TOUCH OF EVIL Screens May 10th at The Tivoli – ‘Classics in the Loop’

“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, but is actually corrupt and is railroading a Mexican youth (Victor Millan) into prison for the crime.

Head to the Tivoli Wednesday night and see why film fans and scholars hold TOUCH OF EVIL high regard. That elegant, extended opening tracking shot is merely the beginning of an intense, stark, and atmospheric tale. Based on the novel “Badge of Evil” by Whit Masterson, it moves forward with incredible purpose. It forces its audience to stay on their toes and pay attention, with rapid fire dialogue and breathless delivery by many of the actors. It’s wonderfully lit by Russell Metty, with a sizzling Latin rock score composed by Henry Mancini.

Director / co-star Welles, who adapted the novel for the screen himself, certainly has an overwhelming presence, and he doesn’t turn his character into a purely one-dimensional antagonist. Heston is magnetic in the role of the honest cop determined to find answers. Janet Leigh has never looked more ravishing than she does here, in the role of Vargas’s American wife Susan. There are lots of first rate performances from the supporting cast: Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver (in a memorable part as a VERY nervous night manager of a hotel), and Mort Mills, with delicious cameos by the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joseph Cotten, and Mercedes McCambridge.

TOUCH OF EVIL is riveting from the very first frame, with a great opening and a tense final confrontation. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the rest of the line-up for the ‘CLASSICS IN THE LOOP’ film series:
May 17th – CHINATOWN – 1974
May 24th – BLOOD SIMPLE – 1984

Look for continued coverage of the ‘CLASSICS IN THE LOOP’ film series here at We Are movie Geeks.