A Series of Writings on Films that I feel are essential for film lovers, coupled with films that are personal to me.
Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958) begins with a literal ticking bomb and ends with a man whose time has run out. Like other noirs it's inherently tragic and fatalistic. The making of the film would end sadly as well, with Welles losing control over the film. His rough cut was re-edited and re-shot by Universal. After Welles viewed the re-edited version, he was prompted to write a 58 page memo outlining what he wanted changed. His notes were ignored and it wasn't until 1998, 13 years after Welles' death, that a restored version, based on Welles' notes, edited by the legendary Walter Mursch and produced by Rick Schmidlin, was released. There can never be a true "Director's Cut" of Touch of Evil, since Welles' rough edit is lost, but the restored version is likely the closest to Welles' original vision. And admittedly it's the only version I've seen- the one on which this essay is based.
The film begins with what is heralded as one of the greatest tracking shots in cinema history. A bomb is placed in the trunk of American businessman Rudy Linnekar (Jeffrey Green) . The camera follows the car and drives though a Mexican border town, while also introducing us to Mexican narcotics officer Miguel "Mike" Vargas (Charlton Heston) and his wife Susie (Janet Leigh) on their honeymoon. When Linnekar and his girlfriend Zita (Jo Lansing) drive across the border of the United States, the car blows up. Since the bomb was planted on the Mexican side of the border Vargas has to postpone his Honeymoon and join the investigation with the American police.
Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles) arrives on the scene and is antagonistic towards Vargas, establishing the racial tension that's a prominent theme throughout the film. The encounter between Vargas and Quinlan is paralleled with Susie's encounter with Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff), the brother of a drug dealer whom Vargas put in prison. Despite being married to a Mexican man, I couldn't help but feel she harbours some prejudice against certain Mexican people. She calls one of Grandi's nephews "Pancho" and Grandi himself "Little Caesar." The film does portray its Mexican villains very broadly but to be fair the motel nightman (Dennis Weaver) appears later isn't exactly subtle either. And Quinlan is another theatrical Wellesian character. The film ultimately walks a fine line between being about racism but also having troubling aspects of its time period- the largest one being Heston in brown face. Thankfully, the portrayal of Vargas is that of noble man attempting to navigate an in-noble world.
As the investigation proceeds Quinlan plants evidence (two sticks of dynamite) in the apartment of Manolo Sanchez (Victor Millan), who's been having a relationship with Linneker's daughter Marcia. The interrogation sequence is a another long take, emphasizing the claustrophobia felt by Sanchez Vargas, who saw the empty shoe box that the dynamite was planted in it, calls him out on it. The fact Quinlan is so easily caught planting evidence shows he's losing his edge. It's also a major turning point for both Quinlan and Vargas. Both their motives will now change. Vargas will attempt to reveal that Quinlan has been planting evidence over the years; and Quinlan will do anything undermine Vargas' investigation. He conspires with Grandi to make Susie look like a drug addict.
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Quinlan recounts to his partner Pete Menzies (whom Quinlan took a bullet for in his leg) his wife was strangled back when he was a rookie cop. Quinlan never caught the killer, who he says was killed in battle during WWI. "That was the last killer that ever got out of my hands," Quinlan says. This line is the key to his character. His guilt over never finding his wife's killer drives him to make sure no one ever escapes justice. Quinlan is sympathetic. He may have been a good cop once but has become a cynical and corrupt man. Menzies idolises Quinlan but eventually comes to realise-or maybe he always knew- that Quinlan is unethical. Menzies' arc is quietly heartbreaking and arguably the most significant in the film.
Vargas is not the traditional noir hero. He's not an anti-hero or someone who goes through a tragic downfall. I'd put forward that Vargas' whole persona is designed to contrast with Quinlan, but also suggests the man Quinlan used to be or could have been. Vargas is young, honourable, newly married and thin. Quinlan is old, fat, practically unrecognisable to Tanya (Marlene Dietrich), the brothel owner who- besides Menzies- is the only person with whom Quinlan has some kind of emotional connection. She's also the one who delivers the fatalistic line, "Your future is all used up." At the end of the film Vargas is reunited with Susie but Tanya doesn't get to Quinlan in time before he dies from Menzies' bullet.
Welles was a life-long Shakespeare fan, directing and starring in film adaptations of Othello and Macbeth, as well as Sir John Falstaff in Chimes of Midnight. Charles Foster Kane and Hank Quinlan are themselves grand, tragic figures. Even Tanya's final words about Quinlan- "He was some kind of man. What does it matter what you say about people"- invokes the ending of Shakespearean tragedy, with a character remarking on the hero and the events of the play. While Tanya is only in a few scenes, the film ends on her, reminding the audience that despite Vargas' Hollywood happy ending, life goes on for others. Tanya isn't a sentimental person, which gives the final image of her walking back to the brothel an stronger emotional resonance than an outpouring of grief.
The final irony of the film is that Sanchez really did plant the bomb. However, if not for the planted evidence, would Sanchez have gotten away with the crime? Ultimately, I feel whodunit and why is always beside the point in noir. It's more about, style, behaviour and dialogue.
Cinematographer Russell Metty would win an Oscar several years later for Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus but he should've been nominated and won for Touch of Evil. The world of Touch of Evil is atypically shadowy for noir but also has a distinct blend of grounded-ness and stylization. Welles' films often had a surreal quality to them, with sometimes nightmarish images. In the case of this film, when Susie is attacked in the motel by Grandi's nephews. However, I don't like the Susie subplot, and think the film would be tighter with something different for her to do. The problem is she's not proactive enough and feels like a victim throughout the whole film.
Despite being acknowledged as one of the greatest and most innovative filmmakers in history, Welles had a career full of financial and artistic struggles, though the fact he was still able to craft worthwhile and artistically ambitious films is a testament to his genius as a filmmaker. The restored version of Touch of Evil may not be the director's cut but it still an evocative and sad film made by a master filmmaker.
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