Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil (1958) is Orson Welles' film noir, and you can watch it online on iFILM. A car bomb on the US-Mexico border opens a case that pits an honest investigator against a corrupt police legend.

Mexican narcotics agent Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) has just married Susan (Janet Leigh). Their honeymoon falls apart on the first night when an explosion rips through a dusty border town. Captain Hank Quinlan takes over the scene — bloated, drunk, and famous for always naming the guilty man. Welles plays him himself and builds one of the genre's most unsettling figures. When Vargas catches Quinlan planting evidence, law and lawlessness trade places, and Susan is left alone as bait for a local gang.

The film opens with its celebrated three-minute tracking shot, a single take that follows the bomb across the whole town until it goes off. Marlene Dietrich, Joseph Cotten and Zsa Zsa Gabor turn up in small roles. For decades only a studio re-cut circulated, until editors rebuilt the picture from Welles' own 58-page memo. Stream Touch of Evil (1958) online on iFILM.