Rating: 
Summary: Tragic Hero, an Appropos Last Noir
Review: In most film noirs, the lead character is a basically good young man, who's fallen upon hard times. All around our tragic hero lies treachery, often disguised as salvation. Yet, because of a fatal flaw, our hero is blind to the treachery of those around him -- whether a blonde femme fatale or a backstabbing "friend" -- and to the hero's own capacity for evil. This archetype is best personified by Fred MacMurray as the insurance man gone bad in "Double Indemnity" (1944) and Robert Mitchum's private-eye trapped in a web of deception in "Out of the Past" (1947). As a rule, the tragic hero (called anti-hero by some) dies in a violent gunfight, in the end. But, what if our tragic hero *lived on*? Thus, we arrive at Orson Welles' larger-than-life police captain Hank Quinlan. Quinlan was most likely an honest, idealistic, cop earlier in life. But, forty years before his wife was brutally strangled and the perp got away. Dedicating himself to never letting another killer go free, Quinlan lets corruption seep into his daily routine: He frames suspects, coerces confessions, plants evidence. When we, the viewers, are introduced to Hank Quinlan (forty years later), we see him literally bloated with corruption -- his greasy, stubble-ridden, face seems to perspire corruption. Yet, like his younger counterparts, Welles is still blind to his own achilles heel. Enter seedy villian, drug kingpin "Uncle Joe" Grande (Akim Tamiroff), who has no illusions about his own dirty soul, and Mexican counterdrug agent Mike Vargas (played by Charlton Heston in brownface -- though after five minutes his forceful acting overcomes that hurdle -- a clear case of "willing suspension of disbelief"), an idealistic, uncorruptible policeman. Grande and Vargas are the testing stones by which Quinlan's true soul is revealed: Ostensibly on the same side as Vargas, Quinlan nonetheless frames Vargas by making a devil's deal with Grande. In a parallel to Quinlan's own ancient history, the pawn in the deal is Vargas' wife, played by Janet Leigh. Quinlan's life has come full-circle: His quest to punish evil has become evil itself; his crusade to avenge his wife's death has transformed itself into a sick fetish to frame a totally innocent woman for murder, and to ruin the career of her husband, a truly honest cop, who personifies what Quinlan has been masquerading as for the past forty years. The final scene is so appropos: Quinlan shoots his partner, Menzies (Joseph Calleia) in cold blood with Vargas' pistol, then washes the blood from his hands (an allusion to Pontius Pilate) in a river so choked with pollution, that even Quinlan's dipsomaniacal self can't fail to notice the futility of this intended cover-up. It's like a baptism at the hand of Satan: In the end, Quinlan crashes and splashes into the river and has the sin of his soul sealed in a floating scum of filth. Like Othello, Quinlan has become what he loathes. All of Welles' films ("Othello" included) have peered into the human soul. Most critics find "Touch of Evil" falling somewhat short of "Kane." I disagree entirely: "Touch of Evil" is Welles' most convincing journey into the darker reaches of human nature and his most convincing contemplation of evil. It is complex, because not even Heston's incorruptible Vargas is untouched by the all-pervasive evil; Vargas is drawn into his own crusade to avenge his own wife's torture and legal abuse at the hands of Quinlan and Grande. "Touch of Evil" is, to me, Welles' own, personal, "Heart of Darkness."A note on the "letterbox" ("widescreen") DVD transfer: Yes, those claiming it's just the 1.33:1 screening with black bars cropping off top/bottom, they are right. I compared the new DVD against my 1987 release laser-disc, and you can tell right away that this is a phoney, because the top and bottom of the Universal globe have have lopped off in the so-called "widescreen" edition, but are intact, with room to spare in the laser-disc version. Also, tops of actors' heads/hats are sometimes cropped-out, and high-altitude scenery is evident in laser, whereas missing in the DVD. Please, Universal, give us full-screen DVD!!!
Rating:
Summary: Choose Your Honeymoon Well
Review: Because if you don't, you may wind up embroiled in a murder in a seedy Mexican bordertown! Newlyweds Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh are witnesses to an exploding automobile. Chuck happens to be a police inspector and also a Mexican (yes, that's really supposed to be the truth), and neither fact endears him to local sheriff Orson Welles, at his most bloated and unattractive. One heck of a lot of trouble ensues, trumped up narcotics charges not the least of it all. But I ask you, if you were a frightened bride all alone at an isolated motel like Janet Leigh, would you really strip down to your frilly corset? By the way, Marlene Dietrich has a cameo appearance as a lady of the evening who trades some interesting lines with Welles in an off moment. Certainly NOT a Christmas movie, "Touch of Evil" is well photographed and well done, all the way round.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware Fake Widescreen
Review: Well, once again, Welles' artistic vision has been compromised. Apparently a common practice (SO BEWARE), the makers of this DVD have added fake-widescreen...adding black bars across the top and bottom, thus giving the impression of a wider aspect ratio, when in fact the film was never intended to be "widescreen." In other words, you are being robbed of the upper and lower portions of the picture. Would Orson have approved? NO! Neither should we!
Rating:
Summary: MASTERPIECE
Review: Here is another indispensable DVD for those of you who patiently build a DVD library you won't be ashamed of in front of your children. Orson Welles's TOUCH OF EVIL is finally here. With its genius first travelling, with Charlton Heston as a mexican police officer, with the russian-born Akim Tamiroff as an hispanic drug lord, with Marlene Dietrich, with the mirific Henri Mancini musical score and, finally, with Orson in an Oscar deserving role. As bonus features, a trailer of the movie, trailers of four Hitchcock Movies and the famous Welles memo that enabled the editor Walter Murch to edit a movie closer to Welles's views than the version theatrically released. This memo alone is worth the price of the DVD. You will understand how Hollywood Moghuls have humiliated and destroyed one of the great american artists of the XXth century. Tragic. A DVD zone your library.
Rating: 
Summary: I Think Time Has Hurt This Film.
Review: Touch of evil is a movie that I think has lost its place. I always try to watch movies of this era with a certain understanding that the actors are practicing stagecraft rather than moviecraft. However, I am left with a feeling of real frustration with this movie. I really want to like it, but I can't. The movie's cast is amazing and filled with names-Heston, Wells, & Leigh were the finest of their time. Yet, the idea of Heston in bronzer playing a Mexican Federaleigh is just unbelievable. In addition, the love affair between Heston & Leigh and the nationality concerns seem melodramatic. Furthermore, the violence of the characters is amazing considering its time period, but at the same time you feel a little racial undertone may undermine its intended message. Also, it is film-noir, and I love film noir. But I feel at the end of the day, it is really never accomplishes what it sets out to do. I'm sorry; it's hard to give you a clear picture of its flaws, but at the end you felt like it was a melodrama that lacked something. However, the criticism should also be played against other concerns. First, the movies cinematography is great and I only wish I had caught this on a big screen. The legendary longest shot goes by unnoticed, as it was intended, but you are left with a sense even today that something is different. Furthermore, Well's does a nice job of creating a contrast between the two sides of the border while also not leaving you to believe one is better or the good side. Finally, the Heston character is very interesting and you sense that perhaps we would have liked to see him more rounded and played by a modern actor who would have made him a bit less of a Crusader. Overall, the movie has strong qualities, but I think its effect and strength has been undermined by time. I tried to watch it as if I were of the era, but I simply couldn't and would only recommend watching it if you are a big fan of one of the major players or a film historian.
Rating:
Summary: You can't go back
Review: You can't go back... Last time I watched this movie was when it first came out in the late 50s. At the time I thought it was marvelous! We really looked forward to going back in time and seeing it again. What a total waste of time. I guess this is proof that you can't go back. Orson Welles was a slobbering moron who needs a drewl cup. Charlton Heston just sort of floats through and does not even try to act. The rest of the cast could be from another planet for all I know. Save your money and buy something good like Unbreakable with Bruce Willis!
Rating:
Summary: Touch of Genius!
Review: Genius is a word that is bandied about quite frequently in our culture, thereby diminishing its value and power. If you would like a quick brush with real genius, just see what Orson Welles did with a low budget and B movie material in Touch of Evil.
From the wonderful, seamless all-in-one-take opening with the camera swooping up and down and around and through the action past our lead characters and with the soundtrack slipping from one mode of cantina music to another and dialogue interspersed to the echoing/reverberating conversation betraying Vargas recording Quinlan at the close, we are in the hands of a master.
Full of terrific camerawork throughout, and with wonderful quirky Wellesian touches and cameos (By Zsa Zsa, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Weaver, Joe Cotton & most especially, Marlene Deitrich), and centered by a courageous performance by Welles as the gross, bloated & corrupt cop, Hank Quinlan, and ably supported by Joseph Calliea as his adula!ting sidekick, Akim Tamiroff, Janet Leigh and Charlton Heston as the honest Mexican cop (yes that's right, and he's fine) Vargas.
Welles took an okay noir story, and re-wrote and directed it into something very special. He brought it in on time and under-budget but the studio took it away and re-edited it anyway. This would be Welles last Hollywood effort. The DVD contains Welles 58 page memo after he saw what was done to his film. And this presentation with editing & sound by Murch, tries to restore Welles original version as much as possible.
I once saw an interviewer try to get John Houseman (who had monumental battles with Welles at the Mercury Players theatre & elsewhere) to say something negative about Welles. Houseman's answer was "Well, but you see, he's a Genius. You aren't. And I'm not. But he is....and that's that." He was. Here's some of the proof. But, as Tanya says, "What does it matter what you say about people?"
Rating:
Summary: it's welles.. what else??
Review: great welles fare, finally restored (unlike some of his other *almost* masterpieces) to its originally intended editing. beautifully shot, excellently directed, written and acted. famous opening scene is just as breathtaking as its reputation. what more could you want.. Charlton Heston as a Mexican detective???
Rating:
Summary: It's more than a touch of evil it's a bear hug!
Review: From the opening of the film the viewer will quickly notice two things: how gritty and disgusting a picture Welles paints of Mexico and how disgusting he himself looks! In fact the whole film is disgusting the images of Janet Leigh being bound to a bed by the gang members who want her husband to just comply with their wishes, to Welles' character who frames a Mexican youth in order to advance his evil schemes! The entire film oozes this swarmy dirty underworld only lit by the passing cars and brothels that are abundant in this little town and when all is said and done these attributes makes TOUCH OF EVIL one of the best films ever made. The atmosphere is just unbeatable and the acting is top notch Welles' Hank Quinaln is such a crooked, bloated, horrible man you just wanna hurl everytime he is on screen and you root for Charlton Heston's Vargas to nail him and his scummy associates to the wall. The moral center of the plot is the driving force behind the whole film and makes for some very intense moments in action and in dialogue the cinematography is haunting. The shawdows in the alleys and over facial features in key scenes have as much to do with visual styling as to the plot itself! If you want to be totally caught up in cinematic brilliance for a couple of hours then buy this movie. Its breathtaking opening sequence is reason enough to own it!
Rating:
Summary: Easily pleased, me
Review: I should have only given this 4 stars, really, but I'm so impressed with the picture quality that I just couldn't help myself. Many people have said how wonderful the story is, so let me quickly address a few points about the DVD, which is interesting in places. Firstly, Universal produced an utterly fantastic 'making of' documentary for this release, but had to leave it off for unconfirmed reasons at the last minute. This is very sad because it featured some cracking interviews with the cast and editors, and I'm not entirely sure that the DVD is that exciting without them. However, what they replaced it with is Orson Welles' uncut memo to Universal, which provides an amazing insight into film editing and shows how passionate Welles was about this film. Contrast his vision with the original theatrical trailer, and you'll just have to laugh. Universal were clearly desperate to cover up the dark plot and throw Heston and Leigh into the spotlight, but it just doesn't work, and the trailer is an absolute embaressment. Terrific fun. My major point is actually concerned with the film's DVD format. The picture (which looks great, by the way - clearer and richer than i'd ever have imagined) is presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 - which is odd, since it was shot in 4:3. This is nothing to do with the restored edition, which aired in full-screen format in the UK around December 1999, and it seems that Universal added black bars to the top and bottom of the screen specifically for the DVD release. The result is that people's foreheads tend to unnecessarilly disappear and many scenes lose subtle lighting influences because of the new, inappropriate ratio (and since the trailer is in 4:3, it's easy to find multiple examples of disgraceful picture loss). It can only have been done to enhance the disc for widscreen TVs, but since every widescreen telly will zoom in on 4:3 in exactly the same way, Universal are really taking the biscuit by removing a third of the picture and claiming the disc to be a 'special collector's edition' when you actually have no choice but to view a comprimised edition. Still, I'm not going to complain for long. The film is outstanding in every conceivable way, and that's more than enough for me. 5 stars it is.
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