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I thought that this movie was the most interesting one so far since reading break. I liked it because it wasn’t in a documentary style, and just in general, the way it was directed, it was more interesting than the movie last week. I watched the movi…

This movie really didn’t sit well with me.  It was full of violence, seemingly purely for the sake of violence.  People were killed indiscriminantly, despite the allusion to groups such as the main one, the railroad group and the Mepache military.  In the beginning we see children enjoying watching a scorpion die, engulfed in a […]

I don’t have too many positive things to say about this movie. This film as well as Touch of Evil, both relate to a Mexican theme in a very similar way: both show how Hollywood cinema portrays Mexico and sets up relations between the US and Mexico thro…

This is my first time watching the Wild Bunch and I thought it was an excellent movie. It’s the type of movie that keeps you interested from start to finish because of the strong acting and storyline along with great action and suspense. The movie sh…

I really disliked this movie. The plot of the film was convoluted and made little sense to me. I was not even sure until the end of the movie who the main protagonists were or whether or not I was supposed to even sympathize with them. Those characters…

I think that if we look at this film and ask ourselves, how does it construct Mexico? we can draw a number of conclusions. However, I think that since most movies from now on do not represent Mexico as it is, it is more interesting to look at why they…

In response to Hudson404, I also thought that was interesting how Charlton Heston was made to look Mexican with face paint. Pease comments in his article that originally Heston was cast to play the role of a white detective, yet this part was eventuall…

I think that the regard of the border encompasses almost the entire core of the film’s thematic purpose. The division between these two nations establishes the dominance of Hank, but also allows for his downfall. It creates the division between Susan a…

RESPONSE TO HUDSON404: I think that the actions of the hotel clerk speak to the directro’s attempt to show that Susan is as unsafe on that side of the border as on the other. It actually seems to me that she gets into much more trouble at the motel, th…

It’s so annoying to be late for the movie but finally I’ve got to watch the first 3 minutes. It’s really a long shot, and i personally guess that the underscoring of the scene might be the most interesting one. Welles uses different sounds of, like, fo…

I think that the purpose of the story teller was to humanize the bad cop (Hank). She seemed to be her lover or concubine. I think that the director did not want us to see Hank just as an evil being but as a human.I thought that the begging was strange …

Like Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil has an ominous nature to it as it utilizes noir techniques. The plot seemed to take many twists and turns. The style of the film reminded me of Citizen Kane as the opening scene begins with lurking shado…

Touch of evil had a few clichés from the old style sleuth and caper movies of the 50’s. The dialogues seemed to be more complex and dramatic as the use of different filming styles such as the angles and crane shots. Made it seem definitely a more Am…

This is the second time I see this film and I still don’t know what to think of it. I think I did not enjoy this movie very much because I have very high expectations for Orson Welles. This film is very well made, but it is slow in some parts. I like h…

 I had never seen this film before but had heard a lot about it.
The opening crane shot sequence was unbearably tense and beautifully shot.
The unsuspecting car planted with bomb slowly weaving around crowds of people had me holding my breath.
Welles seemed to purposely bait the audience with different bomb exploding possibilities in that scene too.
For example: The car disappearing behind a building, the policeman directing traffic, the happy couples, the cart full of trinkets, the other cars.
He plays a multitude of mind games on the viewer…
The camera pulls away from the bomb car leading the audience to think the explosion will come and then the car pulls uncomfortably close again. The main characters Vargas and Susie are essentially side by side with the car for a few minutes and the music is at all times very joyous and vibrant. The characters and plot were easy to follow with amazingly memorable characters ie: Hank Quinlan! Yikes. Is it just me or does the T.V show House owe a lot to this character? Welles is an absolutely exceptional actor and shows his skill the representation of Quinlan.
The perfect example of film noir.
Almost a ridiculously dated film now though. The constant mention of reefer and reefer stubs was somewhat comical. Unintentional of course but speaks of a time when the fear of marijuana was at its height.
Also the border! How things have changed since this film was made is unbelievable!
It’s even referenced in the film when (Vargas?) mentions the endless miles of uncontrolled border without a single machine gun in place. 
Regardless, loved the film, loved the single take tracking shots (Ie: in the apartment where the dynamite was planted), beautiful lighting and shadows, venetian blinds. Unreal.

I think that commenting on the cinematography and how it affected my perception of the film would be far above my head. I think that my thematic response to the film, though, was aided by the angles and movements of the camera.But, he final scene in wh…

This was an interesting film to watch. It did bother me that Charles Heston was playing a Mexican, I must say.  However, the cinematography was quite good.  I especially enjoyed the use of lighting and when (as a result of such lighting) we see great shadows running past on the wall.
It was interesting, because […]

I’m finding it difficult to talk/think about this movie. I thought that it was really boring and hard to watch and therefore hard to follow at times. I don’t know why I didn’t like it. If somebody had summarized the plot for me, and I hadn’t se…

I found the narrative very interesting. I liked how the director divided our attention between what was going on with uncle Joe Grandi and with Quinlan to mislead us and make us wonder about the fate of Susan. I thought that the bad cop versus the good…

I’m not sure how to feel about this film. It had the usual racist and sexist components of Hollywood films of the time, which are still hard for me to get around sometimes, depending on the film. The fact that Charlton Heston played the main lead who w…

I found this movie pretty enjoyable and action packed. It felt pretty “advanced” for its time in terms of plots and techniques, it definitely wasn’t as cheesy as other movies of that time. The beginning of the movie I found was extremely suspenseful…

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