It was quite a unique experience and I suppose if you watch the film, I'm sure you'll feel the same way. For the past few months, as many movies as I have watched, all of them have given me a different perspective. As I have said in my previous posts, my taste for movies has changed drastically over the last few months and I'm really glad it did. Even though I had so much time to watch movies in earlier years, I can barely make time for any nowadays. I might have drifted off from the topic but this is certain that I have somewhat become picky about what I watch these days; not because of my change of preference but because of the lack of time. I don't have the luxury to spend hours watching 2 or 3 movies a day anymore but the film in question is unquestionably worth the time spent. Touch of Evil (1958) is beyond doubt a thoroughly enjoyable experience; I'll explain how it is enjoyable later on.

Touch of Evil (1958)

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It's not a movie that was made to give its audience hype. You'll be mistaken if you take it for an entertaining movie. Although it was categorized as a Noir film, it has a lot of Psychological Thriller elements. I'm not sure if you'd like it and then there are those who'd dimmed this movie highly. Orson Welles as a director and a producer is or was unconventional and even though this wasn't his first direction that I have watched it packs quite a punch. I'll describe more of the movie later on. Along with Orson Welles as a cast, there were Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich. Welles almost always plays a lead role in his directed films and this one is no exception either but the story "point of view" is surely different from all other movies.

The Plot

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Detective movies and shows are something I truly enjoy, but then again I'm a movie lover so there isn't much of a difference. Yes, I was supposed to let you know a little bit about the plot so here goes; it's a good cop bad cop movie. Yes, good fighting evil and we all know how it usually ends. It all starts from a lively night at the town near the U.S.– Mexico border and a car explosion stirred more than enough trouble. Miguel Vargas (Heston), who was leaving with his wife Susie (Leigh) the next morning, took a keen interest in this investigation. Along with local authorities joined Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles) and his longtime partner, Pete Menzies (Calleia). Vargas was in the middle of investigating the Grandi family, the head of the family specifically, and the investigation was proving to be more dangerous to him and his wife.

[Image Source](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/67835538121146884/)

While Susie gets picked up by one of the members of the mafia family and threatened, on the other hand, Vargas got acid thrown at him by another member while Vargas was chasing a lead of the car bombing. Soon after tailing the daughter of the deceased, the trail led Quinlan, Vargas, and others to her (the daughter's) newly and secretly wedded husband, Sanchez. It looked like an open and shut case with Sanchez being convicted of the crime. Quinlan and Menzies implicate Sanchez with dynamites that are used to destroy the car that his father-in-law was riding but Vargas was determined that the dynamites weren't there because he tossed the box a few minutes ago and found it empty. From then on it was "two can play the game" between Quinlan and Vargas.

[Image Source](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/567312884314838375/)

Quinlan believed that he was doing the right thing by putting away guilty people behind bars and Vargas was hindering everything for him, whereas Vargas was sure that Quinlan was taking law into his own hands and framing people instead of thoroughly investigating and putting actual criminals behind bars. The film gets more and more complicated from that point onward.

What to say

There are many good cop bad cop movies and you may find similarities in movies even if you search in that decade or before that. But I did talk about a different point of view.

[Image Source](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/48273027246031159/)

Why did I talk about Point of View? Usually, you'd see that the movies are shown in lead roles' perspective or a third person's position but this one (to me it seemed) is from the point of view of the lead villain which is Quinlan aka Orson Welles. We all have our favorite villains and movies and tv shows circling around their lives but why was this different! The difference is the villain's perspective. You'll feel like that the whole film was captured through his focal point or how he's seeing things or how everything was turning against him; not all of it was like this but most of it was. Of course, there are movies where the good cop and bad cop fight over everything they believed in, and nowadays, in the movies, often the bad guys win to give us a taste that good doesn't always prevail.

And again, I'll say, try this one.

On May 1st, 1941, Orson Welles’ film "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Welles, premiered at the Palace Theatre in New York. It is considered not only Orson’s masterpiece but, a true work of cinema art with lighting and camera work years ahead of its time. To this day it rates one of the best films ever made if not THE best. I enjoy the film. It proved his mastery of filmmaking and working with actors. Some say Welles peaked with this movie.

Touch of Evil is a 1958 film noir written, directed by, and co-starring Welles. The screenplay was roughly based on the Whit Masterson novel, Badge of Evil. Along with Welles, the cast included Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, and a surprise cameo by Marlene Dietrich. It also features Joseph Cotten, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dennis Weaver in some pretty crazy roles.

Since its release, the film's reputation has grown, and is now widely regarded as one of Welles' best movies, and one of the best classic-era film noir.

After an car explodes at the Mexico-US border, Newlyweds Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), a Mexican drug enforcement official for the Mexican government, and his wife Susie (Janet Leigh) when the car crosses the border and explodes. Realizing the implications of a foreign bomb exploding on American soil, Heston’s character becomes interested in the investigation. Pete Gould, the police chief and District Attorney Adair arrive at the scene, followed by the gimp-legged police captain, Hank Quinlan (Welles) and Quinlan's longtime partner, Pete Menzies. It is obvious Pete worships Quinlan. The obese and disheveled Captain nostalgically gives his two cents of the crime as nothing but a random incident but, there is something more dark and sinister going on.

Personally, I think this is Orson’s best work. Not only does it become an incredibly well written, amazingly acted and thrilling pot boiler, it also goes to taboo places not seen back in that particular golden age of films such as lesbianism, heroin use and intense violence. It’s a dark and rich film filled with strange characters and plot twists that are never expected.

Universal produced this film on a smaller budget than usual and hired B-movie producer, Albert Zugsmith, who was known as the “King of the B’s” for the studio to oversee production. Welles didn’t agree on certain things Universal insisted on, such as Heston playing a Mexican character but, with Charlton singing Welles’ praises and stressed he wanted the Citizen Kane auteur to direct, he willingly gave in and wrote and directed the movie with flair.

Once production was wrapped, Welles and Universal fought over certain things that Orson wanted to remain in the film, including most of the unorthodox subject matter but, the studio won and re-cut the movie, which also included some re-shoots with Welles involvement. When Orson saw the final version, he wrote a 58 page memo to the studio indicating how they had destroyed the film but, it was fixable if they just followed his guide lines but, the studio had a delivery date and the notes were never addressed, much to Welles imitation and exasperation. He left the country to film another film in Spain out of anger.

In 1997 famous film and sound editor, Walter Murch approached Universal and asked if he could re-cut the film based on the long memo Welles had written years before. In 1998, we got the most definitive version of Welles film and it’s truly amazing what Welles intended and what Murch created. I recommend it to any film fan, filmmaker and people who love good story telling. Find the DVD or Blu Ray which contains the three versions of the film with all the incredible special features and supplements… if I wrote about them all, this would be a very long article. I suggest the reader find this and discover the film and how it was created to get the full experience of this genius film.

There’s a reason, Touch of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

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Touch of Evil

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