Movie Review: Detour (1945)
Synopsis: After his girlfriend, Sue, travels to Los Angeles to attempt to make it in Hollywood, New York pianist Al Roberts decides to follow her. Short on money, he hitchhikes across the country and thinks he finally caught a lucky break when Charles Haskell offers to drive him the rest of the way. When Haskell dies unexpectedly, Roberts becomes panicked and paranoid, believing he would be blamed. Desperate, he steals Haskell's wallet, clothes and car, intending to pretend to be the other man until he reached his destination. He seems to be in the clear but mistakenly picks up another hitchhiker, Vera, who knew the real Haskell, and uses that information to her advantage.
Who's in it? The movie stars Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald and Tim Ryan.
Review: I had another movie in mind this morning but couldn't find it right away in my library (wouldn't be the first time) so I wound up choosing Detour just because it was readily available. It ended up being a great choice.
I think one of the things I liked most about this film was Roberts (Neal) wasn't necessarily a bad guy. A lot of movies in this genre tend to be a bit in the gray area as far as that is concerned but in Roberts' case, he was just a guy who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, twice, and made some very questionable (aka stupid) decisions, including picking up Vera (Savage) when the last thing he should have been doing was picking up hitchhikers.
Vera meanwhile was an intriguing character. It was hard to tell if she was evil or a woman who had suffered so much abuse, she was desperate to change her fortunes by any means possible (I personally believe it was the latter). I was especially intrigued by how much she insisted on milking Roberts' mistake as much as she could. It would have been simple enough to take the money Roberts had on him, along with the money from selling Haskell's (MacDonald) car but, instead, she was sharing an apartment with Roberts and trying to convince him to take his deception further by attempting to collect an inheritance.
Adding to all of that were the various hints Vera was potentially looking for a romantic relationship with Roberts, despite him being very clear he was with her against his will. Between that and her drinking, it made her very unpredictable and Roberts' path to Sue (Drake) very murky. As a result, the way that forced partnership ended wasn't as predictable as I thought it would be.
My only real complaint about the film is the ending, which leaves a whole lot up in the air about what happens next. I didn't mind it so much about Roberts himself, but it did make me wonder about poor Sue, who was still waiting for him to arrive and had no idea where he was or what happened to him. As a result, of that, I was disappointed.
Final Opinion: This is an excellent film with an unpredictable plot and intriguing characters. Even though it leaves you hanging at the end, it's still worth taking the time to watch.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1945:
Movie Review: Fashion Model (1945)
Movie Review: Flaming Bullets (1945)
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