The 30th entry in an on-going series of audiovisual essays by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin. As is well known, Donald Trump is a big fan of Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941). But, as Errol Morris pointed out (having interviewed him for an unfinished TV documentary segment in the early 2000s), Trump tends to read Kane askew: when prompted by Morris to offer Charles Foster Kane some life advice, Trump confidently replied: “Get yourself a different woman.”Our agitprop audiovisual essay, started on the day of Trump’s recent “declaration of emergency” and concerning the border between Mexico and America, begins from this wild speculation: if Trump, in his announced Welles fandom, has ever seen Touch of Evil (1958), what mangled trace of it could remain embedded in his imagination? We are not equating the mindsets of Trump and Welles here. Touch of Evil is a complex film. As many intelligent B-movies do,...
- 2/21/2019
- MUBI
Trouble Is My Business with Brittney Powell. Co-written by actor/voice actor Tom Konkle, who also directed, and Xena: Warrior Princess actress Brittney Powell, Trouble Is My Business is a humorous homage to film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s, among them John Huston's The Maltese Falcon and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Konkle stars in the sort of role that back in the '40s and '50s belonged to the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, and Alan Ladd. As the femme fatale, Brittney Powell is supposed to evoke memories of Jane Greer, Lizabeth Scott, Lauren Bacall, and Claire Trevor. 'Trouble Is My Business': Humorous film noir homage evokes memories of 'The Maltese Falcon' & 'Touch of Evil' A crunchy, witty, and often just plain funny mash-up of classic noir tropes, from hard-boiled private dicks to the easy-on-the-eyes femme fatales – in addition to dialogue worthy of Dashiell Hammett and, occasionally...
- 10/21/2017
- by Tim Cogshell
- Alt Film Guide
An enjoyably grungy item about moral turpitude in the Argentine backwoods, The Lost Brother shows maverick director Israel Adrian Caetano returning to form and also to the darkness of 2002’s A Red Bear. Fusing Western, noir, surreal black comedy and plenty of bleak, bitter sunshine (the film is based on a novel called Under this Terrible Sun), Brother is driven by an enthrallingly alert Leonardo Sbaraglia — apparently having the time of his life as Hank Quinlan’s younger Argentinian sibling — who delivers a nasty performance that ripples out into the threateningly creepy and darkly surreal world the film depicts....
- 7/15/2017
- by Jonathan Holland
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“This isn’t the real Mexico. You know that. All border towns bring out the worst in a country. I can just imagine your mother’s face if she could see our honeymoon hotel.”
Touch Of Evil screens Wednesday May 10th at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in ‘The Loop’) as part of their new ‘Classics in the Loop’ Crime & Noir film series. The movie starts at 7pm and admission is $7. It will be on The Tivoli’s big screen.
Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) is a Mexican detective who gets caught up in the strange case of a car being blown up in an America-Mexico border town. Not only does the ethical Vargas have to deal with criminal factions in the area, he must butt heads with the domineering Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles), a celebrated police detective. Vargas must prove that Quinlan isn’t the hero that others make him out to be,...
Touch Of Evil screens Wednesday May 10th at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in ‘The Loop’) as part of their new ‘Classics in the Loop’ Crime & Noir film series. The movie starts at 7pm and admission is $7. It will be on The Tivoli’s big screen.
Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) is a Mexican detective who gets caught up in the strange case of a car being blown up in an America-Mexico border town. Not only does the ethical Vargas have to deal with criminal factions in the area, he must butt heads with the domineering Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles), a celebrated police detective. Vargas must prove that Quinlan isn’t the hero that others make him out to be,...
- 5/8/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
There’s nothing more fun than getting to watch classic movies the way they were intended–on the big screen!
Now, I understand plenty of people don’t want to go to a theater, spend a fortune on tickets, popcorn, and a drink just to see the glow of cell phones and hear people rudely talking while someone kicks your seat from behind, but that’s not the experience you’ll get at Landmark theaters affordable ‘Crime & Noir’ film series. St. Louis movie buffs are in for a treat as Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater will return with it’s ‘Classics on the Loop’ every Wednesday beginning April 5th at 7pm. This season, the Tivoli will screen, on their big screen (which seats 320 btw), eight crime and noir masterpiece that need to be seen in a theater with an audience. Admission is only $7.
One benefits of the big screen is...
Now, I understand plenty of people don’t want to go to a theater, spend a fortune on tickets, popcorn, and a drink just to see the glow of cell phones and hear people rudely talking while someone kicks your seat from behind, but that’s not the experience you’ll get at Landmark theaters affordable ‘Crime & Noir’ film series. St. Louis movie buffs are in for a treat as Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater will return with it’s ‘Classics on the Loop’ every Wednesday beginning April 5th at 7pm. This season, the Tivoli will screen, on their big screen (which seats 320 btw), eight crime and noir masterpiece that need to be seen in a theater with an audience. Admission is only $7.
One benefits of the big screen is...
- 3/22/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The story of Orson Welles is famously tragic: A wunderkind who made what many consider to be the greatest movie right out of the gate at 25, Citizen Kane, his career was then squandered through a variety of studio battles, so that he only wound up with a handful of masterpieces instead of the many he surely had in him. One of his later efforts, which he wrote, directed, and co-starred in, was 1958’s Touch Of Evil. The gritty late-era noir has Charlton Heston playing a Mexican drug-enforcement official at the U.S. border, and features Janet Leigh as Heston’s wife, a young Dennis Weaver, Marlene Dietrich as a madam, and Welles as corrupt sheriff Hank Quinlan. Welles was in his 40s by this time, and grossly obese, but his work behind the camera on Touch Of Evil (including the still-famous three-minute opening tracking shot) convinced him that ...
- 1/23/2017
- by Gwen Ihnat
- avclub.com
After Distribpix Inc.'s Steven Morowitz and filmmaker Joel Bender unearthed a 35mm print of Orson Welles' 1965 Shakespearean classic—after decades when the film was unseeable—there was hope that it would soon hit theaters. Now there is a definitive restoration from Janus Films, which took 20 years, but not from this source. Janus will present "Chimes at Midnight" in an exclusive engagement at New York's Film Forum and L.A.'s Cinefamily starting January 1, with a rollout to select U.S. cities to follow. Read More: "How a Near-Pristine 35mm Print of Orson Welles' 'Chimes at Midnight' Was Found" The part Orson Welles was really born to play wasn’t Charles Foster Kane, nor the candy-addicted Hank Quinlan, or Harry Lime, or Cardinal Wolsey. It was a character who first appeared 418 years ago, who ducks in and out of several plays contributing bon mots and bad behavior; a wit,...
- 12/15/2015
- by John Anderson and Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Stranger
Written by Anthony Veiller, Victor Trivas, and Decla Dunning
Directed by Orson Welles
USA, 1946
After all the dust had settled and leaked blood had dried following the nightmare that was World War II, the Allied states co-organized a special commission for the purpose of investigating the details thought out by the sick minds of the Nazi regime who perpetrated the ghastly horrors in Europe. Tribunals were established shortly thereafter to convict the culprits, two English-language films having been the subject of said tribunals: the aptly titled Judgment at Nuremberg (the city where the prosecutions occurred) and its more recent remake, Nuremberg, which aired on television as a miniseries in 2000. History has also taught that several of the more slippery Nazi members attempted escape from their formerly secured bastion of terror and lay low elsewhere around the globe. Just because the war and their plans of exterminating a race...
Written by Anthony Veiller, Victor Trivas, and Decla Dunning
Directed by Orson Welles
USA, 1946
After all the dust had settled and leaked blood had dried following the nightmare that was World War II, the Allied states co-organized a special commission for the purpose of investigating the details thought out by the sick minds of the Nazi regime who perpetrated the ghastly horrors in Europe. Tribunals were established shortly thereafter to convict the culprits, two English-language films having been the subject of said tribunals: the aptly titled Judgment at Nuremberg (the city where the prosecutions occurred) and its more recent remake, Nuremberg, which aired on television as a miniseries in 2000. History has also taught that several of the more slippery Nazi members attempted escape from their formerly secured bastion of terror and lay low elsewhere around the globe. Just because the war and their plans of exterminating a race...
- 10/25/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Touch of Evil
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles, from the novel by Whit Masterson
U.S.A., 1958
Touted as one of the greatest films of all time, let alone one of the greatest American films of all time, Touch of Evil has had the misfortune of being bastardized by the studio system, in this case Universal Studios. The studio was far from content with the original cut the director Welles showed them. Certain scenes were re-shot, re-edited, re-whatever you can think of. Welles was most displeased with the fruit of the studio’s efforts and went as far as to write a lengthy memo which included a series of demands. The current article shan’t delve too much on these events given the amount of literature already available on the topic, but suffice to say that there are today 3 different versions of Touch of Evil.
The review...
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles, from the novel by Whit Masterson
U.S.A., 1958
Touted as one of the greatest films of all time, let alone one of the greatest American films of all time, Touch of Evil has had the misfortune of being bastardized by the studio system, in this case Universal Studios. The studio was far from content with the original cut the director Welles showed them. Certain scenes were re-shot, re-edited, re-whatever you can think of. Welles was most displeased with the fruit of the studio’s efforts and went as far as to write a lengthy memo which included a series of demands. The current article shan’t delve too much on these events given the amount of literature already available on the topic, but suffice to say that there are today 3 different versions of Touch of Evil.
The review...
- 1/18/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Odd List Ryan Lambie Jan 8, 2013
As Werner Herzog lights up the screen as the villain in Jack Reacher, we look at a few other directors who've turned evil for the movies...
It takes a certain kind of actor to bring a truly great villain to life. They need to be able to reach into the darkest recesses of their psyche, certainly, but they also need to bring a touch of something extra, too. They need to convince us not only that they're cruel, but that they're also human beings - after all, the best movie villains are often seductive and magnetic as well as unspeakably amoral.
While the finest antagonists are usually played by actors, there have been occasions where directors have stepped in front of the camera to indulge their inner demon. The list that follows attempts to deal exclusively with performances from people known primarily as directors first,...
As Werner Herzog lights up the screen as the villain in Jack Reacher, we look at a few other directors who've turned evil for the movies...
It takes a certain kind of actor to bring a truly great villain to life. They need to be able to reach into the darkest recesses of their psyche, certainly, but they also need to bring a touch of something extra, too. They need to convince us not only that they're cruel, but that they're also human beings - after all, the best movie villains are often seductive and magnetic as well as unspeakably amoral.
While the finest antagonists are usually played by actors, there have been occasions where directors have stepped in front of the camera to indulge their inner demon. The list that follows attempts to deal exclusively with performances from people known primarily as directors first,...
- 1/7/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Eureka Video: The Masters of Cinema Series
USA | 111 min.
1.37:1 + 1.85:1 ratios
By Adrian Smith
Orson Welles liked to relate the tale of how one evening he headed home after a long day directing Touch of Evil, whilst also playing corrupt cop Hank Quinlan, to find his wife was throwing a dinner party. Still in his full costume and make-up, looking bloated, haggard and on the point of collapse, guests who had not seen Welles for some time remarked, “Orson, it's great to see you looking so well!” Hank Quinlan does not look like a well man. He's an American trying to solve a bombing in a small Mexican border town. He seems to be tired of police work. He just wants to get the job done, and he is not above manipulating the truth or faking evidence. After all, the guy is probably guilty anyway. Reluctantly he is aided...
USA | 111 min.
1.37:1 + 1.85:1 ratios
By Adrian Smith
Orson Welles liked to relate the tale of how one evening he headed home after a long day directing Touch of Evil, whilst also playing corrupt cop Hank Quinlan, to find his wife was throwing a dinner party. Still in his full costume and make-up, looking bloated, haggard and on the point of collapse, guests who had not seen Welles for some time remarked, “Orson, it's great to see you looking so well!” Hank Quinlan does not look like a well man. He's an American trying to solve a bombing in a small Mexican border town. He seems to be tired of police work. He just wants to get the job done, and he is not above manipulating the truth or faking evidence. After all, the guy is probably guilty anyway. Reluctantly he is aided...
- 3/26/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
(Orson Welles, 1958, Eureka!, 12)
Welles began and ended his Hollywood career directing and starring in great noir movies, Citizen Kane in 1941, and Touch of Evil, his ultimate cult picture. The latter was intended to be a minor Universal thriller with Welles as the corrupt, crippled homicide cop Hank Quinlan at a Us border town. But Charlton Heston, cast as an upright Mexican narcotics agent, insisted Welles write and direct, and it was transformed into a baroque masterpiece – dark, complex, perverse, riveting – that puzzled Universal, which released it recut with added scenes. This excellent two-disc Blu-ray set contains two versions from 1958 and (crucially) the 1998 reconstruction from Welles's notes. There are four different commentaries and a first-rate booklet with articles by Welles, Truffaut and Bazin. From the now classic opening long-take to the final sequence where Marlene Dietrich contributes to the last exchange ("Hank was a great detective all right" – "And a lousy...
Welles began and ended his Hollywood career directing and starring in great noir movies, Citizen Kane in 1941, and Touch of Evil, his ultimate cult picture. The latter was intended to be a minor Universal thriller with Welles as the corrupt, crippled homicide cop Hank Quinlan at a Us border town. But Charlton Heston, cast as an upright Mexican narcotics agent, insisted Welles write and direct, and it was transformed into a baroque masterpiece – dark, complex, perverse, riveting – that puzzled Universal, which released it recut with added scenes. This excellent two-disc Blu-ray set contains two versions from 1958 and (crucially) the 1998 reconstruction from Welles's notes. There are four different commentaries and a first-rate booklet with articles by Welles, Truffaut and Bazin. From the now classic opening long-take to the final sequence where Marlene Dietrich contributes to the last exchange ("Hank was a great detective all right" – "And a lousy...
- 12/18/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Marlene Dietrich said of Orson Welles's Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil that he was "a great detective but a lousy cop", a judgment that could equally be applied to Brendan Gleeson's corrupt but deeply lovable Connemara policeman, Sergeant Gerry Boyle, in John Michael McDonagh's The Guard. This lively comedy-thriller is the latest example of that very knowing genre, the Irish crime movie, whose greatest peaks to date also star Gleeson: John Boorman's The General, and In Bruges, written and directed by McDonagh's brother, Martin.
It's an amalgam of In the Heat of the Night, The Quiet Man and Pulp Fiction telling the not wholly plausible tale of a combined anti-narcotics operation between the FBI and the Garda on the west coast of Ireland that brings together sly, slobbish, boozy, faux-racist Gerry Boyle and efficient, uptight federal agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), an African American Ivy League graduate and Rhodes scholar.
It's an amalgam of In the Heat of the Night, The Quiet Man and Pulp Fiction telling the not wholly plausible tale of a combined anti-narcotics operation between the FBI and the Garda on the west coast of Ireland that brings together sly, slobbish, boozy, faux-racist Gerry Boyle and efficient, uptight federal agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), an African American Ivy League graduate and Rhodes scholar.
- 8/20/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Orson Welles, 1958
In the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson – the source material for this movie – the hero is an American with a Mexican wife (in a marriage that is nine years old). It was Orson Welles who flipped the racial mix, and made the marriage brand new. Welles intended a story of three frontiers: the rancid Mexican-American border; the way a good detective becomes a bad cop; and a provocation on interracial sexuality. To be sure, it's a recognisable Charlton Heston in makeup as Mike Vargas, with Janet Leigh as his Susie – but in 1958, that bond disturbed a lot of viewers. Moreover, the overtone of honeymoon is a wicked set-up for threats of rape. Will the horrendous border scum get to Susie before Mike? If you doubt that suggestiveness, just notice how the car bomb explodes as the honeymooners are ready to enjoy their first kiss on American soil.
In the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson – the source material for this movie – the hero is an American with a Mexican wife (in a marriage that is nine years old). It was Orson Welles who flipped the racial mix, and made the marriage brand new. Welles intended a story of three frontiers: the rancid Mexican-American border; the way a good detective becomes a bad cop; and a provocation on interracial sexuality. To be sure, it's a recognisable Charlton Heston in makeup as Mike Vargas, with Janet Leigh as his Susie – but in 1958, that bond disturbed a lot of viewers. Moreover, the overtone of honeymoon is a wicked set-up for threats of rape. Will the horrendous border scum get to Susie before Mike? If you doubt that suggestiveness, just notice how the car bomb explodes as the honeymooners are ready to enjoy their first kiss on American soil.
- 10/17/2010
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
First off, a note to all the readers expecting my promised review of Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974): it simply isn't going to happen because Tk reviewed it a few years back. For the most part, it has been the editorial stance of Pajiba not to publish two separate reviews of the same film. My apologies to you all, Dustin, and Tk; I didn't realize the film had been reviewed when I promised to do so. I simply do not wish to infringe on Tk's piece. Having put Chinatown aside, I went to review Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (1997), only to discover that Dan Carlson reviewed it a few years back. Honestly, I was rather relieved at not having to deal with those two flicks; I love them to death, but this retrospective has been wearing out its welcome. I'm ready to go watch some different films. That said,...
- 8/3/2010
- by Drew Morton
The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest Internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.
It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Gary) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.
This is our 24th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.
It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Gary) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.
This is our 24th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.
- 7/5/2010
- by Gary Phillips
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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