Detour (1945)

The Story

“Ann Savage all but blisters the screen with her venomous snarling performance as the vicious Vera." – Mildred Martin, Philadelphia Inquirer

One of film noir’s most admired crime dramas, Detour was made in just six days on a budget of $US30,000. A pianist leaves New York, planning to hitchhike to Los Angeles to find his girlfriend, but ends up driving a stolen car and accompanied by a Spider Woman he has initially under-estimated: “she looked as if she’s just been thrown off the crummiest freight-train in the world”. Later he comes to believe “no matter what you do, no matter where you go, fate sticks out its foot to trip you up”. Like all film noir’s great femme fatales, Vera is destined to completely disrupt the trajectory of the man’s life and further entrench his emasculation. Few femme fatales in noir have done it with the gusto and power of this amazing performance from Ann Savage as Vera. First Australian screening of a magnificent 4K restoration sponsored by the Academy Film Archive.

“Probably the greatest “B” film ever made.” — Charles Flynn and Todd McCarthy, Kings of the Bs

“Savage is one of the most memorable off-kilter vixens in movie history.” — James Pallot

The 8:15pm screening on Thursday 27 April will be introduced by Richard Brennan, producer of Long Weekend, Stir, Starstruck, Cosi and many more.

Watch a superb Video Essay “Detour: The Pinnacle of Film Noir”, here.

Watch an introduction by film noir’s guru, the great Eddie Muller, here.

Rating

PG

Duration

68 min

Cast

Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake

Director

Edgar G. Ulmer