Film Forum

(1958) “An hour ago Rudy Linnekar had this town in his pocket. Now you can strain him through a sieve.” Police corruption and murder on the border, as Mexican narc Charlton Heston, on a Yankee honeymoon with gringa bride Janet Leigh, finds himself pressed into service by memorably bloated police chief Orson Welles when a car bomb vaporizes both businessman and blonde. With a legendary opening crane shot that follows the actors for blocks; dark-wigged madam Marlene Dietrich’s deadpan greeting to Welles (“You a mess, honey. You been eatin’ too much candy.”), as Henry Mancini’s pianola tune tinkles in the background; the Psycho-like frisson of Leigh’s morning-after view of Akim Tamiroff’s upside-down, tongue-distended kisser; and concluding with an elaborately intercut chase by Heston over, under, around and through the canals of Venice (California, that is), Welles’ first American film in a decade - and his last - is a festival of bizarre camera angles, mile-long shots and baroque lighting - stunningly photographed by Russell Metty. This is a new digital restoration of the “director’s cut” re-constructed in 1998 by Rick Schmidlin and Walter Murch. Approx. 112 min. DCP.

A UNIVERSAL PICTURES RELEASE

Reviews

“THE TALLEST TREE IN THE WILDERNESS OF WELLES’ POST-KANE CAREER! The dialogue is as intricately overlapped as the lighting is cross-hatched; the cameos are as vivid as possible in a black-and-white movie; the camera work and blocking have the coordination of an Olympic pole vaulter.”
– J. Hoberman

“Wizardly moving camera shots, nightmarish angles and incredibly florid, amusing performances pack the movie... a wondrous gift no movie lover should miss.”
– Michael Wilmington

“No amount of repeated viewings can dull the edge of its sinister ambience or soften the visual excitement Welles brought to this quintessentially cinematic film.”
– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times