>
> Monday, February 9, 1998
>
> Counterpunch
> 'Touch of Evil' Needed Final Touch of
Welles
> By CHARLTON HESTON
>
> I was glad to read your update on
Universal's
> restoration and re-release of Orson Welles'
> "Touch of Evil" (ironic note: the work will
undoubtedly
> cost more than the original film--we had 30 days
and
> $800,000; we came in one night and $29,000
over
> budget). I'm sure [film editor] Walter Murch and
his
> colleagues are equal to their task ("Orson Welles
Gets
> Final Cut--at Last," Calendar, Jan. 31).
> It's often been said that Welles deserved more
of
> Hollywood than he got; true enough. Also true: Film,
the
> art form of our time, deserved more of Welles than
he
> gave.
> * * *
>
> Once I'd persuaded Universal to accept Welles
as
> director, he flung himself into the project with the
full
> range of his protean creative capacities. He rewrote
the
> entire script in 10 days, vastly improving
it.
> The shoot went very well, as did the editing, some
of
> which I watched and learned from. I also saw
several
> reels of Welles' rough cut, superbly done. I then
went
> off to film "The Big Country" for William
Wyler.
> Two months later, the studio called me in
the
> Mojave: Could I reach Welles? On turning in his
cut,
> he'd gone off to Mexico to raise money for
"Don
> Quixote" and hadn't called them since. When I got
back
> in town, I found Welles and read his 58-page memo,
but
> by then, the fat was in the fire.
> In terms of sheer talent, I admire Welles as much
as
> any of the fine directors I've had the good luck to
work
> for, but the director cannot abandon a film
in
> post-production.
> I look forward to the film's reincarnation,
warts,
> wonders, cross cuts and all, though it occurs to me
that
> the most memorable scenes in the film--the
stunning
> boom shot that opens the picture, the 12-page scene
in
> Sanchez's apartment, the scene driving down the
alley
> (with me and my partner running the sound and
the
> camera during the take)--were all shot as
seamless
> setups, with no cuts at all.
> In the end, Cahier du Cinema's early judgment
may
> be the best. " 'Touch of Evil' is not a great film,"
they
> said. "It is undoubtedly the best B movie ever made."
I'll
> settle for that.
> P.S.: I'm bemused that your reporter found
my
> casting as a Mexican attorney "bizarre." It was the
first
> of more than a dozen non-American roles I've
played,
> from Brits, Scots, Irishmen to a variety of kings,
tyrants,
> cardinals and geniuses. Don't we call that
nontraditional
> casting nowadays?
> * * *
> Charlton Heston starred in Orson Welles' "Touch
of
> Evil."
-- James Stephenson Rare Books & Special Collections Cataloger McKeldin Library University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Mailto:js272@umail.umd.edu # # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.