Touch of Evil (1958)
(Orson Welles, US 1958, 111 min., 35mm)
Senior Matinee. Beginning with a masterfully complex opening shot, screenwriter and director Orson Welles plunges headlong into this tale of violence and deceit with all the baroque visual decadence of a cinematic genius. Welles gives one of his greatest performances as Hank Quinlan, the corpulent and corrupt head of police in a sleazy town on the US-Mexico border. When a bomb explodes at the border crossing, Mexican official Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) clashes with Quinlan during the investigation, jeopardizing the safety of Vargas’s new bride, Susie (Janet Leigh). Removed from the production during editing, Welles wrote a lengthy memo requesting changes in editing and sound, and we are pleased to present his original vision here.