I don't think I'd seen this in over twenty-five years. I had it on VHS. Back then, I focused on form rather than content, marveling at the long opening crane shot and the six minute sequence shot in the apartment. Finally seeing it again, I ignored all that and enjoyed the movie. They didn't waste any time. It was fast-moving. The story covers just a day or two. I liked Henry Mancini's soundtrack even if Orson Welles had something different in mind; I find Charelton Heston objectionable in general and didn't care that he played a Mexican.
Orson Welles as a corrupt detective in a seedy border town. Heston plays a Mexican official fighting narcotics smuggling. He's putting Akim Tamiroff's brother on trial in Mexico City leaving Akim in charge of his crime family such as it is.
Zsa Zsa Gabor appeared briefly but made it into the opening credits. According to IMDb, Eva Gabor was in there, too, somewhere, sadly unacknowledged.
If you want to compare and contrast the theories of Welles and Renoir with those of Eisenstein and Pudovkin, watch Touch of Evil and Psycho, both black and white genre films exemplifying the two approaches, both with Janet Leigh being menaced in a motel room.
Available on the Criterion Channel.
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