On honeymoon with his new bride, a Mexican narcotics officer is unwittingly drawn into a web of crime and corruption when he witnesses a fatal car bombing. Following the case with interest, he's repulsed by the brusque attitude and morally-questionable methods of the local authorities; particularly their notorious lead detective, Quinlan, whose dubious past hangs like a rumbling storm cloud over the whole town.

Like most late-period noir films, _Touch of Evil_ is a wash of pulp and grit, with the seedy subject matter providing a sense of persistent danger and the black-and-white film stock pumped for all the grain and contrast it can muster. Orson Welles, sitting in the director's chair, may have gone overboard in his quest to probe these depths, although post-production on the film wasn't exactly trouble-free and he was eventually ousted from that post en route to a studio-mandated final cut. The result is a jumbled narrative, stocked with far too many loud characters and pointless subplots, albeit one with a stylish, progressive look and feel. Welles is good on the screen (he also plays the shady, multifaceted gumshoe Quinlan), but the double-billing may have been more than he could manage at this stage of his career.