Draft:Vera (Detour)

Vera
a promotional image for Detour featuring Savage as Vera.
First appearance	Detour
Last appearance	Detour (1992 remake)
Created by	Martin Goldsmith
Portrayed by	Ann Savage (1945 film) Lea Lavish (1992 remake)
In-universe information
Gender	female
Occupation	con artist blackmailer criminal
Spouse	Al Roberts (posing as Charles Haskell)
Relatives	none
Status	Deceased
Nicknames	Mrs. Haskell Vera Haskell

Vera is a fictional film noir femme fatale in the 1945 film Detour famously portrayed by Ann Savage and by Lea Lavish in the 1992 remake of the same name.

The character is now known for being 1 of the best femme fatales and movie villains ever alongside 1 of the best film noir characters ever with rave reviews going to Savage's performance in the film alongside numerous critical acclaim.

Appearances

Main article: Detour (1945 film)

Vera's early life before the events of the film are unclear nor does she mention having any relatives. However, she does memtion living somewhere in Shrevenport, Louisiana at 1 point and also became a hitchhiker, blackmailer, con artist and crook at 1 point in her life.

In 1945, Vera is picked up from Louisiana by bookie and a millionaire's runaway son Charles Haskell Jr. who tries to force himself onto her, physically fights her and throws her out of his car after she resists.

After the incident, Vera hitchhikes until she arrives at a motel and later a gas station in Arizona where she thumbs a ride and ends up in Haskell's car once again. Only this time, driven by Al Roberts who's posing as Haskell, (after the real Haskell died of a heart attack, cracked his head on a rock and had his body buried in the desert, only for Al to then altogether steal his identity, clothes and car). Vera quickly spots Al and tells him that she knows that he isn't Haskell and that he has apparently killed him, also explaing to him that she was outside his motel room and already knows from the start that he isn't Charles Haskell. The situation turns into an argument between the 2 when Vera snoops further into Al's identity theft and blackmails him into accompanying her to California, Los Angeles posing as Mr. and Mrs. Haskell to then give away Haskell's car and go there separate ways after that. Al agrees with the offer to save himself with Vera then adding that the 2 will be like Siamese twins.

When they reach Los Angeles finally, Vera rents a motel room for her and Al to live in (once again posing as Charles and Vera Haskell). The 2 get into a further argument when Vera tells Al to forget Haskell, accept with the fact that he's dead and also to sell his car off to a used car dealer so that the police won't track Al down. Vera also tries to seduce Al here however fails to get his attention.

The next day, Vera and Al, once again as Mr. and Mrs. Haskell, arrive at a car dealership were they talk to the salesmen about selling the car to them. Whilst Al is talking to the main salesman about the paperwork needed to sell the car, Vera reads a newspaper headline talking about a rich man named Charles Haskell Sr. who is passing away because of old age and who wants to see his son for the inheritance. Sensing a great scheme, Vera tells the salesman that they won't sell the car and at a restaurant, tells Al to keep the car whilst also telling him about Haskell's father passing away and the money Haskell secretly has in his car, Al tells Vera that Haskell has been taking money from his father and Vera responds by saying that Al could pose as Haskell, go to Haskell's mansion, recieve his inheritance after Haskell Sr. passes away and live in the mansion as Haskell forever.

At the motel, Al tells Vera that it is too stupid and risky of a decision to do because he might get caught 1 day, Vera responds by saying that he might get caught but she isn't going to be in jail, Al responds by saying he won't do it. Vera, filled with rage, gets drunk and screams at Al, telling him that she's going to tell the cops on him stealing Haskell's identity, clothes and car and killing him before stealing it, Al once again tells her he never killed Haskell, causing a physical fight to happen between the 2 in which Vera runs to her room and starts calling the police, only to be accidentally strangled to death from behind by Al who's holding the phone line trying to disconnect it. After finding out Vera's dead and that he accidentally killed her, Al packs his things and runs away from the motel and Los Angeles, also deciding to stop posing as Charles Haskell along the way. In a diner in Reno, Nevada, Al finds out from news reports that a Charles Haskell is wanted by the press for killing his wife Vera in a motel room in Los Angeles, hearing the news, Al imagines his eventual arrest when he leaves the diner.

Original novel

Main article: Detour (Goldsmith novel)

In the novel of the same name released before the movie in 1939 and written by Martin Goldsmith, the story follows a similar pattern with the added addition of a few more scenes such as a slowly growing love affair between Vera and Al (renamed Alexander Roth in this book) and Alex's girlfriend Sue Harvey at Hollywood's story of becoming an actress. Also unlike the 1945 movie, in the novel, Haskell's dead body is found in the desert and said to be Alex's. Vera after finding out that Alex is already dead to the public, tells him to keep on with the Haskell alias and do the scheme to take Haskell's inheritance from his deceased father similar to the film. Alex refuses, they fight and it ends with Alex killing Vera similarly to the movie, except after killing Vera, Alex doesn't go back to his original name nor Haskell's (as even in the novel in the end, news states that Haskell is wanted for killing his wife Vera), so Alex keeps on finding new identities and aliases and moves around the country like a hobo, finding jobs in places like Seattle.