The book, subtitled An Extraordinary Tale, was published by the Macaulay Company. Its plot is similar to the movie to which it was later adapted, except that the main character's name was changed from "Alexander Roth" to "Al Roberts," the narrative alternates between the perspective of Roth and Sue Harvey, and erotic passages were removed.
The novel ends with much the same fatalistic line used in the movie: "God or Fate or some mysterious force can put the finger on you or on me for no good reason at all." In the film version of the novel, the reference to God is removed.
The film Detour has achieved considerable acclaim as a defining movie of the film noir era, despite its low budget. However, the novel, long out of print, did not have the same fate.
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylized Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.
Detour is a 1945 American independent film noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage. The screenplay was adapted by Martin Goldsmith and Martin Mooney (uncredited) from Goldsmith's 1939 novel of the same title, and released by the Producers Releasing Corporation, one of the so-called Poverty Row film studios in mid-20th-century Hollywood. The film, which today is in the public domain and freely available for viewing at various online sources, was restored by the Academy Film Archive in 2018. In April that year, the 4K restoration premiered in Los Angeles at the TCM Festival. A Blu-Ray and DVD was released in March 2019 from the Criterion Collection. In 1992, Detour was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black Dahlia (1987) and L.A. Confidential (1990).
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2024).
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during and after World War II in the United States—roughly from 1940 to 1960. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term "neo-noir" surged in popularity, fueled by movies such as Sydney Pollack's "Absence of Malice," Brian De Palma's "Blow Out," and Martin Scorsese's "After Hours". The French term film noir translates literally to English as "dark film" or “black film”, because they were quite dark both in lighting and in sinister stories often presented in a shadowy cinematographic style. Neo-noir has a similar style but with updated themes, content, style, and visual elements.
Ann Savage was an American film and television actress. She is best remembered as the greedy cigarette-puffing femme fatale in the critically acclaimed film noir Detour (1945). She featured in more than 20 B movies between 1943 and 1946.
Freaked is a 1993 American black comedy film directed by Tom Stern and Alex Winter, both of whom wrote the screenplay with Tim Burns. Winter also starred in the lead role. Both were involved in the short-lived MTV sketch comedy show The Idiot Box, and Freaked retains the same brand of surreal humour seen in the show. Freaked was Alex Winter's last feature film before he shifted to cameo and television films for many years until 2013's Grand Piano.
A detour is a temporary routing to avoid an obstruction.
Pulp noir is a subgenre influenced by various "noir" genres, as well as pulp fiction genres; particularly the hard-boiled genres which help give rise to film noir. Pulp noir is marked by its use of classic noir techniques, but with urban influences. Various media include film, illustrations, photographs and videogames.
Cutter's Way is a 1981 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Ivan Passer. The film stars Jeff Bridges, John Heard, and Lisa Eichhorn. The screenplay was adapted from the 1976 novel Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg.
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American film noir in which a San Francisco private detective deals with three unscrupulous adventurers, all seeking a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. Written and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut, the film was based on the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and is a remake of the 1931 film of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, and as villains Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.
Literary adaptation is adapting a literary source to another genre or medium, such as a film, stage play, or video game.
Plunder of the Sun is a 1949 novel written by David Dodge about the hunt for ancient Peruvian treasure. It was adapted for the November 8, 1949 episode of the radio series Escape and later into the 1953 film noir of the same title, starring Glenn Ford and with the location changed from Peru to Mexico.
Trial films is a subgenre of the legal/courtroom drama that encompasses films that are centered on a civil or criminal trial, typically a trial by jury.
Portnoy's Complaint is a 1972 American comedy film written and directed by Ernest Lehman. His screenplay is based on the bestselling 1969 novel of the same name by Philip Roth. It was Lehman's first and only directorial effort. The film starred Richard Benjamin, Karen Black and Lee Grant, with Jack Somack, Jeannie Berlin and Jill Clayburgh in supporting roles.
Teito Monogatari Gaiden (帝都物語外伝) is a Japanese horror/dark fantasy film. It is a spin-off of the Teito Monogatari franchise. It is not based on the original novel, but rather adapted from a side story novel, Karakuri Doshi. Like the animated adaptation which preceded it, the film is much darker, more violent and sexualized than its predecessors, and deviates greatly from its source material. It was released through V-Cinema in 1995.
The Cidade de Deus is a West Zone neighborhood of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It is also known as CDD among its inhabitants.
Child of God is a 2013 American crime drama film co-written and directed by James Franco, and starring Scott Haze, based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. It was selected to be screened in the official competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and was an official selection of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film made its United States premiere at the 51st New York Film Festival and then was screened at the 2013 Austin Film Festival.
Apology for Murder is a 1945 American film noir directed by Sam Newfield and starring Ann Savage, Hugh Beaumont, Russell Hicks and Charles D. Brown.
Timothy Miller is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film directing debut with Deadpool (2016). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film as co-story writer and executive producer of the short animated film Gopher Broke (2004). Miller directed Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), and also designed the title sequences of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Thor: The Dark World. He is the creator, showrunner and producer of the animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots, for which he has received several Primetime Emmy nominations and awards.
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