vera (Savage) know that Roberts is not the man he claims to be, and Roberts quickly finds himself quite at the mercy of this shrew of a woman. Her greed knows no bounds, and Roberts’’ life becomes more and more complicated and unhappy by the hour. Ann Savage’’s character Vera is perhaps the most blunt, cold, evil, wholly unlikable woman I have ever heard tell of. It is quite easy to see why the man we meet in the opening scene is as hateful and short-tempered as he is. As we flash back to the whole story of Roberts’’ hard times, accompanied by plenty of voiceover narration, one cannot help but feel sorry for the guy. His initial decision to cover up the death of the guy who picked him up is a bad, undeniably stupid, mistake, but he certainly does not deserve the level of vitriol and pure evil that afflicts him in the form of Vera. The ending is a tiny bit flat, but the story itself is fascinating and the performances of Neal and Savage are not to be missed. Detour is vintage film noir and should not be missed by any and all fans of the genre. - Rated 5 out of 5!
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. I won’’t tell you anything about the plot, but there are plenty of twists and surprises in this one. Simply, a piano player travels from state to state. A girlfriend that he was fond of, he called on the phone. She went to Hollywood to perform and be an actress. He misses her so he hawks everything and hitch hikes cross-country to get back together with her. So here he is on the road hitch hiking when a nice man picks him up and from there this story moves fast. This film is a must-see. It only runs 67 minutes. Alpha Video is offering a very fine print of film. Quite clear. Tom Neal had a troubled life after this film. But you can read more of that elsewhere on the web. His son, Tom Neal Jr. re-made "Detour" in 1992 and even starred in it. Ann Savage is the only member of this 1945 cast still alive. This DVD version contains an "Index" which is a chapter selection. No extras or bonuses.
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