Orson Welles directs Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and himself in this film noir thriller where a Mexican DA and a corrupt American cop investigate a border town car bombing.

Not a buddy movie. Low angles, hard shadows, sweat oozing. It does play like Orson is trying to make the ultimate noir… a capstone for the sub genre. Leigh, resplendent, is having motel trouble again. Marlene Dietrich is the bad girl with a heart of gold. Welles is everything wrong with fascism in a dirty mac. Heston is miscast. All the trope characters are amplified, maybe becoming more complex because of their heightened nature. The set pieces are gripping, orchestrated perfectly, giving Lang and Hitch a run for their money in their suspenseful bravado. Feels apiece with the doubtful morality of other classics of this era like 12 Angry Men and Sweet Smell Of Success. The last classic film noir is bitter, poisonous and overcooked to near perfection.

9

Perfect Double Bill: The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

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