When Universal retained Orson Welles to appear in TOUCH OF EVIL, he had long been considered a Hollywood outcast due to his rebellious nature and disdain for the front office. In addition to acting, he also ended up being hired to write and direct TOUCH OF EVIL thanks to the insistence of star Charlton Heston, who was recently basking in the success of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and therefore had enough clout to chose whoever he wanted for a director. Ever since appearing in THE THIRD MAN, Welles remained in Europe to continue his filmmaking away from Tinseltown's radar, fed up with executives re-editing his finished product against his wishes.
Contrary to legend, it wasn't TOUCH OF EVIL that brought Welles back to America. He'd already returned to New York in the mid Fifties to act on television and radio before getting the call from Universal. Welles wanted Janet Leigh to play Heston's wife and sent her a telegram thanking her for accepting.....before her agent had a chance to contact her!!! Welles also pulled off some casting coups that Universal execs didn't see coming. He convinced old friend Marlene Dietrich to appear as a Gypsy madam under near-heavy disguise and, during an advanced screening, the higher-ups were flabbergasted to see Frau Dietrich up there. They had no idea she was in the cast. Welles also persuaded former members of his old Mercury Theatre ~and CITIZEN KANE co-stars~ Joseph Cotten and Ray Collins to join. (Cotten's was an uncredited cameo.)
However, Welles must have been overcome with a sense of déjà vu during postproduction because, once again, he butted heads with the front office. Unhappy with his final cut, Universal proceeded to edit TOUCH OF EVIL against his wishes. Upon learning what was afoot, an impassioned Welles wrote a memo containing almost sixty pages of suggested revisions, all of which fell on deaf ears. When the film was finally released, it was written off as a B-movie with an A-list pedigree.
More than forty years later, Universal had the opportunity to right that wrong when Welles' memo was unearthed, containing all his suggestions for improvement. Using that memo as a guideline, famed editor Walter Murch was brought in to revise TOUCH OF EVIL according to Welles' wishes. The result was a masterpiece restored.
The first five minutes of TOUCH OF EVIL is a glorious, unbroken tracking shot beginning on the Mexican side of the border town Los Robles, in which a mysterious figure plants a time bomb in the trunk of a car. Getting into the car is a prominent American citizen accompanied by some lady of the evening, where they drive up the street to the customs station. Walking alongside them is Miguel "Mike" Vargas (played by the Caucasian Heston in a bit of casting that would raise eyebrows today), a vacationing Mexican narc enjoying his a honeymoon with American wife Susie (Leigh).
The famous tracking shot ends with a deafening explosion as the car detonates, killing both occupants. Heading the investigation is Chief Hank Quinlan (Welles), a grotesquely obese man whose mumbling makes Marlon Brando enunciate like Laurence Olivier. Quinlan is renowned among the community and beyond for his intuitive spot-on hunches, to which he attributes a gimpy leg from an old bullet injury. (In DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Edward G Robinson's sixth sense was brought on by indigestion).
A recovering alcoholic, Quinlan is admired by superiors and underlings alike for never having taken a dishonest dollar in his life. His poultry ranch seems to be the only thing keeping him from a vow of poverty. With attributes such as these, it would be tempting to vote Quinlan as lawman of the year..... except that he's an unapologetic racist! He's lived in a border town for probably most of his life, and has performed his duty on both sides, but has never bothered to learn or speak Spanish. He treats white suspects and witnesses with the appropriate decorum, but less so with their non-white counterparts.
Vargas himself has a stellar professional reputation on both sides as an oficial de narcóticos. Recently, he gained fame and respect for his arrest of a big time Mexican gangster named Vince Grandi, whose brother Joe fancies himself the unofficial godfather of Los Robles. Being a younger and Hispanic detective, plus being married to a white woman, Vargas unwittingly taps into the darkest recesses of Quinlan's psyche, since it's obvious the lawman is not the staunchest advocate for miscegenation.
However, it's the policing methods that really set the two men apart from one another. Vargas is a by-the-book cop who believes in due process, while Quinlan is not above using some....uh, primitive persuasion to obtain a confession. These differences will come to a head when Quinlan arrests the Mexican boyfriend of the dead man's daughter following the alleged discovery of two incriminating sticks of dynamite in the suspect's bathroom. Vargas doesn't see it so open and shut because he was just washing his hands in the bathroom prior to the search and never saw the evidence where Quinlan claimed it was! Vargas openly accuses him of framing the Hispanic, and vows to formally raise the matter with the proper authorities.
The stage is now set for the inevitable collision course as Quinlan, desperate to clear his name and slander Mike Vargas, forms an unholy alliance with Joe Grandi, who has his own reasons for wanting to discredit Vargas. Because the narco cannot be intimidated, Grandi believes that the best way to control Vargas is by involving Susie into their deadly cat and mouse game.
I've seen lots of black & white films noir that visually convey the danger element for every drop that can be squeezed. THE MALTESE FALCON, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE KILLERS, and THE BIG SLEEP, all moody crime tales set within the asphalt jungle, are among the greatest of the genre. TOUCH OF EVIL, taking place taking place in arid and rural surroundings, tops them all pictorially with its vivid illustrations of sheer decadence. Off the top of my head, an example of overwhelming atmosphere is a foreground of newspapers blowing across a windy street complemented by a background of endlessly pumping oil derricks. Oh, and Henry Mancini's offbeat Latino rock score contribute enormously to the sinful climate.
Welles' camera is more than just a camera; it's a window into the seedy soul of human nature: the brothels, the nearly topless bars, and hints of reefer madness. Welles pushed that envelope as far as he could in 1958. Like IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT a decade later, the murder investigation almost takes a back seat to the personality conflicts of its two leads who are different morally as they are racially.
Heston's later-in-life right-wing politics didn't produce an admirer in me, but complaints about his being cast as a Hispanic, pre-civil rights, should be answered with a resounding shout down. Yes, a Caucasian taking on a role like that would be politically incorrect today, but TOUCH OF EVIL was made in a far different era, a time before Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez became household names. Besides, any rational mind could see this casting wasn't anywhere on the same level as D. W. Griffith's notoriously racist BIRTH OF A NATION.
In Welles' lifetime even his enemies had to grudgingly admit he was a genius. Posthumously, as his films are routinely analyzed and re-analyzed, he's now regarded as one of the greatest and most misunderstood artists of the 20th century. For film noir lovers, their libraries will never be complete without TOUCH OF EVIL. 🔚
Contrary to legend, it wasn't TOUCH OF EVIL that brought Welles back to America. He'd already returned to New York in the mid Fifties to act on television and radio before getting the call from Universal. Welles wanted Janet Leigh to play Heston's wife and sent her a telegram thanking her for accepting.....before her agent had a chance to contact her!!! Welles also pulled off some casting coups that Universal execs didn't see coming. He convinced old friend Marlene Dietrich to appear as a Gypsy madam under near-heavy disguise and, during an advanced screening, the higher-ups were flabbergasted to see Frau Dietrich up there. They had no idea she was in the cast. Welles also persuaded former members of his old Mercury Theatre ~and CITIZEN KANE co-stars~ Joseph Cotten and Ray Collins to join. (Cotten's was an uncredited cameo.)
However, Welles must have been overcome with a sense of déjà vu during postproduction because, once again, he butted heads with the front office. Unhappy with his final cut, Universal proceeded to edit TOUCH OF EVIL against his wishes. Upon learning what was afoot, an impassioned Welles wrote a memo containing almost sixty pages of suggested revisions, all of which fell on deaf ears. When the film was finally released, it was written off as a B-movie with an A-list pedigree.
More than forty years later, Universal had the opportunity to right that wrong when Welles' memo was unearthed, containing all his suggestions for improvement. Using that memo as a guideline, famed editor Walter Murch was brought in to revise TOUCH OF EVIL according to Welles' wishes. The result was a masterpiece restored.
The first five minutes of TOUCH OF EVIL is a glorious, unbroken tracking shot beginning on the Mexican side of the border town Los Robles, in which a mysterious figure plants a time bomb in the trunk of a car. Getting into the car is a prominent American citizen accompanied by some lady of the evening, where they drive up the street to the customs station. Walking alongside them is Miguel "Mike" Vargas (played by the Caucasian Heston in a bit of casting that would raise eyebrows today), a vacationing Mexican narc enjoying his a honeymoon with American wife Susie (Leigh).
The famous tracking shot ends with a deafening explosion as the car detonates, killing both occupants. Heading the investigation is Chief Hank Quinlan (Welles), a grotesquely obese man whose mumbling makes Marlon Brando enunciate like Laurence Olivier. Quinlan is renowned among the community and beyond for his intuitive spot-on hunches, to which he attributes a gimpy leg from an old bullet injury. (In DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Edward G Robinson's sixth sense was brought on by indigestion).
A recovering alcoholic, Quinlan is admired by superiors and underlings alike for never having taken a dishonest dollar in his life. His poultry ranch seems to be the only thing keeping him from a vow of poverty. With attributes such as these, it would be tempting to vote Quinlan as lawman of the year..... except that he's an unapologetic racist! He's lived in a border town for probably most of his life, and has performed his duty on both sides, but has never bothered to learn or speak Spanish. He treats white suspects and witnesses with the appropriate decorum, but less so with their non-white counterparts.
Vargas himself has a stellar professional reputation on both sides as an oficial de narcóticos. Recently, he gained fame and respect for his arrest of a big time Mexican gangster named Vince Grandi, whose brother Joe fancies himself the unofficial godfather of Los Robles. Being a younger and Hispanic detective, plus being married to a white woman, Vargas unwittingly taps into the darkest recesses of Quinlan's psyche, since it's obvious the lawman is not the staunchest advocate for miscegenation.
However, it's the policing methods that really set the two men apart from one another. Vargas is a by-the-book cop who believes in due process, while Quinlan is not above using some....uh, primitive persuasion to obtain a confession. These differences will come to a head when Quinlan arrests the Mexican boyfriend of the dead man's daughter following the alleged discovery of two incriminating sticks of dynamite in the suspect's bathroom. Vargas doesn't see it so open and shut because he was just washing his hands in the bathroom prior to the search and never saw the evidence where Quinlan claimed it was! Vargas openly accuses him of framing the Hispanic, and vows to formally raise the matter with the proper authorities.
The stage is now set for the inevitable collision course as Quinlan, desperate to clear his name and slander Mike Vargas, forms an unholy alliance with Joe Grandi, who has his own reasons for wanting to discredit Vargas. Because the narco cannot be intimidated, Grandi believes that the best way to control Vargas is by involving Susie into their deadly cat and mouse game.
I've seen lots of black & white films noir that visually convey the danger element for every drop that can be squeezed. THE MALTESE FALCON, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE KILLERS, and THE BIG SLEEP, all moody crime tales set within the asphalt jungle, are among the greatest of the genre. TOUCH OF EVIL, taking place taking place in arid and rural surroundings, tops them all pictorially with its vivid illustrations of sheer decadence. Off the top of my head, an example of overwhelming atmosphere is a foreground of newspapers blowing across a windy street complemented by a background of endlessly pumping oil derricks. Oh, and Henry Mancini's offbeat Latino rock score contribute enormously to the sinful climate.
Welles' camera is more than just a camera; it's a window into the seedy soul of human nature: the brothels, the nearly topless bars, and hints of reefer madness. Welles pushed that envelope as far as he could in 1958. Like IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT a decade later, the murder investigation almost takes a back seat to the personality conflicts of its two leads who are different morally as they are racially.
Heston's later-in-life right-wing politics didn't produce an admirer in me, but complaints about his being cast as a Hispanic, pre-civil rights, should be answered with a resounding shout down. Yes, a Caucasian taking on a role like that would be politically incorrect today, but TOUCH OF EVIL was made in a far different era, a time before Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez became household names. Besides, any rational mind could see this casting wasn't anywhere on the same level as D. W. Griffith's notoriously racist BIRTH OF A NATION.
In Welles' lifetime even his enemies had to grudgingly admit he was a genius. Posthumously, as his films are routinely analyzed and re-analyzed, he's now regarded as one of the greatest and most misunderstood artists of the 20th century. For film noir lovers, their libraries will never be complete without TOUCH OF EVIL. 🔚