Taking a Detour

 This film takes a major detour when it comes to intrigue. I have seen a number of film noirs in the past, and I felt this one sort of just lacked something. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the film, the story was interesting, and I liked how it seemed so believable. This particular story seems like it could happen to anybody, just a normal person trying to fulfill a personal goal who befalls unfortunate circumstances. The main character is sort of like the typical “everyman” archetype, and the leading lady fulfills the part of the femme fatale.

According to the online version of the Merriam Webster dictionary, an antihero is “a main character in a book, play, movie, etc., who does not have the usual good qualities that are expected in a hero”. Usually, the hero of a story displays desirable traits such as altruism, bravery, and fortitude. However, an anti-hero lacks these ideal qualities and instead displays a different set of characteristics. In Detour, the main character, piano player Al Roberts, strays from a typical anti-hero stereotype. While a stereotypical anti-hero would be selfish, cowardly, and weak, Roberts actually displays a mix of characteristics from both the hero and anti-hero stereotypes in order to attempt to fulfill his goals. The film begins with Roberts sitting in a diner, telling his tale through a flashback. Roberts is embarking on a cross-country trip to visit his girlfriend who moved to Los Angeles. He hitchhikes his way, with little initial success. Eventually, a car stops and gives him a lift. The car is driven by a bookie named Charles Haskell Jr. As the trip progresses, Roberts takes over driving while Haskell sleeps. As fate would have it, it begins to rain, so Roberts pulls over to put the top on the convertible. While doing this, Roberts opens Haskell's door to get his attention. Haskell falls out of the car and hits his head on a stone, killing him. At this point, Roberts panics. He fears the police will not believe the truth and assume he killed Haskell. In this situation, Roberts displays the anti-hero characteristic of cowardice; he makes assumptions that lead to his decision to dump Haskell in a pile of brush off the side of the road. He plans to make a quick getaway, but then he reasons he will need money for gas, and a driver's license. Here Roberts is using logic, which is a typical heroic trait. He is going beyond the scope of the typical anti-hero to add to the mystique of the film noir style. It could be argued that Roberts is displaying selfisness by taking the money, but since he plans to use it for gas and food money and not for his personal bank account, I would say he is being logical and selfless in this case.

As the story goes on, Roberts, now posing as Haskell until he can get to Los Angeles and dump the car, picks up a hitchhiker of his own, Vera, despite his better judgment. In this instance, Roberts again steps past the borders of the anti-hero framework to display an honorable trait of consideration. He offers to help Vera, when instead, he could have just left her alone. However, in order for the story to work, Roberts has to pick up Vera. There wouldn't be much of a story if Roberts left the rest stop by himself. One of the only ways for him to successfully advance the plot is to engage in heroic behavior and offer to provide assistance to someone in need. By some bizarre coincidence, Vera, like Roberts, had been given a ride by the real Charles Haskell Jr, therefore she knew Roberts was lying when he claimed to be Haskell. Vera then blackmails Roberts for her benefit. The pair at last arrive in Los Angeles. Roberts plans to sell the car off so he can back to his life, but Vera has other ideas. She plans to use Roberts to con Haskell's family and get rich quick. This is a pivotal moment for Roberts; he can either go fulfill the anti-hero stereotype and go along with the scam or he can conform to the heroic form and try to stop Vera. Roberts goes with the latter. Again, just in when Roberts faced the choice of whether to give Vera a ride, if he decided to go along with Vera's deceitful plan, the story in this movie would be drastically different and the film noir effect would be altered. In order for the film to maintain its sense of mystery, Roberts has to go against Vera's plan to create a conflict. Film noir thrives off the tension between characters rather than physical violence. If Roberts hadn't made up his mind to go against Vera, the tension between the two characters would have been lost. And the only way for Roberts to advance the plot in this manner is to engage in selfish (anti-hero) behavior.

As Vera presses Roberts to participate in the ruse, Roberts once again engages in behavior that goes against the anti-hero stereotype. He admits his own faults, that he is not perfect and does not know everything. In order to impersonate Haskell, he would need to know the man's life story, which he does not. He realizes he has limitations, which is something a classic anti-hero wouldn't do. Ultimately, Vera and Roberts argue. She plans to call the police on Roberts, but not before he attempts to pull the phone cord from the wall. Unknown to him at the time, the cord is wrapped around Vera's neck, and his pulling actually kills her. Back to engaging in anti-hero behavior, Roberts panics and leaves the hotel where the pair had been staying. He doesn't attempt to cover his tracks or hide any clues, he simply leaves the building. In the end, once Roberts has finished telling his story, he leaves the diner and is picked up by the police. Where an anti-hero would have tried to run or fight, Roberts returns to the hero stereotype and goes quietly. He does not put up an argument or a fuss, thereby accepting his fate, which is something a true hero would do. This works to maintain the film noir style because if he had put up a fight, the police would have turned to violence to stop him, and film noir prefers to rely on tension instead of actual physical violence.