The opening scene is right there at the top of the list of the best opening's in all of film. Not only that but most critics believe that it's the very best long shot in movie history. I remember the first time I saw it and it was one of those moments when you feel an electricity in your veins, and I remember knowing that this film was going to stand apart. The first image is a closeup of a ticking time-bomb, a great first image for a dangerous film noir. What follows is a crane shot, uninterrupted, for three and a half minutes. It starts with a first person view on the man holding the timebomb as he watches a couple walking towards him. He races towards a car, and like so many moments in this movie there is this incredible image, because the camera focuses on the wall that he's running beside and we see this quick shadow of him on the wall as if a phantom is inhabiting it. Just too cool. Once he reaches the car he quickly places the ticking bomb in it's trunk and that's the last we see of him. We don't know who he is because we only see his back. The camera is on a crane so it allows us to follow the car from up above and take in the festive night life surrounding it. The camera and the music are huge in this scene as well as in other scenes in the movie. The music that we hear in this scene is full of life and varies between 50's rock n roll and latin rythms. Orson Welles wanted it to be realistic music. What he meant by this is that he wanted the music that we heard to be a part of the scene, not just music accompanying a scene. The music that we hear comes from cars, night clubs, bars, etc. that exist on the street that we're watching. He deliberately recorded these sounds played through a cheap horn in the alley outside the sound building and then re-recorded with a tiny exterior horn. This created that imperfect sound that you get if you hear music from a passing car or walking past a bar. We follow the car and the scene already has this incredible energy because at any moment that bomb is going to explode. That energy keeps building. We see groups of people laughing, vendors crossing the street, couples smiling as they leave bars, or on their way somewhere and these loud latin rythms are playing in the background as well as rock n roll coming from the car with the bomb. It's incredibly vibrant. The camera then reveals the two main protagonists, Detective Vargas, a mexican narcotics officer played by Charleton Heston and his wife, played by Janet Leigh, who are now walking beside the car. The crane shot stays in front of the couple and they are walking briskly and soulfully, relaxed and smiling. The combination of their energy, the movement of the camera in front of them, the music, the bomb that's going to go off at any moment, and the bustling night life makes this scene explode. Excuse the pun. The other thing that makes this scene so great is that as the camera follows this couple, the car for most of the scene is right beside them, barely visible on the screen. The couple and the car are moving simultaneously towards the mexican border and throughout this movie the two will be linked. Once this car explodes it will trigger an investigation that Vargas will be involved in and Vargas's wife will go through hell.
The next scene isn't necessarily as bold or brilliant as the opening scene but it's still beautiful. The car explodes and we have a perfect example of the rythmic, almost dance-like quality of much of this movie. As Vargas and his wife are running towards the burning car there's a criss-cross motion of this swarm of people heading towards the accident. There's a graceful, almost choreographed feel to the moment, like the offshoot of a swing dance as people are running forward, hunched over. Once they get to the car it's classic film noir filled with darkness and shadows, and low angled closeups, but more severe than normal. What seperates this scene from so many is the fire. The contrast between the darkness and the fire is gorgeous. Behind Vargas and his wife is a four-tiered fountain on fire which looks like multi-layered torches, and in front of them is the blazing car. It looks and feels as much like an epic as a film noir.
Fittingly, we first see Quinlan, the main villain, in the midst of fire, darkness, and shadow. Quinlan speeds up in his car and the first time we see him it's a great moment. The camera is up close and down low and when Quinlan gets out of his car he looks like an imposing giant, and a vintage film noir character with a scowl on his face and a cigar in his mouth. Everything he says and does in this scene is cool. He's an obese, bitter, corrupt bully but he's the perfect obese, bitter, corrupt bully and he's the jewel of this film. He is actually a great detective with incredible instincts but ever since his wife was strangled and they couldn't find the killer his life has been about catching the killers his own way, and his way is corrupt and not within the guidelines of the law. He likes to plant evidence and he's gotten away with it for years. It's also, however, led him further and further away from good and turned him into a poster child for the film noir universe.
From this point on the movie splits into two storylines. One involves Vargas, the corrupt Quinlan and the investigation of the murder of the passengers in the flaming car. The other storyline involves Mrs. Vargas and the menacing Grande family.
The first storyline is rooted around a duel between Quinlan and Vargas, the corrupt detective and the righteous detective, and feels like classic film noir but with a dangerous edge. As forementioned every scene involving Quinlan is great. He is a total mess but he is a survivor and if you mess with him you better be ready. Vargas isn't nearly as interesting as a character but is a great example of the good detective trying to uphold the law. Most of this storyline results from Vargas realizing that Quinlan planted evidence on their main suspect. Vargas researches all his past cases and finds a trail of corruption. Quinlan, realizing this outsider is trying to mess with him pulls out the big guns and pairs up with Uncle Joe Grande to hit Vargas where it hurts; his wife. Two scenes really stand out for me in this storyline. One involves Quinlan going to visit a gypsy fortune teller who, it's subtly revealed, used to be a lover of his. The scene feels almost dream like as Quinlan walks the street with trash flying around everywhere. As he's walking towards the fortune teller's the camera is far off, giving him space. This world he's about to enter is seperate from the darkness and shadows. It almost has a fairy-tale like vibe and he enters her place which feels lighter and slightly magical. We see Marlene Dietrich and it's like old hollywood on the screen with polish and class. Her eyes are hypnotic and a cigarette dangles from her mouth. She looks dazzling, mysterious, and unflappable. It adds to that epic nature of this movie, this larger than life woman in the same room as this larger than life man. We see her dazzling silent movie star face and she blows out cigarette smoke, pauses and says, "We're closed." and walks away. Quinlan is slowly eating his candybar. She comes back with a pot. "You been cooking at this hour." "Just cleaning up." "Have you forgotten your old friend." "I told you we're closed." "I'm Hank Quinlan." "I didn't recognize you. You should lay off those candybars." "It's either the candy or the hootch. Must say I wish it was your chilly I was getting fat on. Anyway you're sure looking good." "You're a mess honey." In this scene we get an idea of the man he used to be as he looks at her tenderly and she barely recognizes him. More than anything else, though, it's just such a classy scene. The other scene that comes to mind is the scene in which Quinlan murders Uncle Joe Grande. Quinlan and Uncle Joe are partners in a scheme to set up Vargas and Mrs. Vargas and Quinlan doesn't like any strings left attached. In the room in which Mrs. Vargas is in bed, purposefully drugged and incoherant, Quinlan violently strangles Uncle Joe. There's this great moment where Uncle Joe is smashing a window to yell for help and the camera follows Quinlan stomping towards him and he almost looks like one of the old-time movie monsters tracking it's prey. There's a flurry of activity, severe closeups of both of them, the whole scene is supercharged and dangerous and Quinlan strangles him and then lets him drop lifeless onto Mrs. Vargas's bedpost. When she is more coherent she sees two bulging eyes staring at her and screams. This is a great example of the over-the -top nature of a lot of the dark scenes in this movie and why it feels so alive.
The second storyline focuses on the Grande boys, a menacing bunch of hooligans, terrorizing Mrs Vargas. One of the great aspects of this storyline is that for part of it Mrs. Vargas holds her own. In an early scene in which Uncle Joe Grande, the current head of the family, is saying something slimy to her, there is this great dialogue between the two of them. "You silly little pig." "Who are you talking about?" "I'm talking about you, you ridiculous old fashioned, jug eared, lopsided, little caesar." "I didn't get that Senor. You'll have to talk slow." "I'm talking slow but in a minute i'll start to yell." It shows us that Mrs Vargas is a fighter and it's an interesting element to a film noir where the female is usually either a strong villain or a lady in distress. Mrs Vargas ends up being a lady in distress but not without a fight. Most of the rest of Mrs. Vargas's story takes place at a hotel where she is dropped off until her husband takes care of this investigation. What she doesn't realize is that the hotel belongs to the Grandes. The whole sequence at the hotel is incredibly entertaining in almost a b movie mentality. The hotel clerk is this kind of slapstick, wacky coward who is very amusing in the midst of all the darkness. There's this exaggerated menace as the Grande boys take over the hotel and begin to terrorize Mrs. Vargas with loud rock n roll and eventually enter her room. When they enter the room it is ultra grindhouse. Everything is over the top. She opens up the window and there's this extreme closeup of a guy just standing there, the door slowly creeps open and then Mrs. Vargas is about to become hysterical in severe closeup on her bed. A group of the Grandes slowly comes in. They all look like they're right in her face and the way they're filmed and the way they're moving it once again feels musical. It's got a beat to it and it feels dangerous with all the closeups. They hold her down and it looks like something terrible is going to happen as they close the door. Mind you, during all of this Janet Leigh as Mrs Vargas has her hair down, and a nightgown on, and looks smoking hot. You're in this classic Orson Welles film noir with incredible imagery and style with these heavy elements along the Quinlan storyline and then the movie is injected with a certain lightness in this storyline. It's b movie feel adds some fun to the story. It's scary, wacky, sexy, dangerous. It's a breath of fresh air, a perfect balance to the other storyline, making the whole movie flow effortlessly. That saying, "It never gets old" applies to this movie.
The movie ends like a conventional film noir but with the polished class of Orson Welles. Vargas wires Quinlan's partner in order to get him to admit to planting evidence. It's a classic setting as they walk along an oil field, dirty, industrial, and a symbol for corruption and greed. Vargas follows along hiding in the shadows listening to the conversation on his device. Quinlan and his partner end up walking on a bridge overlooking a river and Quinlan shoots him after suspecting that he's been betrayed. He immediately walks into the water to try to wash the blood from his hands. Quinlan and Vargas end up in one final confrontation and just before Quinlan is about to shoot Vargas, his partner from up above on the bridge shoots him. Quinlan dies in the garbage infested river. The final image is of the captivating Marlene Dietrich who says, "He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people." and she walks away from the camera into the night.
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