They Were Correct - Reinforced Ideologies in Touch of Evil

They Were Correct: Reinforced Ideologies in Touch of Evil

Although some have argued Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil represents a departure from

Hollywood hierarchical positioning and portrayed superiority of the United States in contrast

with Mexico, the strong Anglo-Saxon characterization of the Mexican protagonist in the film,

as well as the glaring stereotyping and filmic treatment of other Mexican characters only

further contributes to the Hollywood and U.S. processes of Mexican and Mexican American

racialization. By casting Charlton Heston—an extremely well-known and recognizable

American actor—with conspicuously darkened skin and reinforcing his lack of

“Mexicanness,” the film presents him as a Mexican “Other:” a character to be contrasted

against the majority, rather than to be treated as a representation of Mexicans within a larger

context. Furthermore, other Mexican or Mexican American characters are given sinister or

predatory representations. Heston’s character, Miguel “Mike” Vargas, represents a lone

heroic figure among the corrupted many.

True, Vargas is presented as the films hero: he offers a contrast to the corruptness of

Orson Welles’ character, Captain Hank Quinlan. In this sense, film critic Jack M. Beckham

III is correct in his assessment Vargas is “performing the rhetoric of Americanism more

proficiently than the Americans” (134). However, he is not only on a contrast of one

immoral U.S. law enforcement agent; he is a contrast against which to measure a larger group

of Mexican and Mexican Americans, and it is in this contrast against the collective that the

film creates greater impact and further contributes to the process of racialization. After all,

the narrative impact of one dishonest U.S. character pales in comparison to the consignment

of menace of an entire group. Immediately upon Vargas’ initial interaction with Quinlan, the

portrayal of Vargas as a Mexican “Other” is established. Quinlan remarks that Vargas

doesn’t sound like a Mexican, and although Quinlan’s racist attitudes are consistently

demonstrated and addressed throughout the film, his immense moral flaws do not detract

from the overall treatment of Vargas as essentially an Anglo-American with darkened skin.

Vargas’ response to Quinlan’s remark enhances the treatment of the Mexican as a problem:

“Captain, you won’t have any trouble with me.” Vargas’ own allocation of his nationality as

a common signifier of danger and his refutation of this “quality” of national identity not only

establishes Vargas as someone different from the majority, but also informs the audience that

he does not encompass their popular image of the Mexican. He is something different, an

exception to the rule.

Furthermore, the consistent treatment of Vargas as a disruption to the immoral

happenings in this border town separates him from the other Mexican characters. Throughout

the film, characters address the change Vargas has brought to the border town of Los Robles.

After catching the drug lord Grandi, Vargas has created upheaval in the drug family and drug

business, a problem the family hopes to rectify by implicating Vargas and his wife, Susie, in

recreational drug use. Uncle Grandi remarks, “Just a little while ago this was a quiet,

peaceful town, and now this Vargas comes along…!” Once again, Vargas is treated as the

exception and the contradiction: he is a nuisance and a threat to the other Mexican and

Mexican American characters. True, these characters only represent one family, but the film

makes no effort to present other portrayals of alternate representation. The audience is left

with the representation of the individual Vargas against the many corrupt Mexican and

Mexican American characters.

In addition to the establishment of the separate identity of Vargas, Touch of Evil also

employs specific formal elements of composition—specifically dialogue, lighting and camera

angles—that add to the negative portrayal of the other Mexican and Mexican American

characters. Particularly in their interactions with Mike’s wife, Susie, the members’ of the

Grandi family are immediately established and consistently maintained as predatory and

lascivious. What’s more, even before the characters display these traits, Susie ascribes them

to one of them. In her first interaction with Grandi’s nephew (who she dubs as “Pancho” in

an effort to be funny), upon being told she doesn’t understand what “Pancho” wants, Susie

replies “I know exactly what he wants.”

Indeed, he does go on to fulfill her expectations, but her initial assumption reflects a larger

discourse in U.S. ideology—that of the Mexican as lewd and licentious. It is almost as if the

film is directly addressing the audience in this instant: their assumptions regarding Mexican

character are correct, and if given the chance, they will be proven. Moreover, in one of the

first scenes between Susie, Grandi and his nephew, lighting and camera angle effects help to

further establish both the difference between the two nationalities as well as further develop

the criminality of the Mexican characters. Near the end of the scene, the camera sets up two

contrasting close-ups: one of Grandi and his nephew and the other of Susie. Grandi and his

nephew are shot from below, enhancing their threat, while Susie is shot at eyelevel, placing

her on a relatable level with the audience. Furthermore, Uncle Grandi and his nephew are lit

with flashing car lights from the street, establishing a dramatic contrast between soft and

harsh lighting. Miraculously, the flashing lights do not reach Susie a few feet away: she is

bathed in soft light throughout the entirety of this exchange, and her beauty and purity are

maintained.

The elements and effects are sustained throughout the film’s representations of Mexicans and

Mexican Americans. Another scene involving Susie and Grandi’s gang at the Mirador Motel

utilizes similar filmic constructions in establishing the contrast between Susie and the gang,

except this time the film is representing a significantly larger group of Mexicans and Mexican

Americans. The disturbing scene involves an assault that begins with a high-angled shot of

Susie panicking on the bed. A shadow falls across her face, and the camera jumps to

“Pancho” entering the room, shot from below. The intentions of these contrasting shots are

evident: Susie is helpless, while “Pancho” is dangerous and overpowering. Quickly followed

by other members of his gang, equal in their ugliness and terrorization, the film upholds its

portrayal of Mexicans and Mexican Americans as threats.

Although Touch of Evil is notable in its positive characterization of a Mexican

protagonist, the film continuously establishes Vargas as a Mexican “Other.” From the casting

of well-known American actor Charlton Heston to the frequent reinforcements of his

separateness from the other Mexican and Mexican-American characters, the audience does

not attribute his moral integrity as an example of Mexican national identity; rather, it is an

exception amongst the numerous portrayals of Mexican characters’ malevolence. The film

had an opportunity to combat these popular beliefs in its protagonist’s nationality, but it

instead places as much distance between Heston’s Vargas and Mexico as possible. This

dissociation is further developed with the characterizations of the Grandi gang, as well as the

filmic effects employed in portraying them. Touch of Evil reinforces the hegemony and

ideology of the United States by leaving the audience with a collective portrayal that mirrors

the historically internalized beliefs of U.S. popular rhetoric. They were correct, after all.

Works cited

Beckham II, Jack M. "Placing Touch of Evil, The Border, and Traffic in the American

Imagination." Journal of Popular Film & Television 33.3 (2005): 130-141.

Touch of Evil. Screenplay by Orson Welles. Dir. Orson Welles. Prod. Albert Zuggsmith. Perf.

Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles. 1958. DVD. Universal, 2003.