"Detour" has a memorable plot that is memorable for all the wrong reasons...but is worth seeing as a period piece.
Just to put this in perspective, I saw "Detour" and "Spider-baby" at a friend's house back-to-back one Saturday afternoon. And while "Spider-baby" is some kind of pop-art exploitation psycho grind-house milestone, this is the film that annoyed me so much that I wanted to grouse about it on IMDb. (This may tell readers more about me than I'd like to admit).
I've seen movies by Ulmer that I've thought were enjoyable and well done, so I had hopes for "Detour". And there are some nice touches here and there. The creative team behind this movie made the absolute most of their budget in terms of scenery, music, cinematography, sound design, art direction etc.
But my gripe with "Detour" is that the "hero" is such an idiot that it's hard to identify with him. I found myself yelling at Tom Neal's shabby little guy seemingly every 30 seconds: "Idiot! Why are you hitchhiking across the county to rejoin your girlfriend? Just work a couple more weeks, and then just ride a bus to Hollywood, instead of taking weeks and months to hitchhike there!" "Moron! Even back then, the police could do autopsies to discover the actual cause of death of your driver friend. 10 seconds in an morgue would absolve you of any wrong-doing....WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS????" "Dope! You can dump Vera anywhere along the highway on the way to California...just throw her out of the car and drive off without her, and assuming she ever actually makes it to California,who is ever going to believe her story when she has no proof other than hearsay? Just deny everything and you are golden!" Of course, it's entirely possible that Ulmer and the screenplay writer WANTED me to feel this way. Certainly Tom Neal plays the character as a weak willed schlub who deserves the audience's contempt and ridicule.(I am reasonably sure these were acting choices, not simple limitations).
Wow...it's been three weeks since I've seen "Detour" and I'm still arguing with the screenplay in the back of my head. Maybe you'd like to do the same?
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