Touch of Evil
| Touch of Evil | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Orson Welles |
| Produced by | Albert Zugsmith |
| Screenplay by | Orson Welles |
| Based on |
Badge of Evil 1956 novel by Whit Masterson |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Edited by | |
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Production
company |
Universal Pictures
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes 108 minutes (1975 alternate) 111 minutes (1998 alternate) 112 minutes (director's cut) 111 minutes (restored) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $829,000 |
| Box office | $2,237,659 1,232,534 admissions (France) |
Touch of Evil is a 1958 crime drama film noir, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles. The screenplay was loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. Along with Welles, the cast includes Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich.
Touch of Evil is one of the last examples of film noir in the genre's classic era (from the early 1940s until the late 1950s). Since its release, the film's reputation has grown in stature, and it is now widely regarded as one of Welles' best films, and also one of the best classic-era films noir.
In 1993 Touch of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In a Mexican town along the U.S.–Mexico border, a time bomb is planted in a car. Rudy Linnekar (Jeffrey Green) and woman Zita enter the vehicle and make a slow journey through town to the U.S. border, the woman (Joi Lansing) insisting that she hears something ticking. Newlyweds Miguel "Mike" Vargas (Charlton Heston), a drug enforcement official in the Mexican government, and his wife Susie (Janet Leigh) pass the car several times on foot. The car crosses the border, then explodes.
Realizing the implications of a Mexican bomb exploding on American soil, Vargas takes an interest in the investigation. Police Chief Pete Gould (Harry Shannon) and District Attorney Adair (Ray Collins) arrive on the scene, followed by the game-legged police captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) and Quinlan's longtime partner, Pete Menzies (Joseph Calleia)—who clearly worships Quinlan. The obese and disheveled Captain nostalgically visits a brothel run by Tanya (Marlene Dietrich), who barely recognizes him.
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Wikipedia