Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Sameir Ali It's quite surprising to see such amazing films in those years.Al Roberts is traveling to Hollywood to meet his girl friend. The poor man has no enough money to travel. So, he tries different ways to get there. A strange man gives him a lift. He offer him food also. On the long drive,the stranger takes a nap and Roberts drives the car. Later he finds out that the stranger is dead. Afraid of the Police, he hides the dead body in the woods, and take the man's identity. On his way, he offers lift to a woman, that puts him into more troubles.A really interesting plot, and very well made movie. A must watch film for all movie maniacs. Do not miss it. #KiduMovie

calvinnme or he is lying. The entire film is told in flashback as Al Roberts (Tom Neal) sits in a dingy diner. At the beginning of his story, Al is a piano player in a low rent club in New York and his best girl is the singer. But then she grows tired of their professional stagnation and decides to go out west and try to get into pictures. Al gets lonely, calls her, and says he is coming out there too. She enthusiastically embraces the idea. He has no car and so he hitchhikes. He gets all of the way to Arizona before his bad luck hits. By the film's end Al has implicated himself in two murders that were accidents in both cases, but would be impossible to prove they were not murder, and is held prisoner by a dragon lady who wants to get him involved in a preposterous fraud scheme that he rightly decries as being impossible to pull off. The acting and much of the dialogue is very melodramatic, bordering upon soapy, but it fits the story as so much of it involves conveying the emotion and doing so from the point of view of Al. Bogart and Mitchum wouldn't have been right for this lead role. Either one of them would have come across as either too cool or too tough to put up with such a domineering femme fatale as Ann Savage's Vera and seem so depressed and pathetic. Instead, Tom Neal is perfect as a guy who sees himself bound by fate and doomed.But maybe the entirety of the story is made up. Al's voice over could just be him sitting in the cafe creating an alibi story. Ann Savage's performance as Vera was over the top maybe because it's Al telling the story, and he wants to make himself look good. I don't buy half of what he tells us; I think he was much more complicit in all of the deaths than he wants the audience to believe. Vera is a caricature of the noir femme fatale because he's trying to convince us that everything was her idea or an accident or fate based on his act of true love - trying to get to his girl in California - and he's completely innocent.On the technical side, this one showed a great use of light, shadows, and music, and fine direction by Ulmer to keep the mood. It's too bad nobody has restored this one as it resides in the public domain. This is one noir that will stay with you.

LeonLouisRicci One of the most Touted and Famous B-Movies Ever made. Pure Film-Noir that is almost Always listed Alongside Blue-Blooded Big Studio Noirs like "Double Indemnity" (1944), "The Big Sleep" (1946), and"Out of the Past"(1947). Quite an Accomplishment.Directed by Cult Fave Edgar G. Ulmer, this is a Prime example of Primitive Art. The Fatalistic Story is one for the Ages. The Script falls somewhere between, stretching a point, Shakespeare and Chandler. Almost Every Line is Heavy Duty Pop-Psychology but is so Breathtaking in its use of Stinging Pulp Platitudes of Gutter Utterances Delivered with Slang and Over Ripe Dialog-Speak Recited by Desperate, Cynical Folks that have done Some Reading. It is Sweaty Street Poetry.Add to that, the Expressionist Cinematography Reeking of an Alternate Universe with Surreal Impressions using Lighting and other Cinematic Devices like Fog and You have the Stuff of Nightmares.Tom Neal, a Handsome and Limited Actor is Fine with His Droopy Dog-Faced Demeanor and Passable Narration Skills. Ann Savage, on the other hand, Steals the Movie with an Iconic Fem-Fatale Serving up Acid-Tongue Retorts with a Gaze of Evil in Her Eyes. Required Viewing for Students and Fans of Film-Noir, B-Movies, and Anyone with a Modicum of Interest in Post-War Fatalism and Desperation. One of the Greats of its Kind.Note...Beware Public Domain Prints of varying quality. It seem as though the original negative that survives is none too great and even the Print shown on TCM, that is a stickler and only uses the best available, is not pristine but a lot better than some of the quick-buck releases.

Scott44 ***Good review from bmacv ("An unforgettable accident that paved the low road for film noir", bmacv from Western New York, 14 July 2004). Also, JohnWelles ("From Straw Comes Gold", JohnWelles from United Kingdom, 13 April 2011) has an interesting commentary.***Detour (1945, Edgar G. Ulmer​) is a low-budget, Film Noir​ cult film that entertains today. Three drifters are experiencing a luckless world without pity. While the production qualities are uneven, the 67 minutes spent taking in "Detour" feels very worthwhile.Al Roberts (Tom Neal--more on him later) is an embittered, impoverished pianist who accompanies his chanteuse girlfriend Sue (Claudia Drake) for the listening pleasure of drunks at an all-night Manhattan nightclub. The pair are excellent musicians: She sings beautifully while he improvises Chopin skillfully. Unfortunately, they both know they are far from the station that they each deserve. Hearing ambition's lonely call, she moves to Hollywood. In time he decides to follow her by way of hitchhiking. Traveling by the kindness of strangers is going well until he catches a ride near Phoenix from a Miami-based bookmaker named Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund MacDonald). Haskell is a link between Roberts, a lost family fortune and a terrifying ex-girlfriend, Vera (Ann Savage). When Haskell dies, apparently because of a heart attack, the innocent Roberts fears the State will unfairly convict and execute him for murder. So he dumps the corpse and assumes Haskell's identity while driving to meet Sue in Los Angeles. Who today would do otherwise?Reality sets in after Al Roberts picks up Vera, who is also hitchhiking to LA. Vera, the deceased's former flame, surprises Roberts by immediately seeing through the deception that he is Haskell. They form a bipolar partnership, as the generally spineless and misanthropic Roberts is increasingly controlled by the treacherous and beguiling Vera. In Los Angeles, she convinces him to sell the car and pose with her as the married Haskells. When alone in their hotel room, she manipulates him while also trying to seduce him. The two are building up to a violent conclusion; but when it arrives it is not nature's preferred way. Nor does the finale resemble any other story's conclusion in recorded history.The songstress Sue and the sociopathic Vera are both irresistible in their own, dissimilar ways. Dour, moody and pessimistic, Al Roberts is worthwhile because of the plethora of memorably fatalistic lines he delivers in his voice-over. While the two female actresses both hit their roles out of the park, there is some question about Tom Neal's work in the lead role. Perhaps it is too out of character for him to portray someone allowing a dame to emasculate him so much. (After Detour's release, Neal's real-life brutality was revealed publicly. His first wife, to actress and singer Vicky Lane, ended in divorce with her citing "mental and physical cruelty." In 1951, the former boxer Neal severely beat up actor Franchot Tone, in a fight that started out of jealousy. In 1961, Neal is a gardener living in Palm Springs with his wife Gale Bennett, a receptionist. During a violent argument, she is shot and killed. Neal claimed he shot her during a struggle and he was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.)According to legend, "Detour", a leading example of a "Poverty Row" production, was filmed in just six days for $30,000. It has a huge following. The Black and White photography is suitably grim for film noir. "Detour" is possibly the most popular low-budget film ever made; I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy it. It is a perfect hour to spend for those of us who understand life to be one slap to the face after another.This is great "B" movie with some obvious flaws. However, please exercise caution if you plan to thumb a ride to the revival theater showing this.