Orson Welles is a forced to be reckoned with in his 1958 film Touch of Evil. For this movie, he takes on the role of director, screenplay writer, as well as playing the crooked police captain, Hank Quinlan. The film is based on a novel by Whit Masterson, Badge of Evil; and it uses two uncredited screenplay writers, Paul Monash and Franklin Coen who contributed to additional scenes and reshoots.
The film stars Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh as newlyweds on their honeymoon in a town on the United States-Mexican border. Heston, playing Ramon Miguel "Mike" Vargas, is one of Mexico's leading narcotics detectives. When a car explosion is pinned on a young Mexican, Vargas gets involved in the case, putting his new wife, Susie (Leigh) in harms way. He digs deeper into Quinlan's past, and the deeper he gets, the more corrupted Quinlan appears.
As is characteristic of films noir, the plot twists and turns in various directions, leaving the audience in suspense until the very end. It features other characteristics of mystery movies and films noir, like the use of lighting and shadows and the use of eerie music by Hanry Mancini.
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