Movie Report: "Touch of Evil"

One of the last, great film noir classics of the golden age of Noir. Maybe Orson Welles' last masterpiece.

And Charlton Heston as a Mexican??

This 1958 film is full of contrasts, the sublime versus the ridiculous. A tale of murder, corruption and betrayal on the U.S.-Mexico border, "Evil" makes the dark streets even darker and adds a twisted streak of humor and style.

Welles, looking far older he was at the time, makes himself massive, monsterous and strangely sad as a corrupt cop. Heston ... well, he ain't no Mexican, but he brought an eager earnestness to the part of a crusading public safety official. And Marlene Dietrich's world-weary sadness was perfect for a small, pivotal role. Apparently, she filmed all her scenes in one day as a favor to Welles.

A moment of technical brillance -- the opening scene is a continual, 3 1/2 moving shot that adds tension and drama to the simplest action. A moment of bizzare indulgence -- the drug scene.

Unfortunately, once the studio got ahold of this movie, they butchered it. From what I understand, the original cut was almost unwatchable. Welles wrote an extensive memo on what needed to be done to fix it -- he was ignored. When that memo was found again in the late 1990s, the film was recut and restored. That's the version you'll find on TV (this was a late-night Showtime viewing for me) and DVD today. Yea for the restorers!

Gritty and black as midnight.