Women in "Detour"

It seems that women are treated and represented in not the best light during film noir. They always seem to be up to no good or just another punching bag. In the early scenes of Detour, the main character Al Roberts seems to treat his lady like she was a goddess. He listened to her every word and was willing to travel to L.A. just to get her back. When he met his friend, Charles Haskell, the viewer sees that Haskell thinks of them as toys more as actual people. He mentions throwing a girl out of the car while in motion because she started attacking him. He has the standard attitude of a man of the time. I could easily imagine him smacking a girl in the mouth with a .45 (Play It Again, Sam reference). 

When we meet Vera, the viewer gets a different representation of a woman. She's strong and very willful. She is out for herself and that's all. She's the boss and she makes sure that Al knows it. 

She is completely in control the entire time, up until she tries to steal the fortune from Charles Haskell Sr. This was the first time she really showed anything other than anger and ferocity. "You hurt my hand and I'm going to get even." She isn't as strong and you can see how desperate she has become for the fortune.  

Ultimately, women are represented as cruel, strong, and threatening. Vera is the only woman with a very strong role and she ends up dead after breaking under all the stress of the plan she was trying to hatch.