Detour and the Anti-Hero

Tom Neal: moping as hard as he can for the entire film.

Detour (1945) is a film noir about a guy who gets caught up in a very unfortunate instance: he is the only witness to a mysterious death of another man, and could easily be framed for murdering him.  His solution?  Run away from town to a larger city where no one knows him!  And pick up a feisty, ridiculously bossy femme fatale on the way!

The main character of Detour is undoubtedly an anti-hero, yet he is portrayed in a different way than most modern anti-heroes.  Nowadays, anti-heroes are more glorified in some way; they often have a tragic back-story and yet seem to remain strong through their smart-wit and "total badassery", which is usually what wins over the audience (think of the Dark Knight films, or just Batman in general). 

But here in Detour, the anti-hero is portrayed in a rather pathetic light.  The film really emphasizes the fact that the audience should feel sorry for this character, especially since he was not responsible for the other man's death, and he was technically tricked by Vera (the femme fatale mentioned above) into accidentally killing her.  He is also completely pushed around by her throughout the film.  Seeing a male character pushed around by a female character, especially in the forties and fifties, is a relatively uncommon thing that occurs in film. 

This anti-hero is depicted as meek and helpless, which are traits not normally associated with a "hero", yet also differ from the modern anti-hero.