STACK August 2016 Issue 142

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in the middle of the road. The camera draws
up and back as the convertible with its two
occupants slowly moves towards the customs
booth, finally pulling up alongside the two
pedestrians.
A customs officer stops the male and female
walkers and asks them if they are American
citizens, and the dialogue establishes their back
story. The man is Miguel "Mike" Vargas with
his new American bride, Susan. The customs
official recognises the name and we learn that
Vargas is a Mexican Narcotics official who is
walking his wife across the border into the
States to buy her a "chocolate soda."
The conversation continues, and the driver
of the still stationary convertible, growing
impatient, asks if he can drive through. The
customs officer asks him and his female
passenger a few questions and finally waves
their car through. The vehicle drives off
toward the left foreground and we lose
sight of it. Vargas and Susan have now
also crossed over into the States and as
they stop to embrace and kiss there is the
sound of a loud explosion off-camera. The
couple look up startled, as a long shot
of the explosion lights up the night sky.
The convertible, along with both of its
passengers, has disintegrated into a ball
of flame.
This is the iconic and influential three
minutes and 21 second single tracking
shot and opening sequence of Touch of
Evil (1958). It is so revered by filmmakers
that it has been endlessly imitated
by many leading movie luminaries:
Alfred Hitchcock in his opening
scene in Psycho (1960), Martin Scorsese's
GoodFellas (1990) with Ray Liotta and Lorraine
Bracco's long walk through the kitchens of the
Copacabana nightclub, and Robert Altman, who
pays total homage in the opening scene of The
Player (1992), are just a few examples.
Touch of Evil was directed by Orson
Welles, his first Hollywood film in ten years
since the ill-fated Lady From Shanghai
(1947). Considered then as a total Hollywood
pariah, Welles' involvement as director was
the result of a complete misunderstanding
by Charlton Heston, the star of the film.
Nonetheless, Welles had high hopes
that it would lead to a multi-picture
director's contract with Universal
Studios, but following the release of
Touch of Evil, he would never work in
Hollywood as a director again. What he
actually achieved and delivered was a
visually audacious masterpiece of film
noir, but due to unwarranted studio
interference, cinemagoers would not get
to viewWelles' version until 40 years
later.
To Be Concluded
car – which has stopped at an intersection –
now descends to eye level and focuses on two
pedestrians, a young blonde woman and a man,
swarthy in appearance, with a black moustache.
Loud Latino music coming from the arcades is
heard on the soundtrack. The camera – losing
sight of the convertible – now follows these two
people as they cross the increasingly crowded
and noisy street. As the camera pans right to
left, it picks up a sign on a building that reads
'Customs and Immigration' and a toll booth
visit EXTRAS
34 AUGUST 2016
A s the Universal-International logo
dissolves, we see an extreme
close-up of an explosive device as
a hand adjusts the timer to three minutes;
the bomb begins to tick. A woman
laughing from some distance away is heard
off-camera. The man holding the device
abruptly turns to the left in the direction of
the laugh as the camera pans in this
direction too. It's night, and through the
shadows a man and a woman in deep focus
are approaching.
The man with the bomb moves quickly
from left to right. His body is turned away so
we cannot make out his identity. The camera
follows him as he runs, casting his shadow
against a wall plastered with posters.
He kneels behind a large American
convertible, carefully places the bomb
in the car's trunk and runs off to the
right. The camera now swings upward as
the man and woman approach from the
left and get into the car. The man starts
the engine and drives off, disappearing
behind a building. As it does, the boom-
mounted camera draws back, lifts up
high above the building and picks up the
car as it turns into a main street lined on
both sides by illuminated arcades.
The camera tracking back from the
Touch of Evil (1958) Directed by Orson Welles
Part 1 of 2
It is so revered by
filmmakers that it has
been endlessly imitated
by many leading movie
luminaries
The 1958 Poster for Touch of Evil
The scene at the Customs booth with
Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh