Touch of Evil (1958)

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

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Orson Welles (screenplay), Whit Masterson (based on the novel "Badge Of Evil" by),

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles

Top 250 #131 | 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlton Heston	...	Mike Vargas
Janet Leigh	...	Susan Vargas
Orson Welles	...	Police Captain Hank Quinlan
Joseph Calleia	...	Police Sergeant Pete Menzies
Akim Tamiroff	...	'Uncle' Joe Grandi
Joanna Moore	...	Marcia Linnekar
Ray Collins	...	District Attorney Adair
Dennis Weaver	...	Mirador Motel Night Manager
Valentin de Vargas	...	Pancho (as Valentin De Vargas)
Mort Mills	...	Al Schwartz
Victor Millan	...	Manelo Sanchez
Lalo Rios	...	Risto
Michael Sargent	...	Pretty Boy
Phil Harvey	...	Blaine
Joi Lansing	...	Zita

Storyline

Mexican Narcotics officer Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas has to interrupt his honeymoon on the Mexican-US border when an American building contractor is killed after someone places a bomb in his car. He's killed on the US side of the border but it's clear that the bomb was planted on the Mexican side. As a result, Vargas delays his return to Mexico City where he has been mounting a case against the Grandi family crime and narcotics syndicate. Police Captain Hank Quinlan is in charge on the US side and he soon has a suspect, a Mexican named Manolo Sanchez. Vargas is soon onto Quinlan and his Sergeant, Pete Menzies, when he catches them planting evidence to convict Sanchez. With his new American wife, Susie, safely tucked away in a hotel on the US side of the border - or so he thinks - he starts to review Quinlan's earlier cases. While concentrating on the corrupt policeman however, the Grandis have their own plans for Vargas and they start with his wife Susie.

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Plot Keywords:

mexican | border | honeymoon | investigation | police | 

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Taglines:

The Strangest Vengeance Ever Planned!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

8 June 1958 (France)

Also Known As:

Sed de mal

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$829,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$70,725 (USA) (11 September 1998)

Gross:

$2,237,659 (USA) (1 January 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 111 min (1998 alternate) 108 min (1975 alternate) 112 min (director's cut) 106 min (DVD edition) 111 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The 1998 restoration was supposed to premiere at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. However, the day before the premiere, the showing was canceled by Beatrice Welles (Orson Welles's daughter), who has a long history of interfering with showings of her father's work through threats of litigation.

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Goofs

The degree of beard stubble on Quinlan's face changes from sequence to sequence within the same night.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

Opening statement (restored version): In 1957, Orson Welles completed principal photography on TOUCH OF EVIL and edited the first cut. Upon screening the film, the Studio felt it could be improved, shot additional scenes and re-edited it. Welles viewed this new version and within hours wrote a passionate 58-page memo requesting editorial changes. This version represents an attempt to honor those requests and make TOUCH OF EVIL the film Orson Welles envisioned it to be. "... I close this memo with a very earnest plea that you consent to this brief visual pattern to which I gave so many long hard days of work." -- Orson Welles

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Connections

Featured in The Rules of Film Noir (2009)
Clips shown and discussed

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Soundtracks

"Tana's Theme"
(1958) (uncredited)
Written by Henry Mancini
Performed by United International Orchestra
Conducted by Joseph Gershenson

User Reviews

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.