Touch of Evil

"You're a killer."
"Partly. I'm a cop."

This exchange between two cops towards the end of the movie illustrates the moral struggle underlying the enforcement of the law. Vargas (Charlton Heston) asks Detective Quinlan (Orson Welles) who really has the ultimate authority--the cops or the law? In this film noir (the last we will probably watch) the ethical dilemma is between an american cop who frames the suspects he truly believes are guilty, and a mexican cop who tries to expose him in a quest for justice. 

The beginning of this movie is famous, and we both thought it was really cool. 

Kamala: It is a few minute long tracking shot starting with the placement of a bomb in the trunk of a car. 

Emily: The car moves in and out of the shot that switches focus from Charlton Heston and his pretty blonde bride and the oil magnate with his hooker driving the car. 

Kamala: It was ingeniously suspenseful. 

Emily: I really liked Marlene Dietrich as the creepy gypsy.

Kamala: She danced for Hitler. That is weird. 

Emily: She has this great line at the end though when a detective asks "Is that all you have to say about him?" she says: "What does it matter what you say about people?" I liked that.

Kamala: This is thought of as one of the last films of the "Classic" noir era, and that shows in its spare dialogue, ambiguous, almost bitter ending. One of the reasons Touch of Evil fits so well into our project is that it was produced through a large studio, Universal International, and director Orson Welles had trouble releasing his cut for that reason. The DVD came with a preface that after the studio showed him their final cut, Welles wrote a 55 page memo explaining how his artistic integrity was compromised. The version we saw was the closest available to Welles' desired cut. Basically the trouble with this movie shows what Kiss Me Deadly was able to avoid by working under United Artists.

Emily: It was funny the way they talked about the "reefer." And "mainlining" dope? I had no idea that it was possible to mainline "reefer." The narcotics subplot was cute. 

Kamala: Also we had to put subtitles on like 15 minutes in because Orson Welles was INCOMPREHENSIBLE! He sounded like Weelll sheee ii dont shsnoww ifff youuur. He had balls in his mouth. 
Also Charlton Heston plays a mexican...