DVD Tuesday: When Charlton Heston met Orson Welles; in praise of Touch of Evil; one wild and sleazy ride through the darkness at the edge of border towns.When you think "
Charlton Heston" you think
Ben-Hur,
Planet of the Apes,,
The Omega Man (the nuttier of two precursors to Will Smith's
I Am Legend),
The Ten Commandments and
Soylent Green (spoiler alert: "Soylent Green is
people!).
But one of my favorite Heston movies is one of his less well-known: the thriller
Touch of Evil, directed by and costarring
Orson Welles, along with
Janet Leigh,
Marlene Dietrich,
Joseph Cotten and
Zsa Zsa Gabor — now that's a cast!
And it opens with one of the most justly famous tracking shots in movie history: a sinuous, three-minute and 20-second glide through the crowded streets of seedy Los Robles, following behind a white convertible en route to the U.S. border with an ominous tick… tick… tick… always audible through the clamor of ambient noise and Henry Mancini's
ominously jazzy score.
Touch of Evil was designed to be a sleazy B-movie, but Welles turned it into a sleazy masterpiece. Heston plays celebrity narcotics investigator Miguel "Mike" Vargas, newly married to über-gringa Susan (Leigh). They plan to honeymoon in Los Robles, the self-proclaimed "Paris of the Border," but just as they cross the U.S./Mexico checkpoint — the first time they've been together in his homeland — and share a kiss, that white convertible explodes.
The passengers were a wealthy American developer with extensive business connections in Los Robles and a floozie (the gloriously tawdry
Joi Lansing); Vargas is drawn into the investigation headed by thoroughly corrupt, bigoted, obese Texas lawman Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles). Meanwhile, the brother of a drug kingpin Vargas arrested (and who will certainly go to jail if Vargas testifies at his trial) tries to intimidate Vargas by terrorizing Susan.
The story is pure pulp, but Welles' gloriously stylized compositions, editing and camera movements are sheer poetry, a symphony in contrasts: Claustrophobic interiors and agoraphobic exteriors, Welles' corpulent excess and the clean, hard lines of Heston's face and limbs, sunwashed tourist attractions and the perversities that lurk in the shadows.
And who but Welles would have cast Heston as Mexican (he claimed he felt it would add interest to a dull, straight-arrow role) and Aryan icon Dietrich as the gypsy Tanya? (Though in
Suspects David Thompson makes a thorough argument that Tanya is Amy Jolly, the saloon singer Dietrich played in Morocco, only 25 years and countless miles of following her French Legionnaire lover through the African desert later.) And Welles handed Tanya the film's most gloriously world-weary line: "What does it matter what you say about people?"
What indeed.
It doesn't matter whether you see the standard
Touch of Evil or the restored 1998
director's cut: Either way, it's a treat.
Things to Consider:What are your favorite Charlton Heston movies and why?
What does it take to elevate pulp material to something more enduring?
Casting against type can produce fascinating results or flat-out disasters: Examples?
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Hear Maitland on the weekly podcast TV Guide Talk.
See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks on the Movie Talk vodcast.
Previously in DVD Tuesday:2008:Bonnie and ClydeAtonementWhen Dinosaurs Ruled the EarthRififiMichael ClaytonNetworkThe 5,000 Fingers of Dr. TShoot 'Em UpFreewayA Mighty Wind 2007:It's a Wonderful LifeWaitressLauraCop All About Eve SeveranceSweet Smell of SuccessDaughters of DarknessThe CraziesBlade Runner ZodiacManhunterA Simple PlanTaxi DriverRenaissanceBlowupHot Fuzz300Ace in the Hole Eyes Without a Face Apocalypto Citizen KaneLa Jetée Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Bob le FlambeurNear DarkPerfect BluePan's LabyrinthLes GirlsThe Girl Who Knew Too MuchThe QueenExpresso BongoI'm Not Scared Shocking Grindhouse Double Bill! — Scanners and The Candy SnatchersDon't Look NowRe-AnimatorCasino RoyalePiThe Prestige13 TzametiThe DepartedSuspiriaKiss and Make UpKiss Me DeadlyThe Long Good FridayWhat Alice FoundThe Devil's BackboneThe DescentThe Devil Wears PradaPandora's BoxThe Thief and the CobblerNashvillePanic in the Streets/Jack Palance InterviewThe Pusher TrilogyScarfaceSlitherSunset Blvd.In Cold BloodBrick
