Cinema listings with film information and movie reviews
Touch of Evil
Reissued almost as often as Orson Welles' other masterpiece, Citizen Kane, this 1958 thriller is a tour-de-force example of economical filmmaking riveted together by some strong performances and sweaty tension that seems to literally drip off the screen. Opening with one of the most famous tracking shots in cinematic history - a three-minute sweep through a Mexican border town, introducing the audience to many of the principal characters - the film follows narcotics investigator Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) as he probes a car bombing in the town, sometimes aided and sometimes hampered by US police chief Hank Quinlan (Welles). Pulling together threads of myriad subplots, the film paints an incredibly detailed portrait of a community drowning in corruption, presided over by men with few morals. Welles' inventive camerawork still dazzles in these hyperstylised times. A classic.
