Detour

Plot synopsis:
Piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is drinking coffee at a roadside diner in Reno, hitchhiking east from California, when a fellow patron plays a song on the jukebox that reminds him of his former life in New York City. At the time, Al was bitter about squandering his talent working in a cheap nightclub. After his girlfriend Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake), the nightclub vocalist, leaves to seek fame in Hollywood, he decides to go to California and marry her. With little money, he is forced to hitchhike his way across the country.
In Arizona, bookie Charles Haskell, Jr. (Edmund MacDonald) gives Al a ride in his convertible and tells him that he's in luck: he's driving all the way from Florida to Los Angeles to place a bet on a horse. During the drive, he has Al pass him pills several times. That night, Al is driving while Haskell sleeps. When a rainstorm forces Al to pull over to put up the top, he is unable to rouse Haskell. Al opens the passenger-side door and Haskell falls out, striking his head on a rock. Al then realizes the bookie is dead. Fearful that the police will believe he killed Haskell, Al drags the body off the road, takes the dead man's money, clothes, and identification, and drives away.
After spending the night in a California motel, Al decides to drive to an urban area and ditch the car. At a gas station, he picks up another hitchhiker, Vera (Ann Savage). After some time, she suddenly asks him what he did with the real owner of the car. It turns out she had been picked up by Haskell in Louisiana; she scratched him and got out in Arizona after he tried to become too friendly. Al claims to be Haskell, but she calls his bluff and blackmails him by threatening to turn him in. She tells him that they should sell the car rather than abandon it.
In Hollywood, they rent an apartment, posing as Mr. and Mrs. Haskell to provide an address when they sell the car. However, Vera learns from a newspaper that Haskell's wealthy father is near death and looking for his son, who ran away as a youth after accidentally injuring his friend. Vera demands that Al impersonate Haskell as soon as the father dies, but Al balks at this notion, pointing out that he knows next to nothing about either man.
Back at the apartment, Vera gets drunk and they begin arguing. She threatens to call the police, running into the bedroom with the telephone and locking the door. She falls into a stupor on the bed with the telephone cord tangled around her neck. Al pulls on the cord in an effort to break it. When he finally breaks down the door, he sees that he has accidentally strangled her. He gives up ever seeing his girlfriend Sue again and returns to hitchhiking instead, imagining his probable future arrest by the police.

Tags: suspenseful

Review:
Glad i didn't listen. I read the review complaining about this film being boring. And i almost didn't watch this. But I am really glad I and decided to watched it. I suppose I can understand why someone might call it boring. It doesn't have a ton of over the top freaking out. It isn't full of screaming and ranting or constant in your face action. What it does have is an actor able to carry a movie through until the end on his own. And believable emotional stages of such a situation. The lack of over the top acting and panicking made this movie believable and intriguing instead of annoying. I really felt for the poor guy. I felt the lack of air and claustrophobia. If you prefer a lot of noise and yelling this isn't the film for you. I gave this film a seven because it kept me watching and made me really feel the subtle panic. Only thing lacking is maybe five more minutes at the end. But that need for more closure is just a personal preference.. It's worth your time. If you enjoyed Cast Away, 127 Hours, All Is Lost, or Gravity, then this film might be for you. I am always amazed by how strong a human being can be to survive, and this film amazed me. Detour is an intense and thrilling story about a literally buried man that puts all his efforts to survive. How did he end up there? Will he survive? If so, how? These are the questions that kept me in my seat.Director and co-writer William Dickerson teaches us to appreciate life and what we have. The filming, which explore the small set, is great.Whoever wrote The Rat's Rabbits Are Calling song is a genius: the lyrics are monotonous but catchy at the same time, and I can't get this song out of my head.Neil Hopkins does an incredible job: he is able to carry the film through until the end.More at afilmadaybysonia.blogspot.com. A Sleep Drug in Film Form. 3.4 of 10. I nodded off, slept, woke up, backed up to the last scene I remembered, and forced myself to watch it all. Excellent as something to get you to sleep without any drugs. While the ending is technically impressive and the overall story a good idea, it's not executed/produced well.Claustrophobia and other confined phobia stories are difficult challenges for film, especially when the entire film is based on it rather than just some scenes. It seems to be catching on as one of the latest fads for directors to try to prove that they can make an entire film about it interesting. As compared to Buried (2010) where the ending rescues the film, Detour's ending only makes it more entertaining and not enough so.In short, it's more of a resume film for some technically skilled directors/cinematographers, not something to watch unless you have a job/class that requires it. If you have a class that requires it, consider it a tip to switch schools or at least cancel and opt for a different class.