Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is another film under the genre or style(who really knows which) of Film Noir. It is a film full of lies, deceit, murder, drugs, police corruption, and crime. The film is about a newlywed couple who are out celebrating their marriage along the US/Mexico border, when something terrible happens and Mike chooses to investigate the crime and send his new wife back to their hotel. Mike instantly goes to the crime scene and talks to a few of the other officials and then Hank shows up and the atmosphere changes. As the story unfolds throughout the film we witness the the extreme pressure and angst that some of these officials go through. We also get to witness a number of criminal acts throughout the film which call into question the morality, right and wrong, good and bad of certain individuals. Throughout the whole film there is the questions of who you can trust as well, and that in itself brings up a lot of unanswered questions, whether or not individuals have been honest in the past about what they have witnessed, and the struggle of friendship among partners who have worked together and saved each others backs for a number of years. Throughout the whole film Mike is trying to get to the bottom of the crime that was committed in the beginning of the film and he sets out to prove that person accused of the crime is not the person who committed the crime, but that Hank himself framed him for it.

This specific film is very much a film noir for a number of reasons. Most of them being the same reasons The Maltese Falcon was a film noir. The story is full of criminal acts, much of it takes place at night, the typical femme fatale (although very different from the femme fatale in Maltese Falcon), and a number of other reasons. This was a very thought provoking film, but not one that I would necessarily watch again. I found parts of it enticing, but other parts boring and repetitive. Although I may not recommend it to someone else to watch for kicks and giggles, I would have to say though that I would recommend it if someone wanted to watch a film noir film.