Detour 1945

     Al Roberts is a New York nightclub pianist.  Sue is a singer in the same nightclub.  Al wants to get married but Sue tells him she is going to California to see if she can hit the big time before she marries.  They are separated for a while and then Sue tells Al that she’s doing very well.  Al decides he will hitchhike to California and join Sue in Los Angeles.  One night, Al gets a ride from sleazy gambler Charles Haskell Jr.  Al takes over driving, Charles sleeps and Al stops the car to put up the convertible top.  When he asks Charles to help him with the top, he finds out Charles is dead??

     The death of Charles starts a real detour for Al.  Everything he has planned begins to change.  He makes a LOT of very dumb decisions and they lead to a downward spiral of more and more problems??  I don’t know if this plot is legit because it seems to go off in wild directions?  I am surprised this film was selected for honors?  3* (This movie is OK)

68 min, Crime directed by Edgar G. Ulmer with Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald, Tim Ryan, Esther Howard, Pat Gleason.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, Roger Ebert 4*, Rotten Tomatoes 100% critic 78% audience, Letterboxd average 3.7* out of 5* with 38 fans, Amazon 3.7* out of 5* with 123 reviews. 

Special Note:  Filmed on Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada; 9263 Sierra Hwy, Actis; US Hwy 6, now CA State Hwy 14, about 20 miles north of Mojave; Sierra Highway, Rosamond, California.  Ann Savage in the role of Vera said that she didn’t get along with Tom Neal in the role of Al.  She said that Tom embarrassed her on the set and after that they did not speak to each other except during filming.  This is the first “B” movie chosen by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry in 1992.  Also the first Hollywood “Noir” honored.  The budget for this film was very small and the 1941 Lincoln Continental V-12 convertible belonged to director Edgar G. Ulmer.  In the scene where Al picks up hitchhiking Vera, a passing car tried to pick her up first?  This caused a lot of laughter from the crew.  The shooting schedule was 28 days.  Savage and Neal made three movies together at Columbia Pictures before this film.  They were re-teamed to exploit their publicity and press buildup from 1943 and 1944.   On Hemmings.com the price of a restored Lincoln Continental today runs from $60-$70,000.  Al and Vera were hoping to get more than $1,800?