Touch of Evil - 1958

<p>Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz cross the border into Orson Welles&#39;s fever-dream noir, where a car bomb, a crooked cop, and a studio recut collide in one of the most argued-over films in Hollywood history.</p><p><br></p><p>THE ESSENTIALS</p><p>Director: Orson Welles</p><p>Screenplay: Orson Welles, from the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson</p><p>Producer: Albert Zugsmith | Universal-International</p><p>Stars: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich, Dennis Weaver</p><p>Cinematography: Russell Metty</p><p>Music: Henry Mancini</p><p>Running time: 93 min (1958 release) / 111 min (1998 restoration)</p><p>Filmed in: Venice, California, standing in for the border town of Los Robles</p><p>Recognition: Top prize, 1958 Brussels World&#39;s Fair; National Film Registry (1993); Roger Ebert&#39;s Great Movies</p><p><br></p><p>TRIVIA</p><p>- Welles was hired only to act. Heston assumed Welles was directing, and producer Albert Zugsmith let the misunderstanding stand.</p><p>- The famous opening tracking shot runs about three and a half minutes and took all night. The final take was shot as dawn broke, and you can see the sky lightening.</p><p>- Welles opened day one with two quick close-ups to satisfy a studio spy, then ran an eleven-page setup until 7:40 p.m. and finished two days ahead of schedule.</p><p>- Welles wanted to shoot in Tijuana, but Mexican officials refused. In Venice, the oil derricks you see in the background were real, working wells.</p><p>- Heston later called his decision not to use a Hispanic accent as Vargas one of the biggest mistakes of his career.</p><p>- Welles wore about sixty pounds of padding, prosthetics, and a false nose to play Quinlan, a man twenty years his senior.</p><p>- Marlene Dietrich&#39;s role didn&#39;t exist when filming began. Welles called her the night before, she raided Paramount&#39;s wardrobe, and the studio learned she was in the film from the rushes.</p><p>- Mercedes McCambridge is in the movie because she happened to be having lunch with Welles. He cut her hair himself.</p><p>- Janet Leigh shot the film with a broken left arm, and she and Welles share exactly one scene, which she spends unconscious.</p><p>- The night manager was written for Dennis Weaver, and his performance later got him cast by Steven Spielberg in Duel.</p><p>- Universal cut about fifteen minutes and hired another director to shoot new scenes. Welles saw it once and wrote a 58-page memo. Tha