IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive
RottenTomatoes.com
Register | Log In | What is RT?
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Trailers & Pictures The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches by subscribing to our Google Subscribed Links profile.
 
Movies / On DVD / Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Email to a Friend
  • Add to List
  • Bookmark and Share
  • Buy Poster External Icon

Touch of Evil (1958)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
94 %
Tomatometer

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted: 51

Fresh: 48

Rotten:3

Average Rating: 8.5/10

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Orson Welles's TOUCH OF EVIL is nothing short of a masterpiece. Beginning with a three-minute-plus tracking crane shot, the film explodes onto the screen, literally--the marvelously expressive opening shot ends with a car blowing up,... Orson Welles's TOUCH OF EVIL is nothing short of a masterpiece. Beginning with a three-minute-plus tracking crane shot, the film explodes onto the screen, literally--the marvelously expressive opening shot ends with a car blowing up, and that detonation sets into motion a classic noir tale of betrayal and murder. In a complex exploration of character and morality, Welles plays the racist Captain Hank Quinlan, a grotesque, troubled, and powerful figure who runs his small U.S. border town according to his own version of the law. Quinlan's brutishness and vulgarity contrast starkly with the idealism and playboy good looks of Charlton Heston as Mike Vargas, a Mexican detective trying to put away the leader of a dangerous family of drug dealers--the Grandis. In the U.S. with his new bride, Susie (Janet Leigh), Vargas becomes consumed with exposing Quinlan and his highly questionable methods--too busy to see that his own beautiful blonde bride is in serious danger from both Quinlan and the Grandis. In 1998, Welles's film was restored closer to its creator's original vision, and it is a joy to behold. Every shot is impeccably crafted, every word of dialogue concise and pointed. The camerawork (by Russell Metty and John Russell) is stunning, particularly in the opening scene and the long single take in which Vargas believes he has caught Quinlan planting evidence. The supporting cast, led by Marlene Dietrich, Dennis Weaver, Akim Tamiroff, and Joseph Calleia, gives exhilarating performances. TOUCH OF EVIL, Welles's last studio film, is a near-perfect examination of the dark underbelly of society and the tragic downfall of a once proud man. [More]

Starring: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia

Starring: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ray Collins

Director: Orson Welles, Harry Keller

Director: Orson Welles
Producer: Albert Zugsmith
Director: Harry Keller
Screenwriter: Orson Welles
Composer: Henry Mancini

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Touch of Evil

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Ratings Image

It is a testament to Welles' genius that he was able to turn a piece of pulp literature into such a disturbing, sophisticated and, above all, entertaining study of depravity.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/07/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A sweaty thriller conundrum on character and corruption, justice and the law, worship and betrayal, it plays havoc with moral ambiguities.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Welles' outlandish visual talent is on full display as he puts noir movie conventions through the wringer and creates one of the most terrifyingly seedy yet utterly compelling films ever made.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

one of [Welles'] richest and most rewarding pictures

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
David Wood
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

clearly the work of a genius

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Delightfully entertaining to watch, it is filled with interesting characters and it is playfully irreverent.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
04/29/08
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
Ratings Image

When druggies stash Leigh in a hotel room and throw a party, the movie threatens to turn into Reefer Madness, albeit with the visual panache of Citizen Kane.

Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | comment Comment
04/17/08
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
Ratings Image

One of Welles masterpieces (his first American film in years), this noir thriller of drugs and corruption served as reminder to Hollywood what a brilliant artist he was, using film as vibrant form in its own right, not as extension of drama or literature

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
05/06/07
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

...Welles' baroque border-town murder mystery is a wild masterpiece, a sleazy, grimy, jittery, and ultimately dazzling work of cinematic magic.

Full Review Source: Seattle Weekly | comment Comment
04/30/07
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Weekly
Ratings Image

A cinematic masterpiece and arguably the last great film noir.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/06/07
J.D. Lafrance
Film Threat
Ratings Image

I first saw it when I was 14 and thought it was one of the worst pictures ever -- garish, oppressive, and appallingly overacted. Grown up, I'd go with those same adjectives, except now I think it's one of the best.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
04/06/07
David Edelstein
Slate
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
02/05/05
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/03
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
06/25/03
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Ratings Image

Where Mr. Welles soundly succeeds is in generating enough sinister electricity for three such yarns and in generally staging it like a wild, murky nightmare.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/21/03
Howard Thompson
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Dark, sinister and not altogether comprehensible, this is nonetheless an intriguing study of the art of filmmaking.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/14/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
04/27/03
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com
Ratings Image

...embodies everything that is so exhilarating and maddening about Welles. Both inspired and confused, Touch of Evil is the work of a master who cannot quite give life on screen to what he imagines in his head.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
10/11/02
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
07/27/02
Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for Touch of Evil

April 07, 2008: Charlton Heston's Most Memorable Performances
With his classically chiseled looks and basso profundo speaking voice, Charlton Heston was an icon of old-school Hollywood. In remembrance of Heston, Rotten Tomatoes has... More...

February 28, 2006: Three Great Character Actors Gone in One Sad Weekend
The traditional logic that says "famous people always die in threes" was backed up with a vengeance this past weekend as we lost a trio of talented, prolific, and... More...

July 07, 2005: In Other News...Natalie Portman, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Britney Spears, and More!
Entertainment watchers know she shaved her head for the upcoming "V for Vendetta," but New York's finest must have been wary of Natalie Portman's new look when they... More...

See More Topics...

Related Forums for Touch of Evil

Film review: A Touch of Evil with Excellence
by: Roz 7/31/02
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
FRESH: 1 93% Iron Man
FRESH: 2 85% Forgetting Sarah Marshall
ROTTEN: 3 50% Sex and the City - The…
ROTTEN: 4 52% Leatherheads
ROTTEN: 5 12% Made of Honor

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
FRESH: 77 77% Indiana Jones and the …
FRESH: 97 97% 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
FRESH: 88 88% Mongol
FRESH: 78 78% Standard Operating Procedure
ROTTEN: 30 30% War, Inc.

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Mirrors

Mirrors

Alexandre Aja talks exclusively to RT!

Best Animated Movies

Best Animated Movies

Which films top RT's list of the greats?

RT's Costume Guide

RT's Costume Guide

Dress to impress this Halloween!

The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom

New pics of Rachel Weisz' latest!

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Steve Carell to Get Smart again.
64
  • Goyer Debunks Every Single TDK Sequel Rumor Source: MTV
42
  • Weekly Ketchup: Branagh directs Thor, Seagal vs. aliens?
92
  • The Net Reacts to 25 Minutes of Watchmen Footage
50
  • Brett Ratner Is Your God of War Source: UGO
24
  • Kenneth Branagh Directing Thor? Source: Variety
36
  • First Shots of Mia Wasikowska as Burton's Alice Surface Source: Slashfilm
2
  • Bill Murray Talks Ghostbusters 3 Source: Ain't It Cool News
19
  • Weekly Ketchup: Johnny Depp to play Tonto in The Lone Ranger
47
  • Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
2
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Bill Murray's Best Movies
46
  • Critics Consensus: Express Scores, Body of Lies Falls Flat
35
  • Weekly Ketchup: Steve Carell to Get Smart again.
32
  • Box Office Wrapup: The Dogs Rule Once Again
29
  • RT on DVD: Exclusive Indiana Jones Concept Art, Quantum of Solace DVD News
11
  • Box Office Guru Preview: Audiences Surrounded by Lies
9
  • Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
8
  • Meet Corey Feldman Courtesy of RT
1
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
8
  • RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
9
  • Video Exclusive: Gerard Butler talks RocknRolla and 300 sequel with RT
13
  • Video Exclusive: Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser and the Mummy 3 Cast Talk to RT
14
  • RT goes behind the scenes on Stargate: Continuum
4
  • Starship Troopers' Casper Van Dien Shares His Five Favorite Films
48
  • RT Interview: Philippe Petit on Crossing the Twin Towers on a Wire
2
  • RT Interview: David Duchovny on The X-Files, Californication and Directing
11
  • RT Interview: Ben Barnes on Taking on the Journey of Prince Caspian
1
  • RT Interview: William Moseley on His Last Narnia Adventure in Prince Caspian
2
 
 

Around The Network

  • Touch of Evil at Rotten Tomatoes
 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.