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by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

The indomitable femme fatale, Vera (Ann Savage), doesn’t appear until the exact midpoint of Detour (1945), director Edgar G. Ulmer’s classic B-movie noir, but once she is on screen, you can’t take your eyes off her. She spits out her hard-boiled dialogue like the words are rusty nails. Picked up by Al Roberts (Tom Neal), whom she clocks as having murdered the owner of the car he is driving, she asks, “What'd you do, kiss him with a wrench?” Later, Al observes, “Vera was just as rotten in the morning as she'd been the night before.”

Arguably one of the greatest characters in noir cinema, Vera also has one of the greatest deaths: even the shot of her corpse deserves a chef’s kiss. She is positively toxic, egging Al to commit fraud to steal an inheritance. This vicious little film sparks to life whenever she is on screen because her character is so nasty. Savage just tears through the film with gusto, insulting Al and taking control of the story in ways that shock and bemuse. 

Detour is initially Al’s story. Told in a flashback, he recounts playing piano at the Break O’ Dawn club in New York City and wanting to marry Sue (Claudia Drake), a singer. But when Sue postpones their wedding to try her luck in Hollywood, Al mopes about until he decides to go visit his beloved. Thumbing his way across the country, Al has some bad luck until he meets Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund McDonald), and then his luck gets much worse. Haskell dies, Al ditches the body, assuming his identity, and picks up Vera who blackmails him in the hope of getting a big payday. Instead, fate has other plans for both of them. 

Ulmer shot Detour on the cheap, and part of the fun is seeing how he plays with noir conventions. There is some notable chiaroscuro lighting as Al’s face is shot with shadows to indicate he is recalling his murky past. As Al walks Sue home one night in New York, the city is so foggy only the street signs are visible. And there is a palpable sense of fatalism throughout. The film is cheap and lurid—reportedly shot in 6 days, although some sources claim it actually took longer.

The film may have the structure of a road movie given Al’s cross-country trek, but Ulmer provides a travelogue montage until Al meets Haskell in Arizona and then Vera shortly thereafter. These encounters are when his trip gets interesting. Haskell discusses the scars he has on his right arm and how he once took out a boy’s eye. He is later revealed to be a charlatan, so perhaps he is an unreliable narrator. Vera is also a piece of work, threatening Al that she will turn him over to the police for murdering Haskell and insisting he does not leave her side until they cash out on his car. She keeps him close, hoping to wring him for all he has—and can get. As for Al, he is as bitter and cynical as they come, a true noir antihero. Al may be a slightly dull protagonist, but his depressed demeanor makes him a perfect foil for Vera—and boy, does she enjoy sinking her claws into him!

The film succeeds because Vera is such a great villain. Al is a patsy and watching him twist in the wind and even try to call her bluff at one point provides Detour with its dark thrills. Al’s defeatist attitude, heard in the film’s weary voiceover, builds the dread for his meeting Vera. Al knows he is doomed with all his talk about fate, but when he admits Vera was “the last person I should have met,” it feels like the final nail in his coffin. 

And this may be why Detour remains a classic. Savage gleefully barks and scowls her way into movie history. She is memorable, slinking about and asking, “Do I rate a whistle?” when she dresses to impress. In contrast, Neal makes Al a sap. The actor is more notable for his off-screen activities, including a nasty fight with the famous actor Franchot Tone in 1951 that resulted in Neal being blacklisted. Neal also fatally shot his wife during an altercation in 1965—he claimed it was an accidental death—and served six years in prison for the crime. Another fun fact: Detour was remade in 1992 with Tom Neal Jr. in his father’s role.

Ulmer’s B-movie developed a cult following after it became a staple in revival theaters in the 1980s. With its pulpy plot and Savage’s fierce performance, it remains a noir favorite of almost everyone who sees it.