By Signal Staff
Buzz Classic Movies presents a tense piece of film noir this weekend with a Saturday night showing of “Detour,” starring Tom Neal, Claudia Drake and Ann Savage.
The 1945 film has earned a 98% “fresh” rating from the critics based on 42 reviews, and a 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes’ “Popcornmeter” based on more than 5,000 ratings.
“Stylish and gripping, ‘Detour’ offers further proof that a patsy and a femme fatale often add up to a satisfying story,” says the “Critics Consensus” on Rotten Tomatoes.
“In New York, piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) laments when his singer girlfriend, Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake), leaves for Hollywood, Calif. When Al gets some money, he decides to hitchhike to California to join Sue,” says the Rotten Tomatoes summary of the movie. “In Arizona, Al accepts a ride with Charles Haskell (Edmund MacDonald), but during a storm in a freak accident, Haskell is killed. Frightened, Al assumes Haskell’s identity and car, but soon comes upon the mysterious Vera (Ann Savage), who seems to know all about his true identity.”
“Tom Neal does extremely well in the long, difficult role of the petrified pianist whose misadventures are told in flashback; while Ann Savage all but blisters the screen with her venomous, snarling performance,” critic Mildred Martin wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2020.
“Detour” streams at 8 p.m. Saturday on The Signal’s streaming channel, The Buzz, available at buzzscv.com as well as streaming platforms including Roku and Apple TV.
