Touch of Evil is a 1958 American crime thriller film, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles. The screenplay was loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. Along with Welles, the cast includes Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich. Touch of Evil is one of the last examples of film noir in the genre's classic era . The film opens with a three-minute, twenty-second tracking shot widely considered by critics as one of the greatest long takes in cinematic history. On the Mexico/US border, a man plants a time bomb in a car. A... man and woman enter the vehicle and make a slow journey through town to the US border. Newlyweds Miguel "Mike" Vargas and Susie pass the car several times on foot. The car crosses the border, then explodes, killing the occupants. Miguel Vargas is a drug enforcement official in the Mexican government. Realizing the implications of a Mexican bomb exploding on American soil, he takes an interest in the investigation.
more
| Release date: | April 23, 1958 |
| Directed by: | Orson Welles |
| Runtime: | 95 Minutes |
| Producer: | Rick Schmidlin, Albert Zugsmith |
| Editor: | Walter Murch, Virgil W. Vogel, Aaron Stell, Edward Curtiss |
| Music by: | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography: | Russell Metty |
| Screenplay by: | Orson Welles, Franklin Coen, Paul Monash |
| Estimated budget: | $900,000 |
| Adapted from: | Badge of Evil |
| Genre: | Thriller |