Mysterious F.
12Jun12
It isn't a thriller.
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Displaying all 23 wall posts
Eric Morgan
21Apr13
A well written and quickly paced film. Features that run under 80 minutes tend to leave me feeling as though the story had been rushed. Not so with Detour. With a perfect first person narrative, well cast actors and a NY to LA Noir story; this film unfolds like a strange little Hitchcock road trip. I look forward to seeing more of Ulmers work. The film now holds a place among my five favorite films of all time.
ElTigreNegro
5Mar13
A ton of visual flavour, but like other noirs of the time, the story is just too one dimensional to ever grow on you.
Shelly Hatlestad
15Sep12
This is a great Poverty Row film noir. The movie really gets interesting when Vera is introduced. "I was tussling with the most dangerous animal in the world, a woman." "You know, there oughta be a law against dames with claws!"
Todd Kushigemachi
22Aug12
"Detour" starts as a tragedy about dying romance but turns into a fascinating black comedy about fate. Love eludes Al (Tom Neal), but death haunts him. Movie particularly picks up when vicious Vera (Ann Savage) starts talking. The anti-romance of Al and Vera is the best thing about this solid but uneven movie. Joined by cruel circumstance, these two bicker like a married couple, but they really just hate each other.
Duncan Gray
29May12
I'm not sure if this works as a straight-up thriller, but as a dark comedy and a surreal anxiety dream, it's the tops.
Mário Coelho likes this
Trolley Freak
30Jan12
Ulmer earned himself the title of the 'King of Poverty Row' and this ultra-low budget film-noir, apparently shot in just 6 days, has to be one of his finest films. It has a reputation as being one of the best B-movies ever made and certainly deserves that accolade. As the femme fatale the appropriately named Savage is amazing as the vicious Vera who blackmails Neal's hapless pianist, against whom the fates conspire..
catch_33
8Nov11
Check our out Podcast review of Detour here: http://www.lastpictureshowpodcast.com/2011/11/episode-28-anonymous-lulu-film-school.html
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Manuel Molina
24Nov11
It is lamentable that this is the second case of spam I have read today on MUBI.
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Dave
25May11
The mother of all B movies and one of the most essential noirs ever made. The grimy, low-class nature of the production only adds to the atmosphere. An absolute essential.
Muhamad Fajar Ibrahim and 3 others like this
Renee Hirshfield
10Feb11
With every vocal and facial expression, Ann Savage as Vera tramples over the fine line between inspired brilliance and calculated lunacy—and I love her for that!
quinton likes this
byavuz
14Jan11
A fantastic film and hardly deserving to be lumped in with the charming clunkiness of a typical B-movie. More than anything, this is distilled noir to the fullest degree. If it is anything film noir tells us again and again, its the ease with which man can blithely march down the path to self-destruction.
quinton likes this
Classroom Battles
3Jan11
my film studies teacher presented the film as "probably a film with one of the craziest bitch of all cinema history" I think he was right !!
art.em.is.free
22Jun10
So deliberately flawed that it remains a classic, this B movie has all the quintessential characteristics of the film noir genre magnified so much that the film may be scorned upon by a careless viewer. I would have given much more credit to the film if I wasn't so thoroughly unconvinced by the "magic" coincidences of the plot and the apparent lack of level-A acting talent by Tom Neal. Savage is quite the revelation!
Dean Fernando
18May10
a film i'll watch when ever i think there isn't enough money in my pocket to make a film... the energy and immediacy of this film inspires me...
Manuel Molina likes this
Nathan Parker
26Mar10
A bleak and savage little noir pic which was shot in 6 days with virtually no budget. The lighting is remarkably expressive ( Ulmer apprenticed under "Nosferatu" director F.W. Murnau). The writing is sharp for such a bare-bones story and it's all delivered by the small cast in staccato rhythm. Ann Savage is the ultimate femme fatale and just tears up the screen. http://www.spike.com/video/detour/2828478
Daniel S.
17Feb10
****1/2. Almost a masterpiece. Edgar G. Ulmer is unfortunately one of the most underrated American directors. Look at the fog, listen to the music (a 67 min. musical score), admire the boldness of the out-of-focus shots or the flashbacks in the flashbacks, quiver in front of Ann Savage's viciousness. DETOUR is a fairy tale for adults and Tom Neal waits in vain for someone who'll save him from the claws of the wolf.
