Touch of Evil, trailer

Orson Welless sublimely sordid noir masterpiece opens with the most explosive tracking shot in all of cinema and ends with one of the mediums most immortal lines (delivered, unforgettably, by Marlene Dietrich as a shady madam). In between is a cascade of pulp pleasures as a Mexican prosecutor (Charlton Heston) and his American wife (Janet Leigh) find themselves caught up in a murder investigation while on their honeymoon in a sleazy border town. At the center of it all is Welless towering performance as the monstrously corrupt cop Hank Quinlansome kind of a man if ever there was one. During the film s postproduction, creative differences between Welles and Universal executives arose and Welles was forced off the of Evil was reedited according to Welles s original vision, as outlined in his memo, in 1998. directed by Orson Welles, 1958 1998