User reviews

That's a great epitaph Marlene Dietrich and Mort Mills put together for Orson Welles's character police captain Hank Quinlan. In a sense, since Welles directed himself in Touch of Evil he both created the character and the circumstances that bring him down.

Two stories intersect in Touch of Evil. The first involves a particularly grisly murder in a Texas/Mexican border town of a man named Rudy Linnaker. The weapon was a car bomb, that went off just as Linnkaer and some chippie he was seeing crossed the border. Driving in the car just behind the late Mr. Linnaker was Charlton Heston as Mexican police detective Mike Vargas and his wife Janet Leigh.

Heston is returning to Mexico City where in a few days he's taking the witness stand in the trial of a local drug kingpin. The kingpin's brother is Akim Tamiroff who's the local crime lord in that border town. Heston's case against Tamiroff's brother and Welles's investigation into the car bombing are completely unrelated, but do to some cleverly worked out plot machinations they get intertwined together.

Charlton Heston has been quoted many times in saying that Orson Welles was the greatest director he ever worked for. He also rather modestly has stated that he did not give Welles his best screen performance. My own thought on it is that he really is not a terribly convincing latino. Maybe someone with Robert Mitchum's gift for dialect or a latino actor like Gilbert Roland might have been better. Still it's an earnest effort and Heston has nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact Heston says and I agree that the story is really about Welles and his destruction. Welles has great instinct as a detective, but he's not really all that scrupulous about due process. That's what has Heston's back up and it forces Welles into an unthinkable alliance with Tamiroff.

Janet Leigh gives us a sneak preview of what was in store for moviegoers in Psycho when she's trapped in that motel room with those punks that Tamiroff has sicced on her. One of the punks in fact was Mercedes McCambridge doing a little gender bending generations before Boys Don't Cry. At the motel Dennis Weaver has a marvelous bit part as the useless and feckless 'night man.'

Welles put a lot of his favorites in small roles here. Ray Collins took time away from Perry Mason on television to play the District Attorney. Joseph Cotten has a small bit as a medical examiner, Harry Shannon was the state's attorney, it was a regular Citizen Kane reunion.

Marlene Dietrich who was Welles's foil and partner in his magic act plays the owner of a border town dive and his mistress who loves him though she recognizes all his faults. This was a banner year for Dietrich because she also did her highly acclaimed role in Witness for the Prosecution.

One part though that should have been up for an Academy Award was Joseph Calleia who was Welles's devoted subordinate who in the end ironically helps to bring him down. It's a great piece of acting and Charlton Heston said that Joseph Calleia never did anything better in his entire cinema career. I wouldn't argue the point.

Now that the 'director's cut' is available we can now see Touch of Evil and realize what Welles's vision was for this film. Indifferently received when first out, it's grown to become a classic and probably one of the three or four films Welles the director gets the most acclaim for.

And now it's probably better than when first seen by the public.

We start with a man putting a bomb in a car on the Mexican side of the border. When it explodes on the American side flattening the occupants, the local "Capt. Quinlan" (Orson Welles) decides to make a bit of a cursory investigation - in cahoots with his opposite number "Vargas" (Charlton Heston). Whilst they are out doing their sleuthing, "Susan Vargas" (Janet Leigh) is lured to a meeting with "Uncle Joe" (Akim Tamiroff) where it becomes clear that her husband is on the prosecuting side of a family dispute that is putting everyone in danger - something her husband finds out shortly afterwards when he narrowly avoids an acid facial. Now "Quinlan" and his sidekick "Menzies" (Joseph Calleia) have a rather unique way of working - the former intimidates just with his presence and has the District Attorney in his pocket, but as this investigation starts to spread out the original crime pails into insignificance as "Susan" finds herself trapped in an out of town motel and the potential victim of a ghastly drug crime that brings the threads of the story - and the true criminality to light - fatally. There are five principal characters and the actors do justice to them all - the story moves along darkly offering plenty of interest, the odd red herring and a particularly strong effort from Welles as the increasingly unlikeable policeman. I was slightly dubious about Heston playing a Mexican policeman, but here carries of the role in one of his better screen performances (when he is not wearing leather garments) and Janet Leigh - well, she was always an actor who made it all look effortless. The ending combines the scary with the brutal but will the truth be out? Big screen must for the full potency of the last twenty minutes.

Rather than films like Citizen Kane (1941) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947), neither of which am I a big fan of, Touch of Evil evidences director/writer/star Orson Welles' capacity for cinematic genius. The story is engaging, suspenseful, tight and well paced; the cinematography is consistently beautiful, inventive and symbolic; the setting and overall tone of the film, including the performances, are captivating, yet slightly surreal and otherworldly; and there are many interesting subtexts. This all combines to create a complex artwork that will reward however far a viewer wishes to dig into the film.

Based on a novel by Whit Masterson, Badge of Evil, Touch of Evil is a battle between two policemen--Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) and Ramon Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston). Parallel to this is a kind of border battle between the United States, represented by Quinlan, and Mexico, represented by Vargas; the film is set in two border towns, frequently crossing over.

As Touch of Evil opens, we see a bomb being placed in the trunk of a car in Mexico. A construction company owner, Mr. Linnekar, gets in with his girlfriend. Vargas and his new wife, Susan (Janet Leigh), manage to walk along next to the car--they're all crossing the border into the United States. Shortly after crossing, the bomb goes off. This brings the gruff Quinlan into the picture. His investigation of the bombing brings him into Mexico for suspects. Meanwhile, Vargas and his wife are being threatened by Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff), a Mexican mob boss, and his underlings. Both Quinlan and Vargas are well respected in their countries, and both are used to getting what they want. But the bombing investigation ends up putting them at loggerheads, and Quinlan gradually turns out to have more than a "touch of evil".

As with many of his films, Orson Welles ended up having to battle the studio to realize his artistic vision. Usually, as here, the battle was unsuccessful for him. Despite his 58-page memo detailing various problems with Universal's non-director supervised reshoots (by Harry Keller) and re-edits, because they felt that Welles' final cut "could use some improvement", the film was released in a form that was not satisfactory to Welles. The fiasco has resulted in various versions of Touch of Evil appearing throughout the years. The 58-page memo was thought to have been lost, but a copy was discovered relatively recently in Charlton Heston's possession. The film was recut in 1998 based on Welles' memo. So make sure that you watch the 111-minute version first released by Universal on DVD in 2000.

The opening scene of Touch of Evil is famous, and rightfully so. Beginning with the timer being set on the bomb, then the bomb being placed in Linnekar's trunk before he gets into the car, we follow both the car and the relative ebb and flow of Vargases as they roughly walk alongside the car, all in one very long tracking shot that covers a lot of ground and features a lot of unusual angles. Welles stages the scene so that there are all kinds of complex background and foreground elements interacting with the car and our protagonist pedestrians. The suspense built up in this scene is incredible--you just know that bomb is going to go off, but you don't know just when, or who it is going to hurt. Compositionally, the scene is simply beautiful. The film is worth watching for this opening alone, but the whole of Touch of Evil features similar, meticulously planned artistry, filled with suspense.

Welles as an actor tends to have a very peculiar way of speaking that is full of affectations. Sometimes this can be a detriment to the film, as it was in The Lady from Shanghai. Here, though, the oddity works, and this despite the fact that, like Woody Allen, he seems to direct his whole cast to deliver their dialogue as if they were him. As a result, Touch of Evil has very peculiar, contrapuntal scenes where people frequently talk on top of one another, with odd phrasing. It works because of the particular kinds of personality conflicts that Welles set up in the script. These are people who frequently _would_ talk on top of each other and occasionally not pay attention to each other.

But that's not the only odd thing about the film. Welles managed to find locations that, shot in this highly stylized and cinematographically complex film-noir manner, seem almost otherworldly. Except for a couple expansive desert shots, Touch of Evil feels eerily claustrophobic, even though most locations aren't exactly enclosed. The various modes and settings are all perfect for their dramatic material, which is mostly dark and moody. One change that Universal made was the excision of a lot of comic relief material featuring the Grandi family. Universal was right to cut it, and wisely, Welles agreed.

The music in the film is also extremely effective but unusual. Most of it is incidental. Latin and rock 'n' roll emanates from radios, for example, and the climax intermittently has a repeating, contextually haunting theme from a pianola.

But of course the story is just as important. Although Welles stated hyperbolically at various points that he was trying to "infuriate" the audience with a somewhat inscrutable plot, and it's true that the plot isn't exactly given in a straightforward manner, once you figure out the gist, it's relatively simple but extremely captivating. At the same time, it is full of symbolism and subtexts, including commentary on justice systems and perhaps some irony about the popular conceptions of the U.S. versus Mexico (made more complex by the fact that Quinlan spends just as much time south of the border and Vargas seems to spend a lot of time north). But as for being annoyed, you're more likely to become infuriated with Quinlan, who becomes more and more deliciously despicable as the film unfolds.

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.

There are only two ways to write a review that would truly do this film justice. Either one would have to write an exceedingly long review, or a short, concise one. I choose to do the latter.

When I first saw "Touch of Evil," I was glued to the chair. When I found out it was not Welles' definitive vision, I wondered how on earth it could have been made better. And when I saw the re-released version, I wondered why the studio altered it. The stunning black-and-white images, the intricate plot, and the powerful, engaging performances took a hold of my imagination. At times, I imagined myself on the street with the characters, because the atmosphere was so thick I felt surrounded in it.

The actors all did an outstanding job, especially Leigh and Heston (who, although not thoroughly convincing as a Mexican, soared above his usual powerful, furious presence). This is Welles' picture, however, and whenever the camera catches his obese figure, you are fully aware of the man as a director and an actor. His powerful vision drives the film, from the single-cut opening sequence to the cat-and-mouse finale.

I suggest watching the 1998 restored version over the original theatrical release, but regardless of which version, "Touch of Evil" will have you stuck in your seat, questioning your views of morality until long after the last credit has rolled up the screen.

Here is a film that wouldn't be made today because nobody makes 'B' movies anymore; and this is the greatest 'B' movie in the history of cinema. Here is the perfect example of why Orson Welles should be considered a genius. He has made this film look so effortlessly easy that it could almost be considered film making by numbers. From the famous opening sequence to the closing titles, this is the film students' reference book.

Welles portrayal of the bloated cop Hank Quinlan is only bettered by his Harry Lime in 'The Third Man'. He gets right inside the seedy, corrupt Quinlan; but still leaves room for just the lightest touch sympathy because we know that, after all, he's a fallible human like all of us. We almost feel sad at his fate especially when Marlene Dietrich gives her sad soliliquay about him.

This is another film that can only exist in black and white, and begs the question, why can't directors work effectively in this medium today? Some have tried but none have have really suceeded. David Lynch's Eraserhead is probably the best modern example of a black and white only film. Woody Allen's Manhattan tries hard but ends up looking too much like a documentary. I don't think that directors today use this medium enough, too many rely on colour and the efffects that can only work in colour to get them out of trouble.

So put A Touch Of Evil on your 'must see' list and enjoy a work of film making artistry.

Everyone talks about the 4 minute single take opening, which was remarkable for the time, but there is an even more impressive cinematic marvel that occurs about 39 minutes into the film. It is the apartment of Sanchez, the shoe clerk, and the shot runs for 5 minutes and 23 seconds without a cut. There are over 20 different camera set-ups within this one scene, smoothly flowing from one to another to another. Supposedly this was the only locale in the film that was a studio set and that helped pull off the coordination of so many elements. Considering how much exposition, character set-up, and drama is on display in this one shot, it's the real gem.

The camera work and music with suspense in this film is incredible. This was a well directed movie with good acting (most notably the woman from Psycho and the man from Citizen Cane). The problem I have is some of the diologe is not great and the plot doesn't make 100% sense.

Whit Masterson's book "Badge of Evil" as adapted by Orson Welles, who also directed and memorably co-stars as Police Captain Quinlan. Charlton Heston gives a strong performance as an Hispanic narcotics officer in Mexico who butts heads with a distinctly crooked head of the police force, with new bride Janet Leigh caught in the middle. An atmospheric but not especially absorbing picture, this mainly due to Welles' indifferent handling of the material (he gets into the grit--but from a distance; this is a melodrama with a lukewarm temperature). Film was initially taken away from Welles in post-production but has now been restored to its original form. It features justifiably famous cinematography from Russell Metty, fine work from the underrated Leigh, and a terrifically seedy feel for decadent border towns. However, these sterling attributes cannot camouflage a screenplay without much spark, some miscasting and overacting in key supporting roles, and a final act with flare but not much punch. **1/2 from ****

This suspense movie contains intrigue , thrills , plot twists and layered dialog prevail . A stark , perverse tale of murder , treason , kidnapping , and police corruption in a sleazy Mexican border town . As starring 'Mike' Vargas (Charlton Heston who cited not doing a Hispanic accent for his Mexican role as one of the biggest mistakes he ever made as an actor) has to interrupt his honeymoon along with his wife (Janet Leigh who initially rejected her participation in this film due to the low salary offered without even consulting the actress ) when an American building contractor is murdered . Idolized alcoholic Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) and his Sergeant, Pete Menzies (Joseph Calleia), are in charge on the US side and Hank soon has a suspect . But things go wrong when Vargas discovers Quinlan puts fake evidences against the prime suspect . Quinlan joins forces with Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) , who seeks revenge against Mike , to impugn Vargas's proofs .

This overwhelming masterpiece of the strangest vengeance ever planned is plenty of suspense and twisted intrigue from start to finish . Awesome opening , justifiable known , shot in stylistic way begins this over-the-top picture . ¨Touch of evil¨ failed in the U.S. but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair , here director/player proved that he was still a filmmaking genius . Excellent acting by the great maestro Orson Welles playing the life of yet another ruthless character , he stars a corrupt inspector with a shady past and obscure present , planting evidences to detain suspects . Orson Welles was originally hired only to act in the film , but due to a misunderstanding, Charlton Heston thought that Welles was to be the director , to keep Heston happy, producer Albert Zugsmith allowed Welles to direct . Support cast is frankly magnificent , such as : Akim Tamiroff , Joseph Calliea , Dennis Weaver , Ray Collins , Joanna Moore , Marlene Dietrich , Zsa Zsa Gabor , among others . Oscar winner Mercedes McCambridge only appears in the film because she was having lunch with Orson Welles during filming and Welles convinced her to film a scene . Attractive and dazzlingly photographed in black and white by Russell Metty . The entire film was shot on real locations, apart from the infamous ten-minute take in the Mexican shoe store clerk's apartment, which is actually a set , Welles and Metty insisted on filming in a real city , settling for Venice, California, when he couldn't get his initial choice of Tijuana . Rousing jazzy musical score by the maestro composer Henry Mancini , including Latin rock sounds . Although much of the music used throughout the movie was from sound sources that pertained to the film: radio transmissions, jukeboxes, player piano . And being ulteriorly reconstructed according to Welles'notes in 1988 .

The motion picture was stunningly directed by Orson Welles who shot predominantly at night in order to fend off meddlesome studio suits . Welles was a genius who had a large and problematic career . In 1938 he produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" . His first film to be seen by the public was Ciudadano Kane (1941), a commercial failure , but regarded by many as the best film ever made , along with his following movie , The magnificent Ambersons . He subsequently directed Shakespeare adaptation such as Macbeth , Othelo and Chimes at Midnight or Falstaff . Many of his next films were commercial flops and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948 . In 1956 he directed this great masterpiece Touch of evil (1958) but Orson was fired as director during post-production, and the film was recut contrary to his wishes ; before his death, he left instructions on how he wanted the film to be edited, and in 1998 a version was made the way he intended . In 1975, in spite of all his box-office flops , he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984 the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award . His reputation as a film maker has climbed steadily ever since.

I was watching a TV program in which film critics were discussing film noir and this was considered the pinnacle of the genre and one critic even said it was the best film. I usually respect their opinions and other film noir were mentioned that I know are very good, so I thought this is a must watch.

The opening 3 minutes tracking shot is very clever, but I was always aware of it being a clever tracking shot. The rest of the film was very similar.

The acting was secondary and the lines were delivered too deliberately and seemed to be not quite on the beat. And how or why Dennis Weaver's performance was allowed, I will never know! Imagine Eugene from Grease going ashore with Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan!!

A good idea and in the hands of a better director would have been so much better.

Seldom have I seen so many comments with so little understanding. The movie is not about Heston's "Mexican-ness" or lack of it. The movie is not about the 5 or 8 or 10 minute opening shot. The movie is not even, god help us, about Welles' descent from the heights into "slumming it" in a "Grade B" flick.

The movie is about two things : film-making, and character. Every shot worth remembering (and there are few that aren't) is an exercise in the possibilities of film, particularly black and white film. Woody Allen makes movies in black and white that are all conversation. Welles made movies in black and white because that's where the colors of the characters, the location and ultimately the meaning of the movie are possible. Black and white film is about the infinite possibilities of shadow. Touch of Evil is about the infinite possibilities of human nature.

Heston, for those of you who just can't see past a "bad" accent is about rigidity and short-sightedness. What kind of idiot would leave his wife in all those threatening situations? The kind of idiot who can't imagine that anyone would harm HIS wife, simply because she IS his wife! Akim Tamiroff's Grandi is about flexibility to the point of breakage. Always playing ALL ends against the middle he is the essence of "harmless" corruption, that ultimately harms everyone.

And Welles' Hank Quinlan ... I just don't have the time or space to explain that Quinlan is about the true cost of police work when the humanity has gone out of it. Ultimately Quinlan would kill his best and only friend, the only one, as Dietrich has it, who really loves him. At one time, perhaps, Quinlan WAS the image that Pete Menzies saw. But the man behind that image was eaten up long ago with alcohol and frustrated grief. It's all about winning and losing now, and things he would never do. Until he does them.

There are so many other moments and characters that I'm afraid you'll just have to watch the film with your eyes and your mind open instead of shut to "get it". Pay attention to what's on the screen instead of the smart, cynical, hip comments you can make about an actual work of heart.

Well, what the hell. Joan Didion said it best. Film criticism is petit point on kleenex.

Raoul Duke

Orson Welles made this film over 15 years after "Citizen Kane", but even though it doesn't reach the level of "Kane", he never lost his genius touch. With a basic story and regular budget he made the most famous B-film ever. His majesty in the camera control and the editing jump out of the screen. His director geniality is seen through the outstanding performances by great actors like himself, Janet Leigh and Marlene Dietricht, and actors not that great, like Charlton Heston. Several lines of this motion picture are amongst the greatest of all times, specially the Dietrich ones. The credits scene, that runs uncut for about 3 minutes, is one of the greatest moments in the film history, along with the pianola tune at Tanya's place. Some might say that "Touch of Evil" is banal and boring, but these are the people that don't like real motion pictures, and we all know that, so we don't care about them.

After crossing the border of Mexico to the United States of America, the bomb planted in the car of the wealthy businessman Rudy Linneker blows up in Los Robles. The Mexican Chief of Narcotics Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) is spending honeymoon with his American wife Susan Vargas (Janet Leigh) in the border town and will testify in the case of the drug dealer Grandi that is arrested in Mexico City. The idolized ex-alcoholic American Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) is in charge of the investigation since the murder happened in the American side of the border, but Mike Vargas participates as observer since the Mexican citizen Sanchez (Victor Millan) is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamitoff) unsuccessfully presses Susie, trying to convince her husband to drop the case. When Hank plants two dynamites in the house of Sanchez in a shoe box that Vargas had seen empty ten minutes before, he confronts Hanks. Joe Grandi witnesses their argument and associates to Hank to discredit Vargas, dishonoring Susie.

"Touch of Evil" is a masterpiece of malevolence and loss of humanity and one of my favorite movies ever. The long sequence in the beginning is in my opinion the best in cinema history, with a perfect timing. The black and white cinematography is amazing, with the perfect use of shadows and lighting. The story is fantastic and Orson Welles is awesome in the role of a despicable policeman that believes in his hunches, eternally grieves the loss of his wife and wishes to bring justice no matter the means and without any ethic. Janet Leigh performs a strong female character unusual in the 50's. Charlton Heston has also an unforgettable performance in the role of an ethical police office that is the opposite of Hank and prioritizes his work to his family, leaving his wife alone to seek the truth about his opponent. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A Marca da Maldade" ("The Mark of the Malevolence")

I like Orson Welles' movies a lot. Touch of Evil for me is one of his best and one of the all-time great American masterworks. Welles himself deserves a lot of credit for making this movie work. He is a superb director and his direction here is never less than extremely effective. Acting-wise also, Welles also gives one of his career's greatest performances as Hank Quinlin, possibly his career's most interesting character too because he is so corrupt and corpulent. The look of the film is wonderful and holds up so well with innovative camera work and brooding production values. The music is unusual but memorable and fitting, and the writing and characterisations are first rate as is the deeply disturbing story right from the opening sequence-one of the best opening sequences on film- to the grisly finale and while Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh are great in their roles I think it's Welles that makes Touch of Evil work so well. Overall, a masterpiece. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Charlton Heston felt love, then hate, then love for TOUCH OF EVIL director Orson Welles, being that he's responsible for suggesting that Welles... initially cast as the literal heavy as crooked border police captain Hank Quinlan... also become the film's director for Universal Pictures...

The same studio that would throw the legendary auteur off the lot upon seeing the first cut, deemed too dark and disturbing (commonplace now); after which, decades later, adhering to Welles's 58-page memo, provided a faithfully-restored version: particularly showcasing the opening 3 1/2 minute one-shot-take through an entire street, up and around buildings, trading-off various source music with overlapping dialogue, initially littered with opening credits...

Strangely enough, some still prefer the original cut's eclectic and chaotic, offbeat cadence, which was actually bad editing to an otherwise brilliantly shot film noir where Orson's Quinlan butts heads with lead actor Charlton Heston, playing a Mexican cop, only infamously panned in retrospect...

The extremely popular actor not only handles the part in a calm, subtle fashion but, without using a distracting fake accent, he doesn't rely on his signature overacting... this isn't a Biblical epic after all... plus he started out with another subdued performance in the b-crimer DARK CITY...

Which, like many other film noirs, especially from the sparse 1950's with lower budgets than the more lavish, stylistic 1940's, pales to TOUCH OF EVIL, considered the last of its kind...

Mostly because there's nothing else quite like it, since Orson went out with a bang with the help of cinematography-giant Russell Metty, turning a long, purposefully convoluted night that, within Universal's gritty studio-made border town combined with actual shots in Venice, California, feels like an ominous underworld where, par for the iconic director's course, shifting shadows are liken to characters all their own...

And it's no surprise that, literally and symbolically, Welles cast the largest shadow, making for an anti-hero co-lead instead of the token bad guy: which is how Heston turned that rudimentary love to jealous-hate -- cured years later after realizing what a timeless and unique classic he was part of...

Altered with body padding and face-plumpers to make Orson's then only somewhat portly build into the immense girth he'd become famous for later, his Quinlan... attempting to frame a Mexican local for murdering the powerful father of his live-in girlfriend... is a formidable presence of line-crossing villainy but with an equal amount of deliberately pathetic pathos: the viewer becomes more interested in what the bad cop can get away with than, like otherwise mainstream cop-crime flicks, how or when the good cop (Heston) will bust him...

Meanwhile Charlton's busy Spanish cop named Mike Vargas is forced to neglect his honeymoon with sophisticated, glamorous, gorgeous yet down-to-earth American wife Janet Leigh: herself dealing with villain's villain Akim Tamiroff, as grotesquely vile a gangster as Welles is a crooked lawman...

After being blackmailed by Akim and his wily nephews, she ironically gets stuck in a rural motel run by a crazy young man -- foreshadowing her peak in Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO...

Unfortunately... although filled with a stellar cast from CITIZEN KANE vets Ray Collins and Joseph Cotten (quick cameo) to Victor Milan and Joanna Moore (the accused and his mistress) to madame Zsa Zsa Gabor... Dennis Weaver is no Anthony Perkins as the GUNSMOKE actor is so completely overboard and wacky... supposedly a mix of sexual frustration and lonesome lunacy... he's better suited for a keystone comedy, and a bad one...

Thankfully he's soon encroached by a gang of drug-addled beatniks, led by Mercedes McCambridge, hired by Tamiroff: whose own best scenes are shared with multi-collaborator Welles (from BLACK MAGIC to MR ARKADIN to THE TRIAL), who, at the end of his rope, seeks rock bottom honor amongst the lowest of thieves...

Then there's Welles's faithfully adoring sidekick/partner, fighting to distrust the dark truths unfolding about his clue-planting mentor (spouted from both Heston and his own sycophant Mort Mills): providing underrated and unappreciated Joseph Calleia the purest, most likeable role...

But only if you don't count medium Marlene Dietrich as Tanya (Quinlin's lover when he resembled Harry Lime), who... after Heston and Welles's spectacular cat and-mouse climax involving a mobile recording device (as intriguingly complicated to watch as it probably was to shoot)... utters the final line, summing up both Welles's fictional character and real life cinematic legacy: "He was some kind of man."

Orson Welles was never again to direct in the Hollywood system after making this tale of good versus evil, which was the studio systems loss a man of great talent behind the camera but had the ego to boot.

In an American/Mexican border town a car bomb sets into motion a series of violence and crime, endangering Mexican Lawman Vargas (Heston) and newly Bride Susan (Janet Leigh)

Touch of Evil is all about the direction as Welles is able to show off his directional talents and then some. From the maybe most talked about opening, a bravura 3 minute tracking shot following a car with a bomb planted in the trunk, down a seedy town down to the border patrol to the very last intricate shots set through wastelands to a canal that were in no way logical to the plot but were visually pleasing very much showboating.

The plot is somewhat complex and maybe can't be grasped with just the one viewing given everything that is going on a technically as well. It reverses stereotypes, Vargas a high ranking Mexican narcotics detective and upstanding citizen with morals and an American wife. Hank Quinlan (Welles) who's power and high status in law enforcement has corrupted his mind, out for justice whether justified or not willing to plant evidence to get his target.

The acting is terrific Heston although he doesn't resemble a Mexican it doesn't matter, I believe it to be one of his best roles. Janet Leigh is stunning to look a real beauty of the screen who holds her own. Welles is a powerhouse not only his performance but also physically, his screen presence is something to marvel.

From that opening scene which sets the atmosphere and dark tone for the rest of the 90 minute or so running time, a couple of really tense scenes (A small room interrogation which also boasts Welles prowess) and at one point something horrifying ( There is an implied Gang rape that for me was pretty unsettling and for the year 1958 was a very brave thing to include in a mainstream movie, although afterwards its not to clear what happens)

This will always be held as a classic and one of the best Film Noirs around ( A genre I'm just getting into) I've seen it twice now and feel with each viewing there will be something different to notice and concentrate on. A great technical achievement that seems to be admired by film viewers and film makers alike. The black and white cinematography is stunning. A thrilling ride from start to finish.

Interesting cinematography, as would be expected in a Welles production, and good noir character, plus Mancini music (always a plus). But this one gets a little weird, with strange, unpleasant figures one step beyond stereotypes. Janet Leigh is mesmerizing, Wells himself is a bit much. Marlene Dietrich has a bit part, but she looks wonderful, and Zsa Zsa Gabor gets guest star billing with only a one-shot appearance of a few seconds. No special credit is given to Dennis Weaver as the slow and slightly looney motel night manager (reminiscent of Hitchcock's Psycho, but that was two years later).

The story is too unbelievable or convoluted, take your pick, but you still find yourself drawn into it, not unlike slowing down on the highway to see the aftermath of a recent car accident off the side of the road.

I have thought it convenient to see again "Touch of Evil", before daring to comment this main work in the history of cinema. I don't pretend to be original saying that this movie attains the highest levels of visual beauty, and not just in cinema, but in the whole art of the 20th century. The lights and shadows, the photography, the camera motions, the backgrounds... it's all too stunning to be described: pure work of genius. There is enough matter for a thousand Ph. D's in cinematographic techniques.

The part of the story concerned with Quinlan and his evil deeds is quite good. Quinlan is a very interesting character, superbly interpreted by Orson Welles. It should be noted that he is by far the nicest character in the movie, and it's almost impossible not to root for him: perhaps this is a precise artistic choice by the author Orson Welles.

Now forgive me for criticizing the heavy improbabilities and flaws we find in the story of "Touch of Evil". The whole sub-plot about Vargas' wife Susan (Janet Leigh) is just nonsense from the very beginning. The celebrated Mexican policeman Vargas (Charlton Heston) neglects his spouse, in their very wedding day (!), to investigate a crime which by no means concerns him, and furthermore committed in the USA territory (I guess this is an unacceptable impropriety)... And then Susan is openly threatened and pursued by his mortal enemies, the Grandi's, and the cunning Vargas finds nothing better than leaving her alone at a deserted motel (owned by the Grandi's!)... By the way, also Susan looks incredibly stupid... When, finally, Vargas remembers that he's a married man, runs to the motel in anxiety for his wife and searches her room, he neither looks in the bathroom to check if, say, Susan's corpse is not in the bath-tub, cut to pieces or something... Really a great job by a first-rate policeman! And the audience (even in 1958) could wonder why the Grandi's don't ACTUALLY rape and drug Susan, instead of just faking it. I realize that such stuff would have been too hot for the censorship of the 1950s: but then it would have been much better to delete the sub-plot with Susan. In the finale we find further absurdities, still regarding Vargas and spouse.

I regret to say that these flaws of the plot seriously damage "Touch of Evil", a great masterpiece from any other point of view.

(*Madame Tanya to Captain Quinlan quote*) - "You're a mess, honey."

When it comes to the likes of brilliantly presented nasty/corrupt cop movies - (IMO) - 1958's "Touch Of Evil" ranks right up there as being one of the absolute nastiest "badass" movies of them all.

Now 60 years old - This outrageous film's gritty, violent, sleazy, racist, degenerate story-line actually manages to still pack a substantial-sized wallop (even in this jaded day & age of ours).

Featuring some truly exceptional b&w camerawork - I'd definitely say that "Touch Of Evil" actually excels far beyond Welles' highly-praised "Citizen Kane" by a clear, country mile.

I think that it's interesting to note that prior to considering directing this film - Orson Welles had asked B-movie producer, Albert Zugsmith to give him the worst script he had available so that he could prove that he could make a great film out of it.

And, with that - Zugsmith handed Welles the unpolished screenplay of Whit Masterson's trashy, dime-store novel, "Badge Of Evil".