Rating: 
Summary: Criticising a critic - Get your facts straight!!!
Review: I think the person who reviewed this film as " Not a classic in my book" missed the point. I think they completely misinterpreted the film 'Touch of Evil' as a film that was meant to have of loads morons running around on screen blowing everything up and getting away with it, this film was not meant to be a crappy no brainer like Die Hard, it was simply a film highlighting the corruption in American law, I know I don't come from America, I know that I may b considered as talking crap ( which maybe I am) but this reviewer seems to think that this film was meant to be a raging bloodbath, and as for her saying that the only decent thing in it was a car blowing up well what about the bit where Janet Leigh is kidnapped? and then is put in the tense situation that may have meant her death... This film is the best of the Film Noir Genre, it contributed to the building of the whole of film industry and it is directed with sheer class and originality. How on earth can this naive person criticise the work of Orson Welles, the man who gave us Citizen Kane, which is the film that gave birth to proper cinematography and the most immaculate directing ever and this is no lie. I think the only reason they don't like it iis because the film is in black and white and this silly person can't watch anything without a good splattering of red blood across the screen. I think the only downfall of the film was that Charlton Heston could maybe have worked a little more to make his presence known and felt on screen... Otherwise it is a classic. So go[...]yourself misses I love my Lethal Weapon series.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a classic in my book
Review: Orson Welles may have been a great man, but this is no great movie. Greatly boring, yes. Aside from the restored opening sequence of a car exploding, the rest of the film is a jumbled-up mess of shambling actors muttering nonsensical dialogue. My mother went to bed halfway through; my dad fell asleep in his chair, and my husband and I simply laughed and shook our heads in disbelief.
I'm not a student of film, so maybe there's some nuances of cinematography or screenplay or something that I'm missing, but I don't think so. I'm standing up to say that the Emperor has no clothes on.
Rating:
Summary: Sensational
Review: To see this film restored to Welles' original vision is quite amazing. This is my favorite film of his - it is dark, has an interesting plot, and like all of Welles' films is uncompromising. Did I mention it was brilliantly shot! The first scene is so remarkable with its collage of music, camera movement, and image. For a man of this era to make a film about police corruption - is quite radical - no wonder they tamed it down so much - but now you can see it in all of its superiority.
Rating:
Summary: a dark and twisted thriller
Review: A wild, quirky ride of corruption and intrigue, this noir thriller is brilliantly acted by Orson Welles and Charlton Heston, where Welles, as an American sleazy police chief investigating a murder in a Mexican border town, tangles with Heston, as his counterpart in the town. Welles was originally just slated to act in this film, but at the insistence of Heston, he was also made director.
The critical and box office response was poor however, and so disappointing to Welles, that he never made another film in Hollywood.
The cast is terrific: Janet Leigh plays Heston's naïve bride, and Akim Tamiroff one of the town's major bad guys. It also has a number of interesting cameos (though if you blink you might miss some of them), including Joseph Cotton, Keenan Wynn, Dennis Weaver, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mercedes McCambridge, and best of all, Marlene Dietrich, who looks up from her tarot cards to tell Welles "your future is all used up".
Russell Metty's cinematography is unique and innovative, and Henry Mancini's jazz score outstanding.
Peculiar and bizarre, this film needs more than one viewing to fully appreciate, and to sort out its complex plot of many crooked paths. Welles also wrote the script, and it is spoken in a realistic manner, with dialogue overlapping, and people talking at once.
Heston thankfully does not have accented English, but instead looks handsome with dark makeup and a mustache, on the other hand, Welles has a speech pattern that fits his seedy character, as he slurs and sputters through his words.
This is a stupendous, one-of-a-kind piece of filmmaking, now acknowledged as a classic noir.
DVD extras include Welles' memo, theatrical trailer, production notes, cast and filmmakers. The film has been beautifully restored, and total running time is 1 hour and 51 minutes.
Rating:
Summary: Welles at His Absolute Best
Review: More than 45 years after its release, "Touch of Evil" (1958) maintains a timeless, nightmarish quality. The film represents director-writer Orson Welles' finest work apart from "Citizen Kane" (1941). Shot mostly in Venice, California, Welles creates a border-town hellhole bathed in darkness and surrounded by a gallery of disturbing characters. The result is somewhat akin to a carnival freak show. Welles, in particular, is superbly cast -- there's not a trace of "acting" in his complex portrayal of Hank Quinlan, whose voice sounds as though it emerged from the bottom of a sewer. Welles' skill as an actor always has been underrated in contrast to his filmmaking achievements, yet "Touch of Evil" reminds the viewer that he was a vital performer. Quinlan is an instinctively brilliant yet corrupt police captain mired in Shakespearean tragedy. His monstrous, though sympathetic presence dominates the film (even when he is off-screen) and sets in motion a sleazy labyrinth of drugs, perversity, murder and lawlessness. "Touch of Evil" proves to be an apt title, since every character (including Charlton Heston's Vargas) is tainted and corruptible. The result is accomplished filmmaking of the highest caliber -- and one is grateful that Welles didn't abandon cinema after "Citizen Kane."
Rating:
Summary: Pulp Fiction
Review: Orson Welles may have made the supposed greatest film in history with "Citizen Kane", but the experience virtually ruined him. Ostracised by Hollywood and the press after his insulting portrayal of William Randolph Hearst, he was relegated to making low budget films.Touch of Evil was made in 1958; the last film to be directed by Orson Welles. Unexpectedly given the reins of the film, Welles threw away the script for the planned film, and in just two weeks scratched out a script based on a cheapo pulp fiction novel called "Badge of Evil". The result, as presented now in a restored version (the movie was, like Magnificent Ambersons, butchered by the studio) is quite remarkable. On the one hand, it is definitely pulp, with an extremely rough-and-ready style, gritty elements (this is the only "pot party" you're likely to see in a "great film" from the studio era!) and a very, very low budget. On the other hand, it is a masterpiece. I was extremely impressed by the scene in which (*spoiler!*) Hank Quinlan strangles the Hispanic fellow. I have never seen a movie scene shot like this, especially with the surreal effect of the flashing neon, and the slanting camera.
And who can forget the end of the film, where (spoiler!) Hank Quinlan sits in a pile of garbage in a stream, and tries to cleam blood off his hands? Look at Orson's acting in this scene - truly magnificent. Someone called this the best B film ever made. If you want to see a pulp masterpiece made on the cheap, see Touch of Evil!
Rating:
Summary: You don't have any future , just only past!
Review: This cynical answer given by Tanya (Marlene Dietrich) is obviouslly a clear a reference's pattern shakesperian.
Any other fim noir before or future has been able t tarnish Welles's vivid creatin of a mexican nightmare, or his realization of a set of characters who are so well depicted , resonant , cruel and colrful. This shakesperian giant utilizes his accustomed approach so efficiently that it makes hard for any viewer t be capable to disecrn which moment create the dramatic thrust of the story and the others laded of outrage and fuRY.
A film is really good when the camera becmes an eye in the mind of a poet. Welles made movies as an orchestra conductor.
The opening shot , lasting ver four minutes , show us once more the personal style of Welles in what concerns to the moving camera and the longtake, establishing the premise around whixh the narrative is built. Like the genius he was; he knows to emphasize the dramatical effects without losing his goal.The camera begins with a close up of a time bomb ; then the camera travels up and back , and fllows the car as a constant witeness . This opening shot is widely in all and every masterful of cinema in the world. Notice fr instance, the cinematic fluidity works out as a visual device .
Once more , we must recall the huge influence about the expressionism german permeated the visual style nt only of Welles , but Hitchcock and a a crowd of talented directors alng these three decades of glorious films noir.
If you need any other proof, think in Fritz Lang , wh came from Germany and (coincidentially?) fllowed the road of the film noir.
In these puzzle of corruption and shame Quinlan is shocked due he failed to bring his wife's murderer to justice ,and retaliates by enlisting the help of the racketeer Uncle Joe Grandi .
Once more the film noir works out as an extrardinary expressive device to express the hopelessness, the existential anguish , the shadows of the fate, the shame and distrusts that shapes the behavior of the human being. All this puzzle runs with the timeless tragic atmosphere ; you face the cruelty in Vargas's wife in the motel where she is kidnapped where visual scenes suggests us all the horror , told in theatrical language where the words are useless.
When Quinlan (as Macbeth)decides to visit Tanya about his future , he listen these bitter words wh wrk out as headline in the review.
From all the stanpoints , this is the one of top movies entitled as film noir , because Welles enriched the bitter insights so typical of this genre with shakesperian moods.
Notice for instance that Grandi reminds us to Yago ; obviusly Grandi has a minor stature since he is much vulgar and obscene . and Tanya is linked with Macbeth's witches ; and the nightmares and the demons who live in the cavern - mind of Quinlan reminds us to the decadent power.
A unforgettable masterpiece all the way.!
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