film

Orson Welles directs and stars alongside Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh in this seminal film noir, which received a mixed reception on its release in 1958 but has been thoroughly reappraised as a classic since. The film marked Welles' return to Hollywood after a decade of working in Europe, and what a return it turned out to be, with a complex, morally ambiguous story set in a sleazy town on the US-Mexico border, stunning cinematography and a bravura performance from the director as the corpulent and corrupt detective Hank Quinlan.

Heston, who was instrumental in persuading B-movie producer Albert Zugsmith to hire Welles to make Touch of Evil after his decade away, plays Mexican border cop Mike Vargas, who is investigating the death of a prominent local figure in a car bomb attack, uncovering Quinlan's corruption in the process. Make sure you're in your seat promptly to catch the film's opening three minutes, which are entirely taken up by one of the most celebrated tracking shots in cinema history.