Detour (1946)
Director - Edgar G. Ulmer
The Plot
A hitchhiker catches a ride in the desert from a gambler with claw marks on his hand. The gambler then dies in a mysterious accident of fate. Though innocent, the hitchhiker (Al Roberts), panics, hides the body, and steals both the deceased's identity and his sedan. Roberts then picks up a beautiful woman hitchhiker, who turns out to be the owner of the claws. She begins blackmailing Roberts and cooks up an inheritance scheme. And for good measure, further down the road, it explodes into an archetypal American nightmare drama of the sexes.
Film Notes
Dark Places and Bad Luck
The highways of post-WW II America had their dark places, spots where luck went bad in spades. In the shadows of desert roads, used car lots, low light bars and cheap cabin motels, it all went wrong for Detour's Al Roberts.
The mouth of actor Tom Neal (Roberts) says it himself, "Fate, or some mysterious force, can put the finger on you for no good reason at all."
Roberts had already been the participant in an accidental murder when he picked up a woman hitchhiker played by an actress appropriately named Ann Savage. As described by Alameda author Eddie Muller, "The 24-year old ex-bowling instructor turned actress was like Susan Hayward on a coke-jag - a keening harpy from hell with a singularly irritating nails-on-slate voice."
Filmed in only 6 days by low budget film magician Edgar G. Ulmer, it casts a crazy jukebox jazz black spell over the viewer that movies with unlimited budgets and resources could only dream about.
Ulmer was also the director of Bluebeard, Strange Illusion and The Black Cat.
By 1965, a long out-of-work Tom Neal was in jail for the murder of his real-life wife.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Tom Neal | Al Roberts |
| Ann Savage | Vera |
| Claudia Drake | Sue |
| Edmund MacDonald | Charles Haskell, Jr. |
| Tim Ryan | Diner Proprietor |
| Esther Howard | Hedy |
| Roger Clark | Man |
| Don Brodie | Used car salesman |
| Pat Gleason | Man |
| Producers Releasing Corporation | |
| Edgar G. Ulmer | Director |
| Leon Fromkess | Producer |
| M.M. Goldsmith | Book Author |
| Martin G. Goldsmith | Screenwriter |
| Ben Kline | Cinematographer |
| Leo Erdody | Composer (Music Score) |
| George McGuire | Editor |
| William Calihan, Jr. | Art Director |
| Edward C. Jewell | Art Director |
| Martin E. Mooney | Associate Producer |
| Glenn Thompson | Set Designer |
| Mona Barry | Costume Designer |
| Bud Westmore | Makeup |
For more information on:
Books by Eddie Muller...
The Group Theater
Warner Brothers and Social Issues Films