Detour (1945)

A down on his luck nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) is hitchhiking his way from New York to Los Angeles to see his girl (Claudia Drake). But when he's picked up by a man (Edmund MacDonald) who accidentally dies during their ride, fearing he'll be accused of murder, he leaves the man's body in the desert and assumes his identity. Then he picks up a hitchhiking dame (Ann Savage) and finds himself on a direct descent into Hell. Based on the novel by Martin Goldsmith and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (THE BLACK CAT). This poverty row film noir defines pulp and is an essential viewing in the noir canon. Ulmer's direction is taut, tight and inventive and the dialog is perfect (after picking Savage up, Neal describes her as "looking like she's been thrown off the crummiest  freight train in the world.") Ann Savage's hard as a rock, ice water in her veins Vera may be the deadliest femme fatale in noir filmdom. She makes Stanwyck's Phyllis Dietrichson look like the mother in THE BRADY BUNCH! The movie can't hide its low budget origins but its cheapness only adds to the sordid atmosphere.