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Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff ... see more see more... , Joanna Cook Moore , Ray Collins , Dennis Weaver , Val de Vargas , Mort Mills , Victor Millan , Lalo Rios , Phil Harvey , Joi Lansing , Harry Shannon , Rusty Wescoatt , Taylor Wayne , Ken Miller , Raymond Rodriguez , Arlene McQuade , Joseph Cotten , Marlene Dietrich , Zsa Zsa Gabor , Mercedes McCambridge , Keenan Wynn , Valentin de Vargas

This baroque nightmare of a south-of-the-border mystery is considered to be one of the great movies of Orson Welles, who both directed and starred in it. On honeymoon with his new bride, Susan (Janet ... read more read more...Leigh), Mexican-born policeman Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) agrees to investigate a bomb explosion. In so doing, he incurs the wrath of local police chief Hank Quinlan (Welles), a corrupt, bullying behemoth with a perfect arrest record. Vargas suspects that Quinlan has planted evidence to win his past convictions, and he isn't about to let the suspect in the current case be railroaded. Quinlan, whose obsession with his own brand of justice is motivated by the long-ago murder of his wife, is equally determined to get Vargas out of his hair, and he makes a deal with local crime boss Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) to frame Susan on a drug rap, leading to one of the movie's many truly harrowing sequences. Touch of Evil dissects the nature of good and evil in a hallucinatory, nightmarish ambience, helped by the shadow-laden cinematography of Russell Metty and by the cast, which, along with Tamiroff and Welles includes Charlton Heston as a Mexican; Marlene Dietrich, in a brunette wig, as a brittle madam who delivers the movie's unforgettable closing words; Mercedes McCambridge as a junkie; and Dennis Weaver as a tremulous motel clerk. Touch of Evil has been released with four different running times -- 95 minutes for the 1958 original, which was taken away from Welles and brutally cut by the studio; 108 minutes and 114 minutes in later versions; and 111 minutes in the 1998 restoration. Based on a 58-page memo written by Welles after he was barred from the editing room during the film's original post-production, this restoration, among numerous other changes, removed the opening titles and Henry Mancini's music from the opening crane shot, which in either version ranks as one of the most remarkably extended long takes in movie history. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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91% liked it

28,420 ratings

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95% liked it

56 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Orson Welles

Release Date: May 21, 1958

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DVD Release Date: October 31, 2000

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Stats: 1,696 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,696)

  • FilmFanatik
    November 11, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    Now I wouldn't say that Touch of Evil is the best noir film ever made, but it certainly ranks up there. Having never seen the original theatrical version before, I watched the restored version and I quite admire it (like I do all of Orson Welles' work). As per usual, everyone giv... read morees wonderful performances and the film pushes the limits and the hot buttons of riske material for the timeframe it was made and released in. Both Welles and Charlton Heston are magnificent in the film, as is the luminous Janet Leigh. There's a bit part for Marlene Dietrich in there, as well. Perhaps sometime I'll watch the released version and compare, but for now, I have to say this one of Orson Welles' finest pieces of work, acting, directing or otherwise.
  • fb1664868775
    October 27, 2011
    fb1664868775
    Artistic and dark, this, in my opinion, is Welles at his best.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    August 2, 2011
    DragonEyeMorrison
    It's a shame the script doesn't match the quality of the direction, and the performances. Between Leigh's super naive wife, a retarded hotel clerk, and Heston unaware of the brother of a guy he's going to put in jail the story is just barely there. Not a bad exercise for the genr... read moree, but not one of the high marks
  • ajv2688
    November 17, 2010
    ajv2688
    Welles is well known for his directorial genius and you can see his cool techniques in this movie too, but I found the story pretty boring for the most part. It's good, but the story could be tightened a bit. I know it's a classic, but I can't help feeling that way.
  • imrealgod
    June 12, 2010
    imrealgod
    From what little I've seen by Orson Welles (besides this one, I've only watched his "Citizen Kane" & "The Third Man" till date), this one's hands down the best one thus far.
  • hobster1
    April 19, 2010
    hobster1
    Sensational crime drama about a narcotics agent at odds with a corrupt American cop. They're investigating the murder of a couple after driving their car across the Mexican-American border. A B-movie at heart, this film noir is a potboiler dressed up with flashy camerawork and... read more a stellar cast. Written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles, he flaunts conspicuous direction and stunning visual style. This is exaggerated stuff, but damn if it isn't entertaining. Dennis Weaver plays a jittery hotel manager, Marlene Dietrich dons a black wig as a fortune telling madam, and they've got Charlton Heston playing a Mexican! When a gang of hoodlums terrorizes Janet Leigh in a hotel room, the scene threatens to derail the film into trashy melodrama. Luckily the plot is so arresting it holds the viewer's interest throughout the film until the very last frame of this tense psychological thriller.
  • bbcfloridabound
    March 18, 2010
    bbcfloridabound
    Actual a pretty good movie. Charlton Heston plays a Mexican boarder detective and Orson Well splays a Texas Redneck Cop. When a bomb explodes and kills a man near the Mexico-USA border, two of both country?s best detectives find themselves at odds over how to investigate the cas... read moree. Soon, their attention is drawn towards attacking each other and neither of their lives will ever be the same again. Well worth buying and adding to any collection. 4 1/2 stars.
  • flixsterman
    July 22, 2009
    flixsterman
    I've heard it said that Touch of Evil, NOT Citizen Kane, is Orson Welles' greatest cinematic achievement. While I'm not sure I would agree with that statement I do agree that it's clearly a masterpiece of film noir, especially in the camera work. If there is a detra... read morector here it's buying into the casting of Charlton Heston as a Mexican lawman, for me that's a bit of a stretch. Otherwise, it's one of the best representations of movie making as an art form I've ever seen. Five stars.
  • Saxia
    June 30, 2009
    Saxia
    After telling the guy in the video store that I wasn't a big fan of Film Noir, he gave me this movie. I'm still not a Noir fan, but hell, this movie was something else! It was exciting! I really got a kick out of it.
    Orson was amazing, and Marlene Dietrich: what an appearance!

    ... read more"He was some kind of a man... What does it matter what you say about people?"
  • sanjurosamurai
    February 12, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    orson wells has given us some of the most iconic characters in film history, from charles foster kane to harry lime, and in touch of evil he gives us hank quinlin. despite some significant weight gain and some extra padding that made wells nearly unrecognizable, his performance ... read morewas excellent. we also get great performances from heston and leigh, and the cinematography was haunting bearing similarity to the camera work of greg toland in citizen kane. the opening sequence is one of the most effectively shot opening scenes that i have ever seen, and touch of evil is a classic noir.

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Critic Reviews

David Edelstein
April 6, 2007
David Edelstein, Slate

I first saw it when I was 14 and thought it was one of the worst pictures ever -- garish, oppressive, and appallingly overacted. Grown up, I'd go with those same adjectives, except now I think it's on... Full Review

Howard Thompson
May 21, 2003
Howard Thompson, New York Times

Where Mr. Welles soundly succeeds is in generating enough sinister electricity for three such yarns and in generally staging it like a wild, murky nightmare.

Todd McCarthy
February 13, 2001
Todd McCarthy, Variety

Touch of Evil smacks of brilliance but ultimately flounders in it. Full Review

Joe Baltake
January 1, 2000
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Touch of Evil (1958) is back in yet another incarnation -- proving that Welles' directorial touch was so sure that there was no way anyone could bollix his work. Full Review

Bob Graham
January 1, 2000
Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle

The film has always been full of reckless energy, and now it is, as they say, better than ever. Full Review

Andy Seiler
January 1, 2000
Andy Seiler, USA Today

[a] dark and extravagant crime drama

Charles Taylor
January 1, 2000
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

Touch of Evil may be the sleaziest good movie ever made. Full Review

J. Hoberman
January 1, 2000
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

the camera work and blocking have the coordination of an Olympic pole vaulter Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann
January 1, 2000
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

It's a flurry of pressure-cooker baroque, an extreme example of the exhibitionistic hijinks in which Welles could sometimes indulge, apparently intensified here because he wasn't doing what he really ...

Jonathan Rosenbaum
January 1, 2000
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

One of a few monumental 1950s swan songs marking the end of the great epoch of traditional studio filmmaking. Full Review

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    • Hank Quinlan: Intuition.
    • Tanya: He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?
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Touch of Evil Trivia

  • What was the name of the character described as "some kind of a man" played by Orson Welles in 'Touch of Evil'  Answer »
  • Who directed the movies Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil and The Magnificent Ambersons?  Answer »
  • At the end of what Terry Gilliam movie does a young boy shout "Mum! Dad! Don't touch it! It's evil!"?  Answer »
  • In Cinderella 3 how did the prince know cinderella was still the one he loved after he was put under a spell by the evil stepmother?  Answer »
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