From The Vault: Charlton Heston Wears Latino Face In 1958’s A Touch Of Evil

Inspired by the death of legendary screen actor Charlton Heston and reminded by commenter & blogger friend MexFiles, we’re re-posting the 1958 trailer for Orson Welles’ A Touch Of Evil. In it, Heston plays the last honest cop in Mexico Ramon Miguel “Mike” Vargas, (So that’s where he went.), married to Janet Leigh. How’d he swing that one in 1958 without a lynch mob? A synopsis from IMDB:

Mexico’s chief narcotics officer, Mike Vargas, is in a border town on a quick honeymoon with his U.S. wife. Soon he must testify against Grande, a drug lord whose brother and sons are tracking him, hoping to scare his wife and back him off the case. When a car bomb kills a rich U.S. developer, Vargas embroils himself in the investigation, putting his wife in harm’s way. After Vargas catches local legendary U.S. cop, Hank Quinlan, planting evidence against a Mexican national suspected in the bombing, Quinlan joins forces with the Grande family to impugn Vargas’s character. Local political lackeys, a hard-edged whore, pachucos, and a nervous motel clerk also figure in the plot.

That’s Marlene Dietrich starring as the cigar sucking (epale!), “hard-edged,” madame of darker complexion. And Orson Wells as the big, fat white guy. Uh, no surprises there.

Touch of Evil (1958) [IMDB]
Earlier: Mexican Brownface Meets Charlton Heston: A Movie Is Born
Charlton Heston’s Hands Are Cold And Dead