Comprehensive information and links about Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil in the classic era (from the early 1940s until the late 1950s). It was directed by Orson Welles, who also appeared as corrupt policeman, Captain Hank Quinlan. The black-and-white film also features Charlton Heston as Mike Vargas, a Mexican narcotics agent on his honeymoon, Janet Leigh ("at her most perversely innocent" as one critic put it) as his bride, and Marlene Dietrich as Tana, a cigar-smoking Mexican gypsy brothel owner. The movie was written in two weeks by Welles based on Whit Masterson's novel

Capt. Quinlan is not on the take, but is bitter about the unsolved murder of his wife early in his career and has come to believe he can spot the guilty with his intuition, an aching in his bad leg, and he was willing to frame the guilty to make sure they get their just deserts. (Quinlan's cane, an apparent allusion to , plays a major part in the film. In fact, Welles was injured during filming and actually needed the cane.) He does frame someone early on in the film, but this time a young police officer is on to it.

The film follows Vargas and his wife who are separated after the killing early in the film. The wife ends up in a seedy hotel where she is harassed by thugs hired to intimidate her. Meanwhile, Vargas attempts to solve the mystery but is stopped at every turn by Captain Quinlan.

The final scene is a stately chase, with Vargas wrestling with a cranky recorder while Quinlan's partner wears a wire and gets him to confess his crimes.

"The corrupt Capt. Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles, left) faces off against honest Mexican cop Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) in the legendary 17-minute single-take from Touch of Evil." The corrupt Capt. Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles, left) faces off against honest Mexican cop Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) in the legendary 17-minute single-take from

Cast and crew

Akim Tamiroff plays a border mobster with a wandering toupee, Dennis Weaver is a loony night clerk at an isolated motel, and Zsa Zsa Gabor appears briefly as the impresario of a strip club. Welles liked what Weaver did as Chester on TV's and worked closely with him on his part, which was shot on a three-day hiatus from the TV show. Zsa Zsa Gabor was a friend of the producer.

Welles's old friend, Joseph Calleia, gives a performance as Quinlan's partner, along with other members of the Welles repertory company, Joseph Cotten, Keenan Wynn, Ray Collins (the police detective on ), and Mercedes McCambridge as a biker chick. Many of the actors worked for lower wages just to make a film with Welles. Marlene Dietrich's role was a surprise to the producers and they raised her fee so they could advertise her involvement.

The score was by Henry Mancini.

According to Heston, Welles was originally intended to act in the film only, and Heston was highly sought for the lead. Heston pretended to think that Welles was going to direct and based his acceptance of the part on that.

Welles rewrote the , but after he completed the movie, it was re-edited (and in part re-shot) by Universal International pictures and it was not until 1998 (and the fourth version) that it was released in something like the original form intended by Welles. Nonetheless, even as originally released it was a film of power and impact, though little commercial success. The producer was Albert Zugsmith, known as the "king of the B's".

The movie was literally a B-movie, released as the lower half of a double feature. The A-movie was , starring Hedy Lamarr, produced by Albert Zugsmith and directed by Harry Keller whom the studio had hired to direct the re-shot material in . The two films even had the same cameraman: Russell Metty. Inevitably, Welles's film was given little publicity despite the fame of the director, the sensational subject matter, and the many stars in the cast.

Although the studios eventually gave in to letting Welles write and direct the film, they refused to give him any more than his original acting salary. Welles agreed as he figured it was his only chance to get back into Hollywood.

Welles appeared as grossly fat in the film and is shot from below to emphasize his corpulence, but in fact the fat is mostly

1998 re-release

In 1998, the film was re-released in a re-edited form, which was based on the memo Orson Welles wrote expressing his dissatisfaction with the producer's cut of the film. Because Welles's complaints were concerned with subtle sound and editing choices, it was possible for the film to be re-edited to produce a version that he might have been happy with. Notable changes include the removal of the credits and music from the 3-minute opening shot, quicker intercutting between the main story and Janet Leigh's subplot, the removal of Harry Keller's scenes and the addition of around 15 minutes of footage from a preview version found in the mid-70s.

The 1998 version was produced by Rick Schmidlin and edited by Walter Murch. It had a limited but successful theatrical release (again by Universal International) and was subsequently made available on DVD. The DVD includes a reproduction of the 58-page memo (the memo is also included as an appendix to

Legacy

The film is consistently on the Internet Movie Database's top 250 list, was #64 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Thrills, and has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was Welles' last Hollywood film.

"That's the second bullet I stopped for you, partner." (Quinlan to Menzies, after the final shootout)"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people? Adios!" (Tanya, as Quinlan's corpse floats face up in a muddy river at the end of the movie) in the list of Welles' films. It was a remarkable experience for me, a great learning experience, one of the most valuable I've had in my whole film career. I probably learned more about acting from Welles than any other film director I've worked for."—Charlton Heston

Film firsts

This was the first film where a driving scene was actually filmed from the driven vehicle. In this scene a convertible is driven at (apparently) very high speed through narrow back alleys, with many cross streets, and not for any particular reason except for the thrill of the danger. The camera was mounted on the hood of the car. Charlton Heston was not only the driver, but the camera operator and sound man.