Orson Welles, huh?

I must admit that I was intrigued at the prospect of watching another Orson Welles film, Touch of Evil. I had heard from many sources, both reputable and not, that Citizen Kane was the best film of all time. Consequently, I decided to watch Citizen Kane, and, while I recognize the fact that at the time it was made it shattered multiple boundaries of film-making and accomplished things that, up to that time, had never been done- I don't even think Citizen Kane would, according to me, be in the top fifty films of all time. The DVD I watched contained a documentary about Orson Welles, which portrayed him as somewhat a victim (which he indeed was) and documented his descent into obesity and alcoholism, as well as discussing his career which after Citizen Kane was less than successful. I was also reminded of a party some friends and I had called an Orson Welles party, in which we bought many bottles of wine and champagne, started with the best, and ended with the worst...but I digress.

As I said before, I was looking forward to seeing another Orson Welles film and hoping that all of the things I had heard about his work after Citizen Kane would be debunked. Well, I have to say that, at least with Touch of Evil, it wasn't. I'm not sure what exactly about the film I disliked, but I can say that, for lack of a better term, I was thoroughly bored throughout. It could have been the fact that I found Orson Welles' character to be an absolutely disgusting, vile man (though I did feel sort of bad for him for some odd, unknown reason). I noticed that the way he talked seriously grated on my ears, and that any scene he was in I found to be utterly distasteful. I assume that this was an intentional part of Welles' character and his acting, and perhaps this indicates powerful film-making, but I must say, I found it to be somewhat annoying. Also, I was hoping for the typical film noir cheesyness, the silly dialogue riddled with metaphors, the over the top expressions on the faces of the characters, etc., and Touch of Evil did not, to me, contain these elements.

In terms of analysis and the relation of this film to American society there is much that Touch of Evil has to say. The most obvious of which would be American feelings and ideas towards and about Mexicans and Mexico. The portrayal of the Mexican gangster characters, I felt, was almost comical. I used to live in Arizona, and while I recognize it is a different time than it was during the filming of Touch of Evil, I went to more than one border town, and never did I see an overly well-groomed, leather jacket wearing, suave gangster type running around. Mostly what I saw was over-zealous street vendors and people who were in unfortunate economic situations. While I realize that it is a possibility that these kinds of people existed at or around the time the film was made, I find it hard to believe, considering what I saw. (One of these towns I went to, on more than one occasion, is called Nogales, and is the setting for part of the film Traffic).

One thing I found interesting about the film particularly after doing the readings associated with it, is the film's relation to sexuality with particular relationship on interracial couples. Interracial relationships carry a stigma, even to this day. I grew up in Georgia, and remember that as a young child my step-grandmother told me that I should never ever bring a little black girl home. I realized, even at the time, that this is a completely ridiculous thing for a person to say; however, there are still many people in America who believe this. Orson Welles was known for pushing the envelope, and producing a film that very openly showed multiple relationships between Mexicans and American would certainly have caused a stir at the time the film was made. Considering this, it doesn't seem as if Orson Welles was willing to compromise his personal artistic integrity in order to achieve a more widespread audience or greater acclaim, something I respect very much. Perhaps an interesting conclusion can be drawn between the fact that Orson Welles was so adamant about his film being produced as he saw fit- his integrity- and the complete lack thereof in detective Quinlan, a character whom he portrays directly.

Another interesting thing about this film is the selection of Charlton Heston to play the Mexican police officer. Charlton Heston is widely known as having been somewhat of an outspoken conservative, and for several years was the heard of the NRA. A funny thing is that I barely even recognized him, though I have seen several of his other films, Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green (which I believe is one of the greatest science fiction films of all time). In many cases I find Charlton Heston to be somewhat annoying (though admittedly I am probably a bit jaded because of his political views), but I think he pulled this role off fairly effectively. I cannot imagine, however, what was going through Orson Welles' head when he chose Charlton Heston for the role.

Ultimately, I can appreciate Touch of Evil, both for it's having brought to light some of the common taboos at the time in American society, and for Orson Welles' unflinching artistic integrity. I did not, however, find it to be a very engaging or entertaining film, and I'm not quite sure why. There was just something about it that bothered me, that actually made me not want to watch it. Rarely do I see films regarded with high esteem that have this effect on me, but Touch of Evil was definitely one of them.