Orson Welles' greatest film, perhaps aside from that of Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil is a simultaneously smooth and gritty work of crime cinema. Begging to be studied and poured over in the same way that so many of Welles' pictures do, Touch of Evil stars the director himself as a cynical, overweight detective named Hank Quinlan, who is caught up in a game of race relations and police morality with Charlton Heston's Mike Vargas on the Mexican/American border. There is a lot going on in Touch of Evil, and it's not an easy movie to absorb in a single viewing. The plot is complex and requires patience, but there are other forces at work which ensure that Touch of Evil rivets you to your seat even if you're not sure of the subtext; that's to say, the wonderful, Hitchcock-like camera work (the opening shot, one long take, is especially renowned), and the film's grimy, cynical atmosphere cements it as a cinema classic.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
