Touch of Evil

1958 film by Orson Welles
Movie film Q778161
Touch of Evil
Universal Pictures · Public Domain · Wikimedia
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Summary

Touch of Evil is a film[1]. It ranks in the top 3% of film entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (10,437 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Director: Orson Welles[3]
  • Screenwriter: Orson Welles[4], Paul Monash[5], Whit Masterson[6]
  • Composer: Henry Mancini[7]
  • Genre: crime film[8], drama film[9], film noir[10]
  • Based on: Badge of Evil[11]
  • Cast member: Orson Welles[12], Charlton Heston[13], Janet Leigh[14], Joseph Calleia[15], Akim Tamiroff[16], Ray Collins[17], Dennis Weaver[18], Marlene Dietrich[19], Zsa Zsa Gabor[20], Mercedes McCambridge[21], Joseph Cotten[22], Valentin de Vargas[23], Keenan Wynn[24], Billy House[25]
  • Producer: Albert Zugsmith[26], Rick Schmidlin[27]
  • Production company: Universal Pictures[28]
  • Director of photography: Russell Metty[29]
  • Part of: National Film Registry[30]
  • Original language of film or TV show: English[31], Spanish[32]
  • Commons category: Touch of Evil (1958 film)[33]
  • Distribution format: video on demand[34]
  • Review score: 8.8/10[35], 97%[36], 99/100[37], 7.9/10[38]
  • Color: black-and-white[39]
  • Country of origin: United States[40]
  • Publication date: May 21, 1958[41]
  • Distributed by: Universal Pictures[42], Netflix[43]
  • Narrative location: Mexico[44], United States[45]
  • Filming location: California[46]
  • Described by source: AWFJ’s Top 100 Films List[47]
  • Title: Touch of Evil[48]
  • Has characteristic: film based on a novel[49]
  • MPA film rating: PG-13[50]
  • FSK film rating: FSK 16[51]

Product Details

The following facts are restated verbatim from public-domain and CC0 open-data sources — every line is independently verifiable against the named source's catalog.

MusicBrainz — CC0 open music encyclopedia

  • Release type: Album[52]

  • Secondary type(s): Soundtrack[53]

  • First release date: 1958[54]

  • Genre(s): afro-cuban jazz, easy listening, jazz, rock[55]

  • Community tags: afro-cuban jazz, easy listening, jazz, rock, soundtrack[56]

  • MusicBrainz ID: e3f8a230-97b5-3f50-ae9d-dc138179c492[57]

Body

Cultural Impact

Things named for Touch of Evil include Orsonwelles malus[58], a taxon[59].

Why It Matters

Touch of Evil has Wikipedia articles in 22 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[60] It is known by 28 alternative names across languages and contexts.[61]

Entities named for it include Orsonwelles malus[58], a taxon[59].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [40] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  39. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  40. [42] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  41. [43] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  42. [44] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  43. [45] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  44. [46] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  45. [47] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  46. [48] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  47. [49] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  48. [50] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  49. [51] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Product details (FDA / USDA / NHTSA public-domain catalog data)

  1. [52] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  2. [53] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  3. [54] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  4. [55] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  5. [56] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  6. [57] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [58] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [59] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [60] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [61] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Touch of Evil. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/touch-of-evil
MLA “Touch of Evil.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 10 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/touch-of-evil.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_touch-of-evil_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Touch of Evil}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/touch-of-evil}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-10}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Touch of Evil — https://4ort.xyz/entity/touch-of-evil (retrieved 2026-10-10)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/touch-of-evil · Last refreshed:

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 20d ago · Kwayst · 2026-09-24 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14724 → 8299374
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ P14724: 8299374"
  2. 6w ago · MsMorale · 2026-08-31 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14821 → 52311
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ P14821: 52311, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/269901|batch #269901]]"
  3. 7w ago · MrRobertman · 2026-08-24 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Box office → {'amount': '+2247465'}
    Kmrb film rating → 15
    Rtc film rating → B
    Incaa film rating → +13
    + 7 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Box office: 2,247,465 United States dollar, Added via Tricorder v3.0"
  4. 7w ago · Jindřich Rubeš · 2026-08-22 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Filmová databáze film id → 24120
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Filmová databáze film id: 24120, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/269265|batch #269265]]"
  5. 11w ago · Yirba · 2026-07-23 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14671 → 36039
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/43292|batch #43292]]: Create P14671 statements based on Rating certificate id qualifier"
  6. 13w ago · ならちゃん · 2026-07-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14587 → 931
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ P14587: 931, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/296481578|黒い罠 (#296481578)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/8113|1SCREEN movies]] #mix'n'match"
  7. 15w ago · Rémi sim · 2026-06-28 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14551 → touch-of-evil
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ P14551: touch-of-evil, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/295960769|TOUCH OF EVIL (#295960769)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/8091|Il cinema r"
  8. 15w ago · Yirba · 2026-06-25 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Production designer → Alexander Golitzen
    Described by source → AWFJ’s Top 100 Films List
    Publication date → +1958-05-21T00:00:00Z
    Screenwriter → Orson Welles, Paul Monash, Whit Masterson
    + 37 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/38225|batch #38225]]: MovieLens IDs (part 1)"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.