Rating: 
Summary: Gloriously Cheap, Dark Little Noir Gem
Review: 'Detour' manages to do in 67 min. what most films dream about in two hours. Made for almost nothing in 5 days by a small-time studio, this goes to show that you don't need money or big studio support to create an enduring movie. You can sense the tight budget all around. Take into consideration for example that Ulmer shot a big portion of the film inside cars (notice how the first few cars have the driver's seat on the left side, like English automobiles), a cheap nightclub and a creaky apartment. Also in the flashback sequence when Tom Neal is sitting in the restaurant, Ulmer simply put out the lights, made a close-up on Neal's face and shed a rectangular light onto his eyes to create the flashback effect. All this techniques, while not very innovative, add to the effect of this bleak little gem. A dark little drama that is deserving of it's cult following. Tom Neal is the ultimate screen chump as an innocent man who happens to land on Ann Savage's deadly lap. Ann Savage creates one of the most ruthless characters ever to grace the silver screen, her character doesn't have a shred of human kindness or decency, she's tough, greedy, ruthless and relentless. It has all the elements of great noir; a truly memorable femme fatale, dark foggy streets, acid-stingy dialogue and a hero who gets his just desserts. A dark little gem that deserves to be discovered by noir fans. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film an 8!
Rating: 
Summary: No exit for anyone caught in this Detour
Review: 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 acting, not a smile to be seen among any of the principal actors. Nor is there any reason for smiles in this pessimistic look at the role fate plays in our lives. No exit for anyone caught in this Detour.Why watch? Movie buffs want to know just what can be done on a shoestring budget when you have a story to tell and a competent cast. Tom Neal and Ann Savage are the couple from hell. Savage is as her name suggests and Neal appears to be too stupid to escape from her threat of going to the police to accuse him of a murder he did not commit while hitching a ride to California. The story is told in flashback while Neal sits in a roadside diner contemplating his fate. The cost of filming the diner scenes, and the rest of the movie, for that matter, could not have been cheaper. It is fascinating to see what can be done with no money, but a little imagination and a fairly good script. This film is recommended only for B movie buffs who delight in watching the second half of the bill, when going to the movies meant a feature and filler. Detour is the B side of the show and, as sometimes happens, the throw away is better than the feature.
Rating:
Summary: "Did you ever want to forget anything?"
Review: In the 1945 black and white film, "Detour" Al Roberts (Tom Neal) plays piano in a run-down New York nightclub called Break O'Dawn. Girlfriend, Sue Harvey, is the singer. One day, Sue announces that she's tired of trying to scrape a living together, and she's heading for Hollywood. Al and Sue don't part on the best of terms, but Al soon realizes that life without Sue just isn't the same. Al decides to hitchhike all the way to California. This turns out to be no easy task, and it takes Al far longer than anticipated. Finally, he has no money, and his stomach is empty. Al's luck appears to change when he is picked up by the gregarious Charles Haskell Junior.... "Detour" was made on a very small budget, and while the film is only 69 minutes long, the story is gripping. Some of the scenes are in fog or gloomy settings, and throughout, a feeling of despair permeates the story. The copy I watched was remastered from original 35mm film, and the quality of the picture was excellent. Al's story is gripping, and we can probably all relate to it in one way or another--he bemoans the lack of money, and it is this fact of life that places him in precarious circumstances. At one point, Al has choices, and the choice he makes sets him on a path from which he will never return. Tom Neal was really marvelous in the role of Al Roberts. He was so good, I looked up information about his career, and what I found sounded like something from a Film Noir plot. The revolting character of Vera (Ann Savage) is the perfect foil for Al's character. Vera is tough, and merciless while Al's indecisiveness makes him seem weak and vulnerable. Vera becomes Al's purgatory. If you are a fan of Film Noir and you've missed this gem, I recommend it--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: A PARTICULARLY HAUNTING FILM NOIR
Review: 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 character for anything by the end of the film. And you'll never pick up a hitch hiker, that's for sure. If you like film noir, this is a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest B-Movie Ever Made!
Review: First of all this is a real B-movie - the greatest ever made! Some Warner Brother publicist once promoted Casablanca as the greatest B-movie ever made, and it stuck. But, don't you believe it! Detour is the real thing and has the cheap production values to prove it. Just take a look at how the camera (probably strapped on to the back of a moving pickup truck) bounces around during the opening title shots of the open road! I'll bet they shot the whole movie in three days. But, a great B-movie needs a good plot and some great acting to back it up. You can't get any better than the combination of Tom Neal as the guy who can't escape fate and Ann Savage as the gal from hell. Film noir just doesn't get any better than this. Neal's terrific performance makes you wonder what happened to his career? Except for this movie and some bit parts here and there Hollywood pretty much passed him by. Well, it turns out that life is stranger than fiction and you could actually make a pretty good film noir about the real life of Tom Neal! A Harvard law school grad that ended up in prison for murdering some guy because of a dame! Wow! How's that for film noir? In any case, watch this movie and journey into the dark side of fate. I'll bet you never pick up another hitchhiker ever again!
Rating:
Summary: You will feel what Tom Neal feels!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: One thought about the transfer to dvd...
Review: ... 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. I can't add anything to previous reviews of the film itself -- it is what it is: a quality example of noir. But don't expect superb reproduction because this is a long way from that.
Rating:
Summary: Terse, taut, and vicious.
Review: "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). Way too much has been made of its low budget. Neither the story nor script call for a high budget. It is, after all, an intimate drama focusing on only a few characters depicted in merely a few settings. Were this same story to have been shot by RKO, Columbia, Universal, or even MGM, I daresee today's viewers might be startled by the pictorial similarities. For example, compare the outdoor highway/hitchhiking scenes in "Detour" against the roadside tramping of Lana Turner and John Garfield in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and you will note a strong similarity in visual presentation. Indeed, the sets are really on the beam, since, overdressed, overly lavish settings would have defeated the picture's intentionally shabby mise en scene. Moreover, the lighting is superb in the cafe scenes and the fog bound walk on Riverside Drive--very ghostly, very dreamlike. All of which is to suggest, that had Mr.Ulmer a great deal more $$$ here, I very much doubt he would have approached this script, this story, by hurling unnecessary oodles of cash at it. He was shrewd enough to use such funding for those films of his which required a more opulent look, such as "Club Havana" or "Bluebeard".
Rating:
Summary: Great Little Movie
Review: Again Edgar Ulmer hits a home run. For a PRC production this is one great little film noir. But we all know that. My 2-cents worth is that the cheap Alpha dvd is a decent transfer.... for Alpha, that is. There are three or four hiccups along the way but overall the dvd looked fine. Sharp print, good contrast, a little bit of sound fluctuation, but it's only a third of the cost of the Image release so if you are not too particular (and I AM most of the time) this is a very good buy for the price... especially if you find a used one in good condition. There are, of course, no extras but the cover art is pretty cool.
Rating:
Summary: A low-budget film noir classic
Review: 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.
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