This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Janet Leigh. This review is also for the 1998 restored version of the film.
In 1958, Orson Welles had a chance to make a directorial comeback. While the maverick filmmaker had worked in Europe, he had not made an American film in years. Welles, who had been hired to merely act in Touch of Evil, now had the chance to direct, even if it was a B-picture. Trust Orson Welles to try and elevate this pulp product into something more. Trust the studio to crush those aspirations and wreck what he had so meticulously planned. Despite, or perhaps because of this interference, Touch of Evil still stands as a great film.
Along the U.S.-Mexico border, honest Mexican cop Miguel "Mike" Vargas (Charlton Heston) and his new American wife Susan (Janet Leigh) find their honeymoon interrupted by murder. A car driven by local bigwig Rudolph Linnekar has just gotten blown up, instantly killing him and his newest mistress, a stripteaser in the Mexican border town of Los Robles. Police detective Hank Quinlan (Welles), heavyset and with a game leg, is on the case. His loyal and devoted aide Pete Menzies (Joseph Calleia) is convinced that Hank can crack the case easily. Quinlan does not take kindly to the Mexican Vargas getting involved, but he may need to since the bomb came from the Mexican side.
Soon, things devolve into a mishmash of crimes. What connection to the bombing, if any, does local crime lord Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) have? Uncle Joe, who detests Vargas for interfering in the family business, thinks that he can put the squeeze on Mike through Susan. Susan, though, is a tough cookie, not easily intimidated. As things go on, things start getting muddled. Susan is eventually drugged, probably raped, and even framed for murder and drugs. The investigation of the bombing leads Mike to suspect that Hank is attempting to frame Manelo Sanchez (Victor Millan), a young Mexican involved with Linnekar's daughter Marcia (Joanna Moore). Mike also suspects that Menzies may either be part of other frame-ups or served as Quinlan's dupe.
Uncle Joe and Hank Quinlan join forces against their mutual enemy. However, Quinlan has fallen off the wagon thanks to Uncle Joe. This makes Quinlan more dangerous and erratic. Not even Quinlan's former flame, psychic Tana (Marlene Dietrich) can help Quinlan as he sinks further into crime. Will Menzies' eyes be opened to how far Quinlan has fallen? Will Susan be rescued? Will justice be visited on the guilty? Will anyone shape the plot into coherence?
It is never overtly stated that Susan was raped, but Welles' adaptation of Whit Masterson's Badge of Evil makes that strong suggestion. Alone in the isolated hotel, she finds herself surrounded by a group of Grandi's nephews and nieces. There is a quick shot of the main nephew, whom she nicknamed "Pancho" (Valentin De Vargas) licking his lips and looking down on her. "Hold her legs", he whispers, and then the room descends into the lot of them grabbing the screaming and terrified Susan before the door closes.
One can quibble over why one of female gang members is Mercedes McCambridge, one of the many cameos that show Welles could get major stars for something as ostensibly schlocky as Touch of Evil.
McCambridge's request to stay, saying that she wants to watch, makes this already daring scene downright outrageous. In this film, the suggestion of rape has the added element of lesbianism, beyond subversive for the time. Still, what exactly Susan or Mike had to do with the actual crime supposedly at the heart of Touch of Evil is a bit off.
Touch of Evil seems to almost delight in its curious logic. The actual plot blending the Linnaker and Grandi stories is already a bit odd. You also have the idea of the very Teutonic Marlene Dietrich as a Mexican or Gypsie fortune teller. Whether we are even supposed to believe that she could be Mexican or Gypsie (what would be called Romani now) is pretty much irrelevant. You just roll with it.
Touch of Evil is brilliantly directed in terms of acting. Much criticism has been thrown at Charlton Heston for playing a Mexican. I think that it was a poor decision, and Heston's makeup job is far too dark to be believable. The lack of accent is also held against him. However, some things should be taken into account. First, Heston was directed by Welles to not have an accent. Second, few people focus on how having the Mexican character as the hero would have been extremely rare for the times. People also forget that it was Heston's idea to have Welles direct the film. Touch of Evil as we have it now might not have come to pass if another director had helmed the project.
Heston's overall performance is quite strong. He plays the heroic figure with such moral rectitude that you can believe this man was incorruptible. It was firm and solid, like the character. Janet Leigh was feisty but vulnerable as Susan, the innocent almost destroyed by the wickedness around her. In her early scenes, she was almost funny when she literally wagged her finger at the crime boss Grandi. "You know what your problem is, Mr. Grandi? You've seen too many gangster films!" she snaps at him. She also admits being afraid, but notes that her husband isn't. Leigh makes Susan's descent into terror eerily effective.
Orson Welles makes Hank Quinlan evil but tragic. We see his arrogance and racism quickly. However, when he realizes that he has fallen off the wagon, we do feel for him. He can be terrifying, such as in his last scene with the hapless Uncle Joe. However, at the end, we end up feeling so sad for the man, done in by his own faults.
The highlight acting-wise is Joseph Calleia as the doomed Menzies. He is loyal and loving, almost worshipful of Quinlan. Seeing him realize that Quinlan was not the man that Menzies held him to be is a slow and painful thing. Menzies loved Quinlan, so the betrayal of his idealizing is heartbreaking.
As much grief as Charlton Heston has received for playing a Mexican, I do not get why Akim Tamiroff still does not get the same level of criticism for his Uncle Joe Grandi. Perhaps it is because he is a more comic figure, with his grandiose manner and toupee (his nephews keep telling him to put his "rug" back on). He is at times bumbling and flustered, almost naive in how he behaves around the cops. However, Tamiroff can also show Uncle Joe's calculating manner. His final scene is downright terrifying, the gruesomeness of it all shocking.
In their smaller roles, Dennis Weaver as the hotel night watchman and Marlene Dietrich as the mysterious Tana are standouts. Weaver's eccentric, perhaps crazed watchman is kooky, scared and engrossing. He freaks out at the mention of "bed" and seems scared of his own shadow. It ran the risk of being ridiculous, but Weaver managed to keep things bizarre without going full cray-cray. Dietrich brings a sense of weariness as Tana, the woman aware of what kind of man Hank Quinlan is, was and could have been.
Touch of Evil is, I think, less about the actual crime or crimes than it is about the ultimate fall of Hank Quinlan. At the end, a man observes that he was a good detective. "And a lousy cop," Tana adds. When asked if that's all she has to say, Tana replies, "He was some kind of man".
Orson Welles has been highly praised for his directing in Touch of Evil. I do not think that he has been given much credit for his witty screenplay (even if the plot itself is a bit opaque). When Tana first sees Quinlan after many years, she sees how heavy Quinlan has grown. Claiming that she doesn't recognize him, Tana looks at him and says, "You better lay off the candy bars". In the same scene, he remarks that he is still fond of her chili and might come up to sample some of it. "Better be careful. Might be too hot for you," she replies. There is a double meaning there to Tana's comment about it being too hot for him.
There is less subtlety at their final meeting. Quinlan, drunk out of his mind, orders Tana to give him a reading. Scrambling the tarot cards, he tells her, "Come on, read my future for me". Tana sadly looks up at him and says, "You haven't got any". "What do you mean?", he asks in an almost childlike manner. "Your future is all used up," she tells him. It is a sad scene, well-acted by both Dietrich and Welles, with the latter directing it to perfection.
Touch of Evil is highly praised for its visual style. The film begins with a four minute and sixteen second single take shot (by my calculations). Here, we see so much going on, establishing part of the plot and keeping viewers in suspense. Unintentionally or not, Orson Welles took the advice on suspense that Alfred Hitchcock offered. An audience might be shocked by a sudden bomb explosion, but they would be in anticipation if they knew that a bomb was underneath a table. The same principle applies.
The film has a strong visual style, using techniques new for the time. There are the shifts from the Mike and Susan stories. Effective use of shadows and low camera angles. A perhaps lesser-mentioned element is Henry Mancini's score. The film uses everything from jazz to an old-time style from a pianola to create this sinister world. Mancini's score sets the mood of danger, sleaze and tragedy the film has.
I believe Charlton Heston referred to Touch of Evil as "the greatest B-Picture ever made". I think I am inclined to agree with Heston on this assertion. There is something low grade about Touch of Evil, as if it is not prestige. However, this restored version is as close to what Welles envisioned as we will have unless his original print has somehow survived and is rediscovered. The film that we have now still holds up well. It has strong performances from even the guest stars, an involving if perhaps opaque story and is a great character study of a good bad man.
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