Review: Touch of Evil

Directed by: Orson Welles

Written by: Orson Welles

Starring: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich

Rating: [5/5]

Applying real justice to crimes occurring exists as a challenge in its own right, which gets even more difficult when the individuals on the same side cannot find a way to trust each other. They have plenty stacked against them and if they don’t have each other, it will only stand to make things much worse. Touch of Evil dives right into this as it takes us on this sweaty and dangerous circumstance across the border with a feature so deliriously impactful sitting atop the greatest works by Orson Welles. 

Newly married to his wife, Ramon Vargas (Charlton Heston), and Susan (Janet Leigh) honeymoon in Mexico where a deadly bombing drives his interest. There he teams with the investigator, Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) to bring justice to this situation. However, as the investigation continues, Vargas begins to grow suspicious of Quinlan’s methods. 

Getting work done through any means necessary has often exemplified itself through police work in fictional storytelling. Crossing the line of human decency does not matter when it comes down to an officer finding the culprit for a heinous crime. However, the lengths gone through in this feature truly seek to poke buttons and ask larger questions as the morality of the workplace between two colleagues spills out into the real world with implications that impact many around them. Despite there being a necessary investigation occurring the dynamic between Vargas and Quinlan remains the most intriguing. 

With Vargas representing the morally correct way to handle upholding the law versus Quinlan, who has no problem bending the rules if it means he catches the culprit, they are bound to bump heads. Add in the already contentious circumstances and environment around them and their explosive disagreements become even larger. This battle between them gets quite ugly but incredibly entertaining as we sit back as audience members to take it all in. 

Having this take place in a border town allows for this tense affair to feel even more explosive. Starting with a literal one gets things started, but this feature utilizes its setting to crank up the heat and display the sweat on these characters. Particularly, Quinlan always carries this layer of thick sweat on his face displaying the constant unease these characters feel throughout this experience. Films utilizing heat and sweat in this way effectively leave a mark and Touch of Evil is certainly no different. This general discomfort creates quite the fertile ground for anger to ignite into violence, which certainly occurs throughout this feature in such a bombastic manner. 

This additional discomfort seeps into the narrative as it places the audience to witness and insinuate some horrific events that transpire throughout the feature. The film goes in directions that seek distress and certainly succeeds in showing the lengths the individual in this story will go to to land on top and my goodness does it have an impact. Some moments feel like a fever dream while others show the insane depravity for all to see culminating in something befitting the world Welles wants us to take a stroll through and thankfully leave by the end of it. 

One issue certainly plaguing this feature is having Charlton Heston play a Mexican man to the point where they darken his skin to further pass off this role. Obviously something that has not aged well here but it comes with a bit of nuance where the bar was so low at this time of casting for minority roles that I’m just glad Heston did not try to pull off some offensive Mexican accent but rather played this off as Charleston Heston, who happens to play a Mexican character in this story. If not for the darkening of his skin, you could almost excuse his casting in this role, again, given the low bar that needed to be cleared at the time. Me being more forgiving of this does get helped by Heston being quite a sensation in this role. Taking on the role of the moral Vargas, Heston brings the general gravitas we know him to have that made him famous and he uses it to his advantage. A smooth operator who represents the straight man in this story who stands by himself, but ultimately allows Orson Welles to shine in the role of Quinlan. 

Orson Welles’s talents can never be overstated as not only does he know how to direct, but he can also give a tremendous performance when called upon. When he directs himself, it levitates it up to another level as well. In this feature, he allows himself to play the heavy and does so with such fervor and style as he portrays the dubious and conspicuous Quinlan. You could not trust this man to watch your wallet but the way he plays him off makes quite the captivating screen presence. Toeing the line between solving the problem and becoming it allows Welles to chew up the scenery to pieces. 

Coupling this with his directorial flourishes, he creates something masterful with this feature. It starts right at the beginning with the opening tracking shot, which is sublime in not only introducing us to this world but also setting the tone for the darkness this feature will seek to display in such an effective manner. Welles succeeds in such style showing us what a superb talent he’s always been behind the camera. 

While nothing in the filmography will touch Citizen Kane for Orson Welles, Touch of Evil comes the closest in creating a captivating story along with stellar direction that will sear certain images in your brain that you will not forget. We get a beautiful collaboration by the entire cast in telling this story, which also includes Janet Leigh bringing her captivating presence. It allows each foundational piece to draw us in and how each action by one character invariably impacts the other as this game to find a criminal expands way beyond what everyone initially thought. A tremendous feature film that stands alone within this genre and the filmographies of legendary Hollywood figures.