Summary - Really Great 4.5

17 years after “Citizen Kane” announced one of the great talents in cinema Orson Welles could scarcely get arrested. But after the original director got fired Welles agreed to work on the cheap and the result is a noir classic.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Heston is totally miscast as a Mexican cop but strangely it works. There is a surreal quality to Touch of Evil and you find yourself saying “Okay, I’ll buy Chuck as a Mexican cop. Why not?” Likewise with Orson Welles Hank Quinlan, the corrupt border town cop who looks and sounds like Bluto’s less athletic brother. it’s weird but it works. But campy pleasures notwithstanding, there are some gems performance wise. Check out Marlene Dietrich who appears on screen briefly but reminds people why she was a star more than 20 years before. But it’s veteran character actor Joseph Calleia, as Hank’s assistant Pete Menzies, who has the movie’s best moments.

Film - Very Good 3.5

The film was planned as a B movie and the budget was less than a milion dollars. It sounds like a lot for 1958 but “Ben Hur” cost more than 15 times that. So we’re not talking high production values. Yet Welles knew this could be the end of his career or a new start, depending on how he played it and made the best of it. Although Welles supposedly hated the film’s opening, which was forced on him by the studio I think Henry Mancini’s bossa nova intro helps make the opening one of the best in film history. The cinematography by Russell Metty also infuses “Touch of Evil” with so much atmosphrere you can practially feel it.

Edge - Risqué 2.5

For 1958 there’s some pretty edgy stuff, though most of it is implied.

For 1958 it's pretty violent. The movie opens with a car bombing and ends with the main character being shot. But by today's standards, it's pretty tame.

Reality - Glib 1.9

“Touch of Evil” is very gritty though “real” might not quite describe it. It borders on surreal at times.

1 Comment

• Wick Mar 10, 2013 1:26PM

  Regarding BrettHarrison’s Review
  “Orson Welles … looks and sounds like Bluto’s less athletic brother.” :-)

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