ABSTRACT
American automobility was as dark during the years of war between 1939 and 1945. According to Jane Kay, World War II stalled the American motorist, throttled car production, lowered mileage, and braked the automobile culture. This chapter investigates film noir automobility embedded in filmic narratives that facilitate and consolidate a broad range of motivations and machinations, as well as foreground particular perspectives on the means by which a noir form of automotive heritage has taken shape. Four film noirs are discussed in the chapter: Double Indemnity, Detour, Sunset Boulevard, and Kiss Me Deadly. The narrative element that all four share is that of embedded automobility, and the various means of utilizing the automobile to realize crimes, to escape the law, to glory in a distant past, and to face future annihilation.
