"Touch of Evil": an edgier, more complex example of film noir

“A Touch of Evil” began with a long, continuous shot – showing the night life of a town along the Mexican-American border, and honing in especially on a man and a woman driving in a car and a young couple walking along the street. The shot suddenly broke off in response to a loud blast, and cut to a shot of the car exploding. The young couple, Mike Vargas and his wife Susie, runs over to the scene by the car. This moment sparks the ensuing story of danger and dishonesty because Vargas, a Mexican cop, becomes involved along with the American cops in the search for the killer of the man and woman in the car.

Reminding me of the previous film noir style movie we watched, “The Maltese Falcon,” the first bit of action in the movie was a murder. This was the most significant similarity they shared, however, because I found “A Touch of Evil” to be much edgier and more complex. It touched on issues of police corruption, abuse of suspects, racism, gangs, and while there were still a few laughable, fake punches, there were also some very violent scenes.

This film noir was darker than the other, and I could only trust two characters for sure – Vargas and Susie. The others were unpredictable, and I remained unsure of how far certain characters would go, as far as undermining the law versus maintaining some respect for the people involved. There was great contrast between Vargas and the American police captain, as the two opposed each other until the very end. Vargas valued honesty and tangible truth, and he was devoted to his wife (besides neglecting her at a motel in the middle of nowhere). The police captain valued his personal career and pinning down a suspect, and he lashed out in violence in remembrance of his wife who was killed. I appreciated the depth of many of the characters and the interesting themes resulting from a plot with an interracial couple in a setting alternating between Mexico and the U.S. I wouldn’t mind watching this one again to catch all of the subtleties.