GA Russell Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Detour is widely regarded as the best film noir ever, so I really looked forward to seeing it when I picked up the DVD about a year ago. I didn't think it was as good as I had hoped, but it stuck with me, which I guess is the mark of a good picture. Ann Savage died Christmas Day. Here's some of her lengthy LA Times obit: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,7639041.story ...But Savage was best-known for director Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 B-movie "Detour," in which she played a woman ruthlessly blackmailing a stranger, played by Tom Neal. "It's actually a showcase role," Adamson said. "Neal and Savage really reversed the traditional male-female roles of the time. She's vicious and predatory . . . and he's very, very passive. It's very unusual for a '40s film to have a woman come on that strong."... She was eventually under contract at Columbia Pictures and started a career in a series of B movies, but she had little respect for much of the work. "They were mindless," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1985. "The actresses were just scenery. The stories all revolved around the male actors; they really had the choice roles. All the actresses had to do was to look lovely, since the dialogue was ridiculous." But "Detour," which she made for Producers Releasing Corp., was something different. The role, at first, gave her pause. "I had just come off a lot that kept me looking absolutely perfect," she said. "But Vera was not a pretty woman: She was maniacal. Edgar objected to my hair looking so neat and had the hairdresser run cold cream through it to make it streaky and stringy. He even made sure my face stayed dirty . . . and shiny." After the critical acclaim for "Detour," Savage had dreams of a real career as an actress. But it never happened... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 studio forgot to renew the copyright years ago so it full into the public doman a while back- you can find it for .99 cents at drugstores as a chineese knockoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Detour is widely regarded as the best film noir ever... Widely? I don't know about that. Detour is like a bloody car wreck; you can't help slowing down to look, but the word 'best' hardly applies. To me, Detour is like a dream that reveals more about the dreamer in the retelling than the dreamer would conciously chose to reveal. However, as film noir it's no where near the level of, say, Out of the Past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 reminds me of the old joke about the aphrodisiac for sale "that made Oscar Wilde and Lucille Ball." Guess we can add: "and Ann Savage." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 reminds me of the old joke about the aphrodisiac for sale "that made Oscar Wilde and Lucille Ball." Guess we can add: "and Ann Savage." and ron moody! uh oh - i feel a game coming on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 and George - uhh, never mind - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 and George - uhh, never mind - Blanda? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 think El Presidente - it's somewhat imprecise - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 how about "Victor Mature" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 and anybody who says "and Allen Lowe" is gonna get reported to the moderators - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Louis' Arm Strong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Stanley Crouch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Vida Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Loretta Young Ray Noble making Doris' Day is a stretch.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Marvin Gaye? Stevie Wonder? Tom Terrific? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 "making Doris' Day is a stretch...." I know what you mean; I tried, but she's too damn tall - everybody's got the hang of it now - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Back on topic: This obit doesn't mention that Detour was shot incredibly quickly even for a B movie. IIRC in one week. Maybe it was 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Back on topic: This obit doesn't mention that Detour was shot incredibly quickly even for a B movie. IIRC in one week. Maybe it was 2. I have never seen even an average print of it, does UCLA, anyone have one???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 I've long thought Detour one of the trashiest (and silliest) noirs ever. It certainly confers a type of immortality on Ann Savage though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Detour is widely regarded as the best film noir ever... Widely? I don't know about that. Detour is like a bloody car wreck; you can't help slowing down to look, but the word 'best' hardly applies. To me, Detour is like a dream that reveals more about the dreamer in the retelling than the dreamer would conciously chose to reveal. However, as film noir it's no where near the level of, say, Out of the Past. Very true. At some point along the way Detour, thanks in no small part to its very primitivism, got a reputation as a sort of "ur-Noir." But that sure don't necessarily mean "best." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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