Review of Touch of Evil (1958) by Jenni F — 28 Jan 2009
Shockingly overrated. Charlton Heston is blatantly miscast as a Mexican detective, though he tried admirably to overcome it. All of the supporting cast over-act and the whole thing devolves into complete cheese despite the admittedly good cinematography.
The very famous opening crane shot all the way through the Mexican border town was fantastic, and it's a shame the rest of the movie falls so flat. The shadows are a bit much, and seem to waver between intentional darkness and poorly lit.
Orson Welles has moments in this celebrated character where his acting does shine, but most of the time it's just a caricature, and I'm not even sure of what or whom. I'm finding that I'm not as big a fan of noir as I want to be, because this was a thoroughly uninteresting movie.
This review of Touch of Evil (1958) was written by Jenni F on 28 Jan 2009.
Touch of Evil has generally received very positive reviews.
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