Touch of Evil

Director: Orson Welles
Producers: Rick Schmidlin, Albert Zugsmith
Director of Photography: Russel Metty
Writer: Orson Welles
Editor : Aaron Stell, Walter Murch
Poduction Designer/ Art Director: Robert Clatworkth
Alexander Golitzen

AVF 10 – 5/1/05

In Orson Welles' classic film noir production Touch of Evil, a Mexican police officer named Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), becomes the target of an American police officer named Hank Quinlin (Orson Welles), when Vargas attempts to expose Quinlin framing a murder suspect. Quinlin, a celebrity among police officers has become corrupt in his practices and is willing to go any lengths including committing murder to uphold his reputation. Vargas is an …show more content…

Once the dynamite is found and Quinlin begins interrogating the suspect, the camera stays on Vargas, who is watching from another room. It is obvious that he is suspicious of these accusations. Vargas' facial expressions are used to portray the intensity of what is heard from the other room until the scene makes its way back into view. When Vargas realizes that the dynamite was planted, he confronts Quinlin, who responds to Vargas saying that Vargas is merely racially biased and wants to help his fellow countrymen. Both men begin a mission to ruin each other, Vargas because he wants to do the right thing and Quinlin because his reputation is at stake. The scene in which Quinlin tries to ruin Vargas by killing Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff), a man and leaving Vargas' wife drugged in a hotel room completes Quinlin as a completely corrupt individual. The lighting of the scene is extremely dark and uses a flashing light from outside to illuminate Quinlin. The music from the beginning of the movie, which is synonymous with explosion and suspense of the opening sequence now returns as Quinlin turns on Grandi. As Quinlin pursues Grandi around the room, the camera angles are skewed which is stylistic of film noir. This tactic is used the throw off the equilibrium of the viewer creating and