Touch of Evil - Metacritic

X

1958
Approved
1 h 35 m

1958
Approved
1 h 35 m

Summary This film noir portrait of corruption and morally-compromised obsessions stars Welles as Hank Quinlan, a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot. Charlton Heston plays an honorable Mexican narcotics investigator who clashes with the bigoted Quinlan after probing into his dark past. A memorabl...

Directed By: Orson Welles

Written By: Whit Masterson, Franklin Coen, Paul Monash, Orson Welles

1958
Approved
1 h 35 m

1958
Approved
1 h 35 m

Touch of Evil

Metascore Universal Acclaim Based on 22 Critic Reviews

99

User Score Universal Acclaim Based on 116 User Ratings

8.3

My Score

Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

Summary This film noir portrait of corruption and morally-compromised obsessions stars Welles as Hank Quinlan, a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot. Charlton Heston plays an honorable Mexican narcotics investigator who clashes with the bigoted Quinlan after probing into his dark past. A memorabl...

Directed By: Orson Welles

Written By: Whit Masterson, Franklin Coen, Paul Monash, Orson Welles

Where to Watch

Critic Reviews

Metascore

Universal Acclaim Based on 22 Critic Reviews

95% Positive
21 Reviews

5% Mixed
1 Review

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

Metascore

Universal Acclaim Based on 22 Critic Reviews

95% Positive
21 Reviews

5% Mixed
1 Review

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Philadelphia Inquirer

What Touch of Evil is really about, though, is filmmaking: evoking a mood of sweaty despair, of sour, sinister doom, using the vocabulary of a crime picture and a group of remarkable talents, in front of and behind the camera. [Director's Cut; 25 Sept 1998, p.04]

By Steven Rea FULL REVIEW

San Francisco Chronicle

Welles goes for broke in his performance and direction, and the only trick he misses is a tracking shot around his own bulging waistline. [Director's Cut]

By Bob Graham FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

User Score

Universal Acclaim Based on 116 User Ratings

86% Positive
100 Ratings

8% Mixed
9 Ratings

6% Negative
7 Ratings

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

User Reviews

User Score

Universal Acclaim Based on 116 User Ratings

86% Positive
100 Ratings

8% Mixed
9 Ratings

6% Negative
7 Ratings

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Jan 31, 2020

Interesting title considering the studio recut it in a fight with Welles that ended in them not wanting to submit it for awards and him never working for a studio again. Also interesting is that Welles' character mirrored his life at that time. I saw the 1998 version, reconstructed from Welles' notes. It is fantastic, his 2nd best movie, just have to get past Charlton Heston as a Mexican.

Report

Aug 23, 2019

The best, GREATEST thrilling gangster movie ever portrayed! With the best movie character ever portrayed: Orson Welles as Capt. Hank Quinlan! Plus the best movie quote ever spoken: "He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?" And the best movie score ever composed!

Report

Entertainment Weekly

A film noir great... Just to see and hear the extraordinary 3 minute and 20 second opening sequence — a fluid tour de force tracking shot — without impediment of opening credits and street-sound-masking movie score is accomplishment enough.

By Lisa Schwarzbaum FULL REVIEW

Eternal damnation to the wretch at Universal who printed the opening titles over the most brilliant establishing shot in film history—a shot that establishes not only place and main characters in its continuous movement over several city blocks, but also the film's theme (crossing boundaries), spatial metaphors, and peculiar bolero rhythm.

By Dave Kehr FULL REVIEW

A masterclass in tension, visual panache and B-movie excess.

By Joshua Rothkopf FULL REVIEW

The New York Times

Mr. Welles' is an obvious but brilliant bag of tricks. Using a superlative camera (manned by Russell Metty) like a black-snake whip, he lashes the action right into the spectator's eye. [22 May 1958, p.25]

Touch of Evil smacks of brilliance but ultimately flounders in it.

See All 22 Critic Reviews

Nov 25, 2018

An essential from Orson Welles. Police thriller with the well-known ingredents that makes works clockwise: crooked policemen, femmes fatale, an overwhemed atmosphere and intrigue.

Report

May 17, 2020

Not my favourite Film Noir. Quinlan is so disgusting. And somehow I find this movie was so cheap, many scenes are in the studio with artificial light. There are some very mean scenes, but somehow I just wanted to see the end.

Report

See All 4 User Reviews

Details

Production Company Universal International Pictures (UI)

Release Date Feb 1, 1958

Duration 1 h 35 m

Rating Approved

Genres

Tagline The Overwhelming Drama of a Strange Vengeance

View All Details

Awards

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

Society of Camera Operators

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

National Film Preservation Board, USA

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

Related Movies

The Godfather

Universal Acclaim

Touch of Evil

Universal Acclaim

Pépé le Moko (re-release)

Universal Acclaim

Rashomon

Universal Acclaim

The Night of the Hunter

Universal Acclaim

Rififi (re-release)

Universal Acclaim

The Maltese Falcon

Universal Acclaim

12 Angry Men

Universal Acclaim

Mean Streets

Universal Acclaim

Collective

Universal Acclaim

Double Indemnity

Universal Acclaim

Pulp Fiction

Universal Acclaim

Taxi Driver

Universal Acclaim

The Irishman

Universal Acclaim

Carlos

Universal Acclaim

The French Connection

Universal Acclaim

Elevator to the Gallows

Universal Acclaim

Shoplifters

Universal Acclaim

The 39 Steps

Universal Acclaim

Badlands

Universal Acclaim

Band of Outsiders

Universal Acclaim

Days of Being Wild (re-release)

Universal Acclaim

Related News

Director Roxanne Benjamin Gender-Flips Gaslighting and Parental Tropes in Horror Film 'There's Something Wrong With the Children'

Director Roxanne Benjamin Gender-Flips Gaslighting and Parental Tropes in Horror Film 'There's Something Wrong With the Children'

Danielle Turchiano

'To me, [the film] was more about the idea of family and what it's supposed to look like,' the director tells Metacritic. 'You might have to fight against that continually until you die.'

2023 Critics Choice Awards Winners: From 'Better Call Saul' to 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

2023 Critics Choice Awards Winners: From 'Better Call Saul' to 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

Danielle Turchiano

Find out who took home trophies at the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards.

With 'The Drop,' Director Sarah Adina Smith Has Made Her Most Personal Movie Yet — And in a Genre She Never Expected to Work In

With 'The Drop,' Director Sarah Adina Smith Has Made Her Most Personal Movie Yet — And in a Genre She Never Expected to Work In

Sam Rosenberg

The comedy was born out of a conversation between Smith and her DP husband Shaheen Seth about the female equivalent of the protagonist's bad action in 'Force Majeure.'

2023 DGA Awards Theatrical Nominations: From Steven Spielberg to John Patton Ford

2023 DGA Awards Theatrical Nominations: From Steven Spielberg to John Patton Ford

Danielle Turchiano

Find out who was nominated for theatrical film DGA Awards in 2023.

2023 SAG Awards Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and 'Ozark' Score Big, 'The White Lotus' Switches Categories

2023 SAG Awards Nominations: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and 'Ozark' Score Big, 'The White Lotus' Switches Categories

Danielle Turchiano

Find out which actors from film and television earned Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations at the 29th annual celebration.