Country: USA
Year: 1958
Duration: 95'


Who blew up the wealthy landowner after he crossed the Mexican border into the United States? Mike Vargas, a Mexican drug enforcement officer, happens to witness the murder while he is on his honeymoon with his wife Susan. Hank Quinlan, a surly and authoritarian Police Captain, leads the investigation, assisted by Vargas who is trying to shed light on what happened. But Quinlan’s dark side soon comes out when he doesn’t hesitate to tamper with the evidence just to support his case. In a crescendo of revelations and discoveries, the collaboration between the two partners quickly turns into an open conflict: for Quinlan, diabolical and ruthless, Vargas is nothing more than an obstacle in his way. To overcome it, he plots a scheme involving his wife Susan and Joe Grandi, the drug lord that Vargas had been hunting down.

Biography

film director

Orson Welles

Orson Welles (Kenosha, WI, USA, 1915-Hollywood, CA, USA, 1985) is considered one of important and brilliant filmmakers and actors in the history of cinema, theater and radio (his famous prank and radio adaptation of the sci-fi piece The War of the Worlds generated widespread panic in the United States). He became a film-phenomenon with Citizen Kane (1941), which he made when he was only twenty-five years old, and is still widely considered one of the fundamental movies from the 20th century. He made many important films throughout his long and troubled career, which include The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Mr Arkadin (1955), Touch of Evil (1958), and the Shakespearian adaptations of Macbeth (1948), Othello (1952), and Falstaff (1965). He won several awards, including the Palme d’Or for Othello in 1952, the Golden Lion and the Academy Honorary Award in 1970.

FILMOGRAFIA

Citizen Kane (Quarto Potere, 1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (L’orgoglio degli Amberson, 1946), The Stranger (Lo straniero, 1946), The Lady from Shanghai (La signora di Shanghai, 1947), Macbeth (id., 1948), Othello (Otello, 1952), Mr Arkadin (Rapporto confidenziale, 1955), Touch of Evil (L’infernale Quinlan, 1958), Falstaff (id., 1965), Histoire immortelle (Storia immortale, 1968).

Cast

& Credits

regia, sceneggiatura/director, screenplay
Orson Welles
soggetto/story
dal romanzo/from the novel Badge of Evil di/by Whit Masterson
fotografia/cinematography
Russell Metty
montaggio/film editing
Virgil Vogel, Aaron Stell
musica/music
Henri Mancini
suono/sound
Leslie I. Carey
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Charlton Heston (Mike Vargas), Janet Leigh (Susan Vargas), Orson Welles (Hank Quinlan), Joseph Calleia (Pete Menzies), Akim Tamiroff (Joe Grandi), Marlene Dietrich (Tana), Zsa Zsa Gabor (proprietaria dello strip club/strip club owner)
produttore/producer
Albert Zugsmith
produzione/production
Universal International Pictures
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