Touch of Evil (1958)

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Whit Masterson (novel)
Orson Welles (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 June 1958 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

The Strangest Vengeance Ever Planned!

Plot:

Stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in Mexican border town.

Plot Keywords:

Venice California | Classic | Film Noir | Beautiful Woman | Famous Entrance

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas
Janet Leigh	...	Susan 'Susie' Vargas
Orson Welles	...	Police Captain Hank Quinlan
Joseph Calleia	...	Police Sergeant Pete Menzies
Akim Tamiroff	...	'Uncle' Joe Grandi
Joanna Cook Moore	...	Marcia Linnekar (as Joanna Moore)
Ray Collins	...	District Attorney Adair
Dennis Weaver	...	Mirador Motel night manager
Valentin de Vargas	...	Pancho, Grandi hood (as Valentin De Vargas)
Mort Mills	...	Al Schwartz, district attorney's assistant
Victor Millan	...	Manelo Sanchez
Lalo Rios	...	Risto, Grandi's nephew throwing acid
Michael Sargent	...	Pretty Boy
Phil Harvey	...	Blaine
Joi Lansing	...	Zita

Runtime:

95 min | Germany:111 min (1998 alternate version) | USA:108 min (1975 alternate vesion) | USA:112 min (director's cut) | Spain:106 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Germany:16 (restored version) (re-rating: 2005) | South Korea:15 (2003) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12 (restored version) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | Germany:18 (restored version) | Norway:15 (re-rating) (1999) | Norway:16 (1985) | Spain:13 (DVD rating) | Sweden:11 (restored version) | Sweden:15 (original rating) | UK:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #18506) (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1998) | USA:Unrated (restored version) | West Germany:16 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

The music used throughout the movie was from sound sources that pertained to the film: radio transmissions, jukeboxes, player piano.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the famous opening tracking shot, you can see the sky beginning to change to daylight but the rest of the shots in the sequence happen in the dead of night.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Border Cop: Uh, you folks American citizens?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Voice of the Camera (2003) (V)

Another touch of brilliance from Welles

Considered by many to be the last "classic" noir film ever made, and perhaps the last masterwork from child prodigy Orson Welles, who looks about sixty in this film, despite his 42 years. In TOUCH OF EVIL the "noirish" dark streets and shadows are darker than ever, practically swallowing up the soft tones like a murky swamp. The action takes place in a nondescript U.S./Mexico border town where the worst that both sides has to offer is most in evidence. The famous opening scene (a 3 1/2-minute continuous shot) where we witness a time bomb being placed in the trunk of a Cadillac is masterful. The camera pulls in and out of the city scene as it follows the motion of the vehicle winding its way through streets littered with pedestrians, thus effectively creating a level of anxiety that could not be duplicated with multiple edits. After the inevitable explosion, the drama dives into a seedy world of corrupt police justice and malevolent decrepitude, which is filmed with such a stylish flair, it is almost weirdly humorous and playful! Mike Vargas, the good guy, is played by Charlton Heston and seems more than a wee bit miscast as a Mexican narcotics officer with his face darkened by makeup. When U.S. Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) first meets him he remarks, "He doesn't look Mexican." Quinlan is the ultimate repugnant cop gone bad and Welles has the camera looking up into his nostrils most of the time making his character look even more monstrous. But Quinlan is also pitifully sad. A man who once had the instincts of a cat and the intelligence of a fox has been reduced to an insignificant mass of tissue, who's "instinct" is having a knack for finding evidence that he himself has planted. And while he may be revered by the local officials in law enforcement, he's acutely aware that he is a fraud and petrified that Vargas, has seen him naked.