A Touch of Evil

Mexican Border; drugs; prostitution; corrupt US law enforcement. Sound familiar? This 1958 baroque nightmare of a south-of-the-border mystery is considered to be one of the great movies of Orson Welles, who both directed and starred in it. On honeymoon with his new bride, Susan (Janet Leigh), Mexican-born policeman Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) agrees to investigate a bomb explosion. In so doing, he incurs the wrath of local police chief Hank Quinlan (Welles), a corrupt, bullying behemoth with a perfect arrest record. Vargas suspects that Quinlan has planted evidence to win his past convictions, and he isn't about to let the suspect in the current case be railroaded. Quinlan, whose obsession with his own brand of justice is motivated by the long-ago murder of his wife, is equally determined to get Vargas out of his hair, and he makes a deal with local crime boss Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) to frame Susan on a drug rap, leading to one of the movie's many truly harrowing sequences. Touch of Evil dissects the nature of good and evil in a hallucinatory, nightmarish ambience, helped by the shadow-laden cinematography of Russell Metty and by the cast, which, along with Tamiroff and Welles includes Charlton Heston as a Mexican; Marlene Dietrich, in a brunette wig, as a brittle madam who delivers the movie's unforgettable closing words; Mercedes McCambridge as a junkie; and Dennis Weaver as a tremulous motel clerk.

When
Jan 30th, 2018 1:00 pm
Location
Sala Quetzal
La Biblioteca Publica, Rejoj 50A, Centro
San Miguel de Allende, GUA 37700
Mexico
Events
Blurb Film
Co-sponsor
Speakers Discussion with Gregory Diamant
Fee 70 pesos

Upcoming Events

Monday, October 20, 2025 - 1:30pm
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Bruce Hobson & Meizhu Lui
Location:
La Biblioteca, Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, Centro, San Miguel de Allende

Co-founders of the Mexico Solidarity Project, Bruce Hobson and Meizhu Lui will speak on why North American progressives should understand why Mexico is critical to advancing a vision of socialism and multiracial democracy in the United States.

 

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 12:00pm
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Organized by The Reentry Resource Program

You are invited to join a discussion with filmmaker Santiago Esteinou and Cesar Fierro about the new documentaryThe Freedom of Fierro.

César Fierro has just become a free man, and he needs to rebuild his life after being wrongly sentenced to death in Texas. César spent 40 years in prison before being released... Read more

Monday, November 3, 2025 - 1:30pm
CST
Joe Belden
Location:
La Biblioteca, Sala Quezal, Insurgentes 25, Centro, San Miguel de Allende
This mostly forgotten war led to Mexico losing over half its territory and the United States expanding to the Pacific. The lecture examines the political and economic background of the conflict, what led to it, and the roles of such factors as Texas annexation in 1845, slavery, racism, the Democratic and Whig parties, and Manifest... Read more