Detour
By Charlotte Stace
La Filmoteca screens Edgar G. Ulmer’s film noir, Detour (1945). Starring Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Esther Howard and Pat Gleason.
It follows Al Roberts, a pianist hitchhiking to California to reunite with his fiancée. But his journey takes a turn for the worst when he accepts a ride from a man named Charles Haskell, who precedes to mysteriously die. Fearing he’ll be blamed, Al takes on Haskell’s identity. He then crosses paths with Vera, a manipulative drifter who knows the truth about Al’s identity. As their relationship spirals into deceit and desperation, Al becomes stuck within a web of fate, guilt and unavoidable tragedy. But, will he get away with it?
A 1940s Hollywood classic, in 1992 the film was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Now’s your chance to catch it in all its glory on the big screen.