Touch of Evil

Throughout the 1940's and the 1950's, film noirs were among the most the most popular movie genres. The dark nature of them appealed audiences, though their popularity declined once the 1950's were over. Touch of Evil is considered the last great film noir.

On their honeymoon, police officer Miguel "Mike" Vargas (Charlton Heston) and his wife Susan (Janet Leigh) witness a car exploding. Mike is joined by Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) to investigate, but Mike discovers that Hank isn't the respected officer everyone claims he is.

Boy, this is edgier than most film noirs I've seen. Yes, the casting of Heston as a Mexican is laughable but you gotta admit he gave a good performance. Welles and Leigh also gave good performances. This contains material not normally found in film noirs at the time: corruption, drugs and sex. I can see why it's considered one of the last great film noirs.

My Rating: *****