Detour (1945) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Director Edgar G Ulmer's all-time great, flashback-driven 1945 film noir thriller is a deservedly famous cult B-movie classic. Zero-budgeted but rousingly handled, it's termite art. It holds the honour of being the first B-movie chosen by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry (in 1992) and it is the first Hollywood film noir so honoured. The film has long enjoyed a cult reputation in Europe and among American film buffs for its existential tone.

The main character, Al Roberts (Tom Neal), is an unemployed piano player intent on hitchhiking from New York to Hollywood where his girlfriend is a singer. When he reaches Arizona, he thumbs a ride with a dissipated gambler who relates a disturbing tale about a female hitchhiker he recently encountered. From that point on, the film travels quickly into nightmare territory with border crossings into paranoia, death and despair.

Tom Neal's real life story is probably even sadder and stranger than the luckless character he plays in Detour.

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald
Country: USA
Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
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