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Touch of Evil
- 226 statements
- 43 feature instances
- 21 referencing feature instances
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Touch of Evil | comment |
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })Touch of Evil (1958) is one of the last and one of the greatest examples of Film Noir, written, directed and co-starring Orson Welles.Welles plays Captain Hank Quinlan, a fat, ugly, and sad corrupt police officer. The black-and-white film also features Charlton Heston as Mike Vargas, a Mexican narcotics agent on his honeymoon; Janet Leigh as his bride, Susie; and Marlene Dietrich as Tanya, a cigar-smoking Mexican gypsy brothel owner with huge beautiful eyes.The film begins with an exploding car killing a powerful businessman, witnessed by Vargas and Susie on the Mexican border. Claiming joint jurisdiction (as the bomb may have been placed in Mexico), he works his way into the investigation headed by Quinlan. Quinlan quickly sets his beady eyes on a lowly Mexican employee that had a grudge with that businessman (the employee wanted to marry the businessman's white daughter). When Vargas notices that some of the evidence found by Quinlan's loyal partner Menzies was clearly planted (but can't prove it), Vargas starts questioning Quinlan's case history. But while this is all happening, Susie Vargas is left all alone at a creepy hotel where some gang members that Vargas is after are holed up as well and Quinlan starts making a few calls to the gang's boss about what to do with that lonely newlywed.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })The film is an unlikely collaboration between producer Albert Zugsmith (former media lawyer and producer of B-movies and Rock Hudson melodramas) and Orson Welles. There are two versions on how the film got made. In version one, Charlton Heston was cast in the film but on learning that Welles was also cast, he insisted that he direct the film. The other story is that Zugsmith offered to let Welles helm a film based on one of the properties he had rights to. Welles chose the less promising one (the pulp novel Badge of Evil), reasoning that the weak material would allow him more creative freedom, less risk and that a success would make it easier to make his long-term projects. It didn't work out as planned though. The film suffered from Executive Meddling, was re-edited and some of the scenes were shot by other directors. It was then dumped poorly and failed at the box-office. It would be Welles' final Hollywood film. There are three versions of the film. The original theatrical cut, an earlier preview version with more Welles footage discovered in the vaults from 1976. In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin, worked with Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum to create a Reconstruction based on a memo written by Welles. Recent DVD-BR releases features all three versions but since the 90s, the Reconstruction is regarded as the film closest to Welles' vision.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_1'); }) | |
Touch of Evil | fetched |
2019-02-18T09:18:45Z | |
Touch of Evil | parsed |
2020-06-24T05:14:32Z | |
Touch of Evil | processingComment |
Dropped link to EdWood: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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Dropped link to Fanservice: Not a Feature - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to LittleCaesar: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
Touch of Evil | isPartOf |
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Touch of Evil / int_1b65dfad | type |
The Cameo | |
Touch of Evil / int_1b65dfad | comment |
The Cameo: Welles's old friend and former co-star Joseph Cotten makes a brief appearance at the bombing crime scene as the coroner ("Now you could strain him through a sieve."), as well as later on after Susie gets arrested. | |
Touch of Evil / int_1b65dfad | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil | hasFeature |
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Touch of Evil / int_1c0ad158 | type |
SweaterGirl | |
Touch of Evil / int_1c0ad158 | comment |
Sweater Girl: Janet Leigh manages to provide Fanservice while portraying a respectable woman by wearing some very, very tight sweaters. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_1e4a1e0e | type |
I Owe You My Life | |
Touch of Evil / int_1e4a1e0e | comment |
I Owe You My Life: Menzies, to Quinlan. | |
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Touch of Evil | hasFeature |
Touch of Evil / int_1e4a1e0e | |
Touch of Evil / int_216dab44 | type |
Framing the Guilty Party | |
Touch of Evil / int_216dab44 | comment |
Framing the Guilty Party: "How many did you frame?" "Nobody that wasn't guilty!" And in fact it turns out that the bombing suspect actually was guilty, or at least he confessed that he was guilty. Subverted with Quinlan's effort to get the Mexican drug gang to kidnap an innocent Susie Vargas, then kill the gang leader and frame the drugged Susie for that murder. | |
Touch of Evil / int_216dab44 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_21f7ff0f | type |
Knight in Sour Armor | |
Touch of Evil / int_21f7ff0f | comment |
Knight In Sour Armor: A long time ago, Quinlan was unable to prove the guy who killed his wife committed the crime. It drives him to start framing guys he's convinced by the pain in "my leg" are guilty. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_21f7ff0f | |
Touch of Evil / int_237404cc | type |
Ironic Echo | |
Touch of Evil / int_237404cc | comment |
Ironic Echo: "Pete... that's the second bullet I stopped for you..." | |
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Touch of Evil / int_25b05c04 | type |
Hitler Cam | |
Touch of Evil / int_25b05c04 | comment |
Hitler Cam: Orson Welles was fond of this trope, going all the way back to Citizen Kane. Here he uses it for the scene where Quinlan, Vargas, and others are gathered around the body of the murder victim. Notably he does not use it when showing Menzies, Quinlan's faithful sidekick. It's a subtle hint at Quinlan's downward spiral that after a certain point, Welles stops filming himself from this position, making Quinlan look far less imposing. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_25b7257f | type |
Red Right Hand | |
Touch of Evil / int_25b7257f | comment |
Red Right Hand: Inverted in a way. Quinlan has a limp and says he can tell when someone is guilty because his leg begins to hurt. However, the reason he has a limp is because he took a bullet for his partner. | |
Touch of Evil / int_25b7257f | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_25b7257f | |
Touch of Evil / int_325ef3ab | type |
Incredibly Obvious Bomb | |
Touch of Evil / int_325ef3ab | comment |
Incredibly Obvious Bomb: So obvious that the lady passenger in the car complains about a ticking noise. Since the bomb was planted with a short timer and was inteded to blow up immediately, subtlety was not really necessary. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_33029735 | type |
Dies Wide Open | |
Touch of Evil / int_33029735 | comment |
Dies Wide Open: Grandi when he is strangled. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_43a831db | type |
Epic Tracking Shot | |
Touch of Evil / int_43a831db | comment |
Epic Tracking Shot: The opening consists of one long tracking shot, which is considered by film aficionados to be one of the best ever. The original cut by Universal rather spoiled the tension of the scene by running the opening credits over it. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_43b154c9 | type |
Not Even Bothering with the Accent | |
Touch of Evil / int_43b154c9 | comment |
Not Even Bothering with the Accent: One of the most infamous examples, Welles assured Heston he didn't have to do a Hispanic accent for his Fake Nationality role as the Mexican Narcotics officer Vargas, cobbling together unofficial backstory saying that Vargas lost his accent due to his travels outside of Mexico and working with Caucasians. There's even a scene in Ed Wood poking fun at this, where Welles is shown complaining about the sheer absurdity of the studio wanting Charlton Heston to play a Mexican character. This is highly inaccurate, since Welles had no problem with foreigners playing different roles and Heston was integral to the film getting made in the first place. Though, years later, Heston said he felt that not doing an accent for the role of the Mexican narcotics officer was a huge mistake, one of the biggest of his career. It must be noted that there are no Mexicans in the cast. Grandi is played by an Armenian actor Akim Tamiroff and the Gypsy fortune teller is played by Marlene Dietrich, who doesn't even hide her famous German accent. The film is set in a border area between America and Mexico and actually shot around Venice Beach, Los Angeles with very distinct, identifiable architecture. It's not a realistic film by any means. In any case, the idea of actors affecting accents for their part wasn't all that common among Golden Age actors like Charlton Heston or Welles, who weren't into the later dominant style of Method Acting. | |
Touch of Evil / int_43b154c9 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_45092c28 | type |
Greaser Delinquents | |
Touch of Evil / int_45092c28 | comment |
Greaser Delinquents: Working for Grandi. They're the ones who kidnap Susie from the motel. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_49f20c6a | type |
Gory Discretion Shot | |
Touch of Evil / int_49f20c6a | comment |
Gory Discretion Shot: We hear a few remarks on what was left of Mr. Linnekar and his girlfriend, but we never get to see their scattered remains. | |
Touch of Evil / int_49f20c6a | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_49f20c6a | |
Touch of Evil / int_5400ad8 | type |
Never Bareheaded | |
Touch of Evil / int_5400ad8 | comment |
Never Bareheaded: Quinlan's hat never comes off, not even as he strangles Grandi to death or as he falls dead into the murky waters of a stagnant river. | |
Touch of Evil / int_5400ad8 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_6627695f | type |
Author Appeal | |
Touch of Evil / int_6627695f | comment |
Author Appeal: Welles had been a huge fan of Dennis Weaver's work on Gunsmoke for years, and wrote his part specifically so he could have the chance to direct him in a movie. Similarly, Marlene Dietrich's role was added during filming because she and Welles were best friends and she wanted a part in the movie. | |
Touch of Evil / int_6627695f | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_6627695f | |
Touch of Evil / int_68f6e811 | type |
Made of Plasticine | |
Touch of Evil / int_68f6e811 | comment |
Made of Plasticine: "An hour ago Rudy Linnekar had this town in his pocket." "Now you could strain him through a sieve." | |
Touch of Evil / int_68f6e811 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_68f6e811 | |
Touch of Evil / int_6a42ef | type |
Cynicism Catalyst | |
Touch of Evil / int_6a42ef | comment |
Cynicism Catalyst: One could assume that Hank Quinlan was at least an honest cop before his wife was murdered. As he was unable to prove that the assailant committed the crime, Quinlan started planting evidence on suspects he believes are guilty, and has been doing so since then. | |
Touch of Evil / int_6a42ef | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_6a42ef | |
Touch of Evil / int_70d8269d | type |
Excuse Plot | |
Touch of Evil / int_70d8269d | comment |
The plot of the film which starts with a bombing that brings several key players together but eventually becomes the subplot to the larger background laid bare the strategies and subtext of noir movies. In a traditional noir, police investigation into crime often had a subtext laid on that the cops were not as honorable as they seemed on the surface; in Welles' film, the actual unconnected crime becomes a blatant Excuse Plot by law-enforcement organizations on both sides of the border to exercise their political and personal wills and prejudices, which have absolutely nothing to do with the original crime. | |
Touch of Evil / int_70d8269d | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_70d8269d | |
Touch of Evil / int_7335ffa9 | type |
Grey-and-Gray Morality | |
Touch of Evil / int_7335ffa9 | comment |
Grey and Gray Morality: Quinlan only frames criminals he thinks are guilty, and Vargas is only able to stop him when Menzies — whom Quinlan had previously taken a bullet for, causing his limp — agrees to betray him. Vargas for his part sees the grayness of policework: | |
Touch of Evil / int_7335ffa9 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil | hasFeature |
Touch of Evil / int_7335ffa9 | |
Touch of Evil / int_7eebe99c | type |
The Alcoholic | |
Touch of Evil / int_7eebe99c | comment |
The Alcoholic: Quinlan doesn't drink often, but when he does he gets absolutely plastered. He explicitly says at one point that his weight gain is a result of substituting chocolate for booze in order to stay on the wagon. | |
Touch of Evil / int_7eebe99c | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_7eebe99c | |
Touch of Evil / int_85b1e741 | type |
Creepy Crossdresser | |
Touch of Evil / int_85b1e741 | comment |
Creepy Crossdresser: Mercedes McCambridge appears as an androgynous-looking gang member abducting Susie Vargas. Her big line? "I want to watch." | |
Touch of Evil / int_85b1e741 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_86c2ee3c | type |
Dodgy Toupee | |
Touch of Evil / int_86c2ee3c | comment |
Dodgy Toupee: Grandi has a tendency to lose his "rug", pop it back on, and fidget with it until it sits right again. | |
Touch of Evil / int_86c2ee3c | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil | hasFeature |
Touch of Evil / int_86c2ee3c | |
Touch of Evil / int_87bb6874 | type |
Villain with Good Publicity | |
Touch of Evil / int_87bb6874 | comment |
Villain with Good Publicity: Hank Quinlan became a very well-respected policeman through careful evidence tampering. In the end, it even turns out that the man Quinlan was trying to frame in the film was guilty, giving him the epitaph, "He was a great detective, but a lousy cop." | |
Touch of Evil / int_87bb6874 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_87bb6874 | |
Touch of Evil / int_89399ea2 | type |
Fake Nationality | |
Touch of Evil / int_89399ea2 | comment |
One of the most infamous examples, Welles assured Heston he didn't have to do a Hispanic accent for his Fake Nationality role as the Mexican Narcotics officer Vargas, cobbling together unofficial backstory saying that Vargas lost his accent due to his travels outside of Mexico and working with Caucasians. | |
Touch of Evil / int_89399ea2 | featureApplicability |
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Touch of Evil / int_89399ea2 | |
Touch of Evil / int_8ae880f7 | type |
Deconstruction | |
Touch of Evil / int_8ae880f7 | comment |
Deconstruction: Welles' film was a parody of several B-Movie and Film Noir conventions, taking the genre inside out: The plot of the film which starts with a bombing that brings several key players together but eventually becomes the subplot to the larger background laid bare the strategies and subtext of noir movies. In a traditional noir, police investigation into crime often had a subtext laid on that the cops were not as honorable as they seemed on the surface; in Welles' film, the actual unconnected crime becomes a blatant Excuse Plot by law-enforcement organizations on both sides of the border to exercise their political and personal wills and prejudices, which have absolutely nothing to do with the original crime. Detective Hank Quinlan is also a dark look at police work, showing how a life of crime-fighting has disillusioned and embittered him to the point that he has become worse than the criminals he has hunted down, and absolutely dismissive and snide to the idealistic Vargas. Vargas himself is not happy about some of the measures he has to take to bring down Quinlan, nor the fact that his dedication to his work keeps him away from his wife. As Vargas himself notes, honest policework is never intended to be a easy or safe job. Many of the characters are themselves parodies of older films. Suzy Vargas mocks Grandi for being a Little Caesar, and he and his outfits are essentially gangster movie cliches. Suzy's ordeal in the film, where she goes from idealistic newly bird wife to almost being Stuffed into the Fridge to give the hero trauma, and eventually framed as a floozy and murder suspect, is a commentary on the female lead/love interest/femme fatale archetype actresses often played in these movies. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_957e5fc2 | type |
Villainous Breakdown | |
Touch of Evil / int_957e5fc2 | comment |
Villainous Breakdown: Hank's descent after his last meeting with Grandi. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_957e5fc2 | |
Touch of Evil / int_96b89043 | type |
Not So Above It All | |
Touch of Evil / int_96b89043 | comment |
Not So Above It All: In the end, Vargas must resort to tape a conversation between a drunk Quinlan and Peter Menzies, when the latter agrees that his old friend has gone too far and decides to help Vargas get his evidence. Hank ultimately sees through it, though. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_96b89043 | |
Touch of Evil / int_9b610976 | type |
I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin! | |
Touch of Evil / int_9b610976 | comment |
I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: There is actual heroin as well, but... | |
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Touch of Evil / int_9dd2cbc2 | type |
CloudCuckooLander | |
Touch of Evil / int_9dd2cbc2 | comment |
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: The Mirador Motel Night Manager. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_9dd2cbc2 | |
Touch of Evil / int_ace24b2c | type |
Halfway Plot Switch | |
Touch of Evil / int_ace24b2c | comment |
Halfway Plot Switch: More like three-quarters. But while it starts out as if the film is about Vargas being a crusading lawman, it ends up focusing on the final fall and destruction of Hank Quinlan. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_ace24b2c | |
Touch of Evil / int_aef5c283 | type |
Off-into-the-Distance Ending | |
Touch of Evil / int_aef5c283 | comment |
Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Tana turns and walks away from the camera after delivering the last line of the movie, the famous "some kind of a man" quote. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_aef5c283 | |
Touch of Evil / int_b034d333 | type |
Film Noir | |
Touch of Evil / int_b034d333 | comment |
Film Noir: Considered one of the last great ones from that era. Indeed, critics noted that it was such a Genre-Busting film and that so many censorship taboos were broken that it ended the classic Film Noir era. In terms of film production, its pioneering use of the lightweight Eclair camera paved the way for independent and arthouse films across the world. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_b034d333 | |
Touch of Evil / int_b43dfc8d | type |
Your Days Are Numbered | |
Touch of Evil / int_b43dfc8d | comment |
Your Days Are Numbered: When Quinlan visits his friend Tana the fortune teller, he asks her to read his future. Tana warns him: "You haven't got any... Your future is all used up." | |
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Touch of Evil / int_b43dfc8d | |
Touch of Evil / int_b475abfb | type |
Gut Feeling | |
Touch of Evil / int_b475abfb | comment |
Gut Feeling: "I wonder, what makes you so very sure it was dynamite?" "My leg." | |
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Touch of Evil / int_b475abfb | |
Touch of Evil / int_bbfaa837 | type |
Knight Templar | |
Touch of Evil / int_bbfaa837 | comment |
Knight Templar: Quinlan firmly believes he's the law and can't do wrong, so when he plants evidence to frame criminals whom he can't convict with available evidence, he's not doing anything wrong. When Vargas starts investigating his activities, Quinlan believes he is perfectly justified to abduct, terrorize and frame his wife to smear his reputation, because obviously he knows best. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_bea43fc4 | type |
Malignant Plot Tumor | |
Touch of Evil / int_bea43fc4 | comment |
Malignant Plot Tumor: The original bombing investigation is almost completely forgotten by the end of the film in favor of Vargas' attempts to bring down Quinlan. The ending shoehorns in a line that the guy Quinlan framed really was guilty after all. This is justified since the movie is about the toxic relationships between various law-enforcement organizations. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_bea43fc4 | |
Touch of Evil / int_c3ae004a | type |
Re-Cut | |
Touch of Evil / int_c3ae004a | comment |
Re-Cut: A "Reconstruction" of Touch of Evil based on a contemporary Welles memo of how he wanted to salvage the film after seeing the first Preview and the release cut. The main intent for Welles was to preserve the plot structure of several parallel stories intercut together. The original producers recut it to make it more "accessible" but ended up, as per researchers, being more confusing than Welles' version. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_c3ae004a | |
Touch of Evil / int_de9047ac | type |
Gambit Pileup | |
Touch of Evil / int_de9047ac | comment |
Gambit Pileup: Between Vargas and Border police, Quinlan on the other side, Mexican gangsters and their greasers, and the crook who carried out the original bombing. | |
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Touch of Evil / int_de9047ac | |
Touch of Evil / int_e3c20140 | type |
As Long as It Sounds Foreign | |
Touch of Evil / int_e3c20140 | comment |
As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Charlton Heston's attempts to speak Spanish are pretty laughable. When the sentence is short, he'll give it the old college try, but his gringo accent betrays him (e.g. "¿Puedo usar el teléfono?" in Sanchez's apartment). Most of the time, though, he'll just mumble something deliberately inaudible and end it with an appropriate Spanish word. (e.g. "Murmurbliggleblamurmur derechos aquí" in the same scene, presumably explaining to the suspect that he has no jurisdiction.) | |
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The Oner | |
Touch of Evil / int_e7e558 | comment |
The Oner: The opening sequence features one of the most famous continuous camera shots. Also, at the shoe clerk's apartment, there is a long continuous shot where the camera moves from room to room following Heston. | |
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Dirty Cop | |
Touch of Evil / int_eb251937 | comment |
Dirty Cop: Quinlan has been framing suspects for years. | |
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Touch of Evil |
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