Touch of Evil

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Orson Welles’ hallucinatory, off-kilter thriller Touch of Evil, an A-list production with a B-movie heart, is a deliriously pulpy tale of murder, corruption and other bad behavior south of the border. Charlton Heston stars as a Mexican-born policeman trapped in Tijuana, where a corpulent, corrupt cop (Welles, in a performance of epic depravity) goes to extreme lengths to stop him from digging into the past. Janet Leigh co-stars as Heston’s new bride, who is viciously drawn into the ever-widening web of danger. Loosely adapted from the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson, Touch of Evil is a stunning exploration of good and evil steeped in a nightmarishly sinister atmosphere, helped along by the shadow-laden cinematography of Russell Metty and by the unforgettable supporting cast, including Akim Tamiroff as a sleazy kidnapper; Marlene Dietrich, in a brunette wig, as a world-weary Gypsy madam; Mercedes McCambridge as a leather-clad delinquent; and Dennis Weaver as a stammering motel clerk. Welles admitted this was the least tampered with of all his films since Citizen Kane, and yet, unhappy with his editing ideas, Universal fired him during post-production, added new scenes and placed the opening credits over the famously bravura tracking shot that kick-starts the film. In 1998, the film was finally re-cut to Welles’ original specifications, based on a 58-page memo he had written after he was barred from the editing room during the film’s initial post-production. This restored version is now considered the director’s cut, making one of Orson Welles’ greatest films even greater. (Dir. by Orson Welles, 1958, USA, 111 mins., Rated PG-13)