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Touch of Evil - 1958
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles
Based on the novel "Badge of Evil" by Whit Masterson
Featuring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff
Marlene Dietrich & Zsa Zsa Gabor
Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) is like a champion who can probably beat anyone he's up against, but still feels the need to cheat. He's morbidly obese, about to fall off the wagon, a racist and a narcissist. Add murderer to that list. While investigating the explosive death of two people crossing the border between Mexico and the United States, he comes up against Ramon Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) - a good Mexican special prosecutor on his honeymoon after marrying sweetheart Susan (Janet Leigh). An added factor to their confrontation is Mexican mobster Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) - Vargas has been investigating him and his family, and he's all too happy to help if Quinlan needs it. The Grandi family kidnaps Susan at a deserted Grandi-owned hotel, and drugs her in the hopes she and Vargas can be framed and the noose loosened. Fatefully, for everyone, Grandi encourages Quinlan to have a drink.
Touch of Evil is like a great film that took over 40 years to complete. I've only ever seen the 1998 version, which significantly differs from what was released in 1958. Orson Welles was weaving a masterpiece that may very well have put him back on top after spending time in the wilderness - but part-way through editing he was locked out. Aaron Stell ignored many of the innovations Welles had worked on, and tried to put together a more conventional kind of film - going so far as to re-edit the parts Welles had already finished with the help of Ernest J. Nims. After watching the result, those in charge at Universal decided reshoots were needed to add scenes to make the plot easier to follow. Once Welles had seen the result of all this he was appalled, and wrote a detailed 58-page memo to the head of production at Universal, Edward Muhl, detailing changes that needed to be made, and the urgent reasons in each case why. Some were heeded, some not - but the existence of that memo would mean that later on down the road - some 40-odd years later - we'd get to see Touch of Evil as originally intended.
As originally intended, Touch of Evil is a great film. It begins with what is probably the most famous long take in cinematic history. It used to play with Henry Mancini's music and the opening credits both drowning out the central drama - that drama being a ticking time bomb placed into a car's trunk, and the car itself driven around as Miguel and Susan often come into close proximity with it. If the bomb were to go off at any of those moments, both Miguel and Susan would be killed. As we follow the car, we can hear different kinds of music coming from the various establishments along the way - there's a contrast between Latin American mambo and rock and roll types of sound, and with Mancini's music blaring we don't get to hear that. I don't even want to think about how this one shot was accomplished - we go up and over buildings, through streets and come up close to people. It had to have been carefully choreographed and needed many people working a crane and dolly. The effect is magnificent however. Especially without credits and non-diegetic music.
The performances are great, but of course Orson Welles himself steals the show as Quinlan. Welles is absolutely unrecognizable, and I doubt anyone watching who didn't know it was him would have guessed it was. Heavy make-up and padding (Orson wasn't quite as large yet - but he'd get there later in life) turn him into the slimy, unpleasant old police captain. We get a hint of what he once was - an intelligent spark that has been dimmed over the years, and crueled by the loss of a leg, giving him a pronounced limp via his cane (an important plot device) and prosthetic one. Charlton Heston plays Vargas as a person used to pandering to Americans to some extent through sheer force of their sense of superiority over Mexico, but also absolutely dedicated to justice no matter what. He's often apologetic (especially to his wife) but once he sniffs something wrong, like a bulldog he won't let go. Pretty weird that Heston is playing a Mexican in brownface - it's not something I'm especially fond of, and it sometimes distracts me from seeing the character clearly.
Russell Metty's cinematography is well steeped in traditional noir lighting, and as already mentioned there are long takes in this film which must have taken much rehearsing and setting up. Metty would win an Oscar only a few years later for his work on Kubrick epic Spartacus. Once again, shadow and silhouette dominate and most of the action either takes place at night or indoors. Characters rearrange themselves in scenes, but are all kept in the scene via use of a large depth of field (or deep focus) - much like what was pioneered in Welles classic Citizen Kane. This can turn into a complex but meticulously arranged dance, such as when Vargas, Quinlan and other police officers are investigating Manolo Sanchez (Victor Millan) for the double murder, all crowded into his apartment and either coming into the foreground or receding as the scene plays out - again, without frequent edits. If you rewatch the scene with the making of the film in mind, it's hard not to admire the skill needed to accomplish shots like that.
How hard it must be, to make a masterpiece and have the studio you make it for completely mess it up - meaning the accolades take decades to arrive. Far too late for this master filmmaker to make the most of them. Perfect timing for me though! My good fortune had me appreciating the movie as intended, well after the two subsequent versions came out in 1976 (the preview version) and 1998 (the reconstruction). I love the photography - the abnormal darkness that surrounds the characters indoors, and long shadows cast. I love the performance from Orson Welles - the groany, gravelly, sweaty croaking that accompanies the large, corrupt police captain Quinlan - 'a great detective and a lousy cop'. I love the long takes, and I love the exacting screenplay from the mind of the talented Welles, coming after some time in Europe, away from Hollywood. The fight between 'hard, honest work' and 'results no matter how'. The final belch from the corrupted and disgraced, results notwithstanding.
A touch of genius. A touch of interference. A touchy memo. A discovery. A re-release. A re-edit. A reappraisal. Another deposit for United States National Film Registry. An everlasting place in movie history. Touch of Evil - it's been a long road, but appreciation for it will last longer.
Touch of Evil - 1958
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles
Based on the novel "Badge of Evil" by Whit Masterson
Featuring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff
Marlene Dietrich & Zsa Zsa Gabor
Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) is like a champion who can probably beat anyone he's up against, but still feels the need to cheat. He's morbidly obese, about to fall off the wagon, a racist and a narcissist. Add murderer to that list. While investigating the explosive death of two people crossing the border between Mexico and the United States, he comes up against Ramon Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) - a good Mexican special prosecutor on his honeymoon after marrying sweetheart Susan (Janet Leigh). An added factor to their confrontation is Mexican mobster Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) - Vargas has been investigating him and his family, and he's all too happy to help if Quinlan needs it. The Grandi family kidnaps Susan at a deserted Grandi-owned hotel, and drugs her in the hopes she and Vargas can be framed and the noose loosened. Fatefully, for everyone, Grandi encourages Quinlan to have a drink.
Touch of Evil is like a great film that took over 40 years to complete. I've only ever seen the 1998 version, which significantly differs from what was released in 1958. Orson Welles was weaving a masterpiece that may very well have put him back on top after spending time in the wilderness - but part-way through editing he was locked out. Aaron Stell ignored many of the innovations Welles had worked on, and tried to put together a more conventional kind of film - going so far as to re-edit the parts Welles had already finished with the help of Ernest J. Nims. After watching the result, those in charge at Universal decided reshoots were needed to add scenes to make the plot easier to follow. Once Welles had seen the result of all this he was appalled, and wrote a detailed 58-page memo to the head of production at Universal, Edward Muhl, detailing changes that needed to be made, and the urgent reasons in each case why. Some were heeded, some not - but the existence of that memo would mean that later on down the road - some 40-odd years later - we'd get to see Touch of Evil as originally intended.
As originally intended, Touch of Evil is a great film. It begins with what is probably the most famous long take in cinematic history. It used to play with Henry Mancini's music and the opening credits both drowning out the central drama - that drama being a ticking time bomb placed into a car's trunk, and the car itself driven around as Miguel and Susan often come into close proximity with it. If the bomb were to go off at any of those moments, both Miguel and Susan would be killed. As we follow the car, we can hear different kinds of music coming from the various establishments along the way - there's a contrast between Latin American mambo and rock and roll types of sound, and with Mancini's music blaring we don't get to hear that. I don't even want to think about how this one shot was accomplished - we go up and over buildings, through streets and come up close to people. It had to have been carefully choreographed and needed many people working a crane and dolly. The effect is magnificent however. Especially without credits and non-diegetic music.
The performances are great, but of course Orson Welles himself steals the show as Quinlan. Welles is absolutely unrecognizable, and I doubt anyone watching who didn't know it was him would have guessed it was. Heavy make-up and padding (Orson wasn't quite as large yet - but he'd get there later in life) turn him into the slimy, unpleasant old police captain. We get a hint of what he once was - an intelligent spark that has been dimmed over the years, and crueled by the loss of a leg, giving him a pronounced limp via his cane (an important plot device) and prosthetic one. Charlton Heston plays Vargas as a person used to pandering to Americans to some extent through sheer force of their sense of superiority over Mexico, but also absolutely dedicated to justice no matter what. He's often apologetic (especially to his wife) but once he sniffs something wrong, like a bulldog he won't let go. Pretty weird that Heston is playing a Mexican in brownface - it's not something I'm especially fond of, and it sometimes distracts me from seeing the character clearly.
Russell Metty's cinematography is well steeped in traditional noir lighting, and as already mentioned there are long takes in this film which must have taken much rehearsing and setting up. Metty would win an Oscar only a few years later for his work on Kubrick epic Spartacus. Once again, shadow and silhouette dominate and most of the action either takes place at night or indoors. Characters rearrange themselves in scenes, but are all kept in the scene via use of a large depth of field (or deep focus) - much like what was pioneered in Welles classic Citizen Kane. This can turn into a complex but meticulously arranged dance, such as when Vargas, Quinlan and other police officers are investigating Manolo Sanchez (Victor Millan) for the double murder, all crowded into his apartment and either coming into the foreground or receding as the scene plays out - again, without frequent edits. If you rewatch the scene with the making of the film in mind, it's hard not to admire the skill needed to accomplish shots like that.
How hard it must be, to make a masterpiece and have the studio you make it for completely mess it up - meaning the accolades take decades to arrive. Far too late for this master filmmaker to make the most of them. Perfect timing for me though! My good fortune had me appreciating the movie as intended, well after the two subsequent versions came out in 1976 (the preview version) and 1998 (the reconstruction). I love the photography - the abnormal darkness that surrounds the characters indoors, and long shadows cast. I love the performance from Orson Welles - the groany, gravelly, sweaty croaking that accompanies the large, corrupt police captain Quinlan - 'a great detective and a lousy cop'. I love the long takes, and I love the exacting screenplay from the mind of the talented Welles, coming after some time in Europe, away from Hollywood. The fight between 'hard, honest work' and 'results no matter how'. The final belch from the corrupted and disgraced, results notwithstanding.
A touch of genius. A touch of interference. A touchy memo. A discovery. A re-release. A re-edit. A reappraisal. Another deposit for United States National Film Registry. An everlasting place in movie history. Touch of Evil - it's been a long road, but appreciation for it will last longer.