Touch of Evil (1958) on Netflix
PG-1319581h 51mCrimeDramaFilm-NoirThriller
A car bomb kills a wealthy builder while Mexican narcotics official Miguel Vargas honeymoons at the border with his bride Susie. Vargas joins the investigation led by police captain Hank Quinlan.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.9/10115,659 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
Miguel Vargas, a Mexican narcotics official, and his American wife Susie are honeymooning in a border town when a bomb planted in a car kills a wealthy American builder. Because the device was placed on the Mexican side, Vargas stays to take part in the case. The American inquiry is run by Captain Hank Quinlan, a veteran who walks with a cane and works on instinct, and he quickly settles on a young Mexican, Manolo Sanchez. Joe Grandi, acting head of the crime family Vargas is investigating, presses Susie to make her husband drop the case, and Vargas keeps working both sides of the border.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Touch of Evil (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Universal-International removed about fifteen minutes from Orson Welles's cut and hired Harry Keller to shoot new expository scenes; Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh initially refused to film the re-shoots out of loyalty to Welles, until Heston's agents told him he was contractually obligated.
- Welles had Mercedes McCambridge's hair cut and applied black shoe polish over her hair and eyebrows on set, then told her he wanted a heavy, coarse Mexican accent for her uncredited role.
- Aldous Huxley suggested Welles shoot in Venice, California, telling him the town had decayed; on seeing the city's Bridge of Sighs, Welles revised the film's ending to incorporate it.
- A screening of the reworked Touch of Evil was set for the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, but it was canceled at the last moment after Beatrice Welles, Welles's daughter, threatened legal action. Her suit against Universal was settled out of court.
