Despite Orson Welles' full decade away from a Hollywood director's chair, Charlton Heston lobbied Universal to hire him for this edgy thriller and prevailed. Amazingly consigned to the bottom half of a double bill when first released, the film has enjoyed cult status ever since, and is now acknowledged as one of the high points of both film noir and Welles' oeuvre. It is renowned for its legendary opening sequence as witnessed by Mexican DEA Mike Vargas (Heston) and his American wife (Janet Leigh) - a long and intricate tracking shot, where a car bomb planted on the Mexican side of a seedy border town explodes across the U.S. border, killing a wealthy businessman and his girlfriend. But the crime scene is on the turf of Welles' sheriff Hank Quinlan, a hulking, sweaty and maniacal presence who investigates the case according to his own perverse agenda. Russell Metty's celebrated cinematography - all slanted angles and inky nighttime lighting - and a colorful cast that includes Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dennis Weaver add flair to this suspens classic. DIR/SCR Orson Welles, from the novel "Badge of Evil" by Whit Masterson; PROD Albert Zugsmith. U.S., 1958, b&w, 95 min. NOT RATED