Touch Of Evil is a 1958 thriller written and directed by Orson Welles. The film follows a Mexican narcotics detective, Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston), and his wife Susie (Janet Leigh), who are embroiled in a world of crime and corruption, as Miguel’s investigations into narcotics rings bring him into conflict with local law-enforcer Hank Quinlan (Welles).
Classification Issues
- Violence
- There are some scenes of moderate violence, including sight of people engulfed in flames in a car after a bomb is detonated, and a man being shot, resulting in some sight of blood. There is also a scene of strangulation. In one scene, men enter a room and grab a woman. It is implied the woman is going to be sexually assaulted, although the scene cuts away.
- Drugs
- There are a number of visual and verbal references to drug use, including sight of a joint being picked up, sight of an apparently drugged woman, and verbal descriptions of injecting heroin.
- Additional issues
- There is some very mild bad language (e.g. ‘hell’, ‘damn’).
Cinema classification
Touch Of Evil arrived at the BBFC for classification in April 1958, While much of the original film file is no longer extant, BBFC records include a cuts list for the original submission, which shows the BBFC’s concerns about scenes of violence, implied gang rape, and gore in the film. With these reductions made, the film was passed A. The A rating meant that a film was more suitable for adults than children, though there was no age restriction attached to the category.
Video classification
The uncut version of Touch of Evil was submitted for video classification in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2004. Each of these submissions were classified 12. An Examiner report from August 1994 describes the film's “sinister and dark edge”, noting that it featured “drug references, an implied group rape and moments of pure horror”, which went beyond what was permissable at PG under the BBFC Classification Guidelines at PG.
Cinema re-submission
Touch of Evil was resubmitted for cinema classification in 1996 and 1999, receiving a 12 rating on both occasions. This was updated to 12A (which replaced the theatrical 12 rating in 2002) in 2015, ahead of a nationwide re-release of the film and a BFI season to mark the centenary of Orson Welles. The modern content advice for the film notes that it contains moderate violence, threat, and drug references.
