Touch of Evil and the Hero problem

I have liked Touch of Evil since before it became fashionable in 1998, at the time of its rerelease. Recently I watched it again with some students and came to an interesting conclusion: it is not a Film Noir.

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by Karel segers

More importantly, for me the film re-opens the discussion about the difference between Hero, Protagonist and Main Character. But let’s look at the genre aspects of Touch of Evil first.

Even in its loosest definition, Film Noir usually involves a main character who goes down because of his own flaw, often pushed towards his demise by a ‘femme fatale’.

Touch of Evil doesn’t have a femme fatale. The main two female characters in the story are Suzie (Janet Leigh) and Tanya (Marlene Dietrich). Neither really do anything to bring either of the key males down.

Film Noir usually involves a main character who
goes down because of his own flaw,
often pushed towards his demise by a ‘femme fatale’.

So, if there’s no femme fatale, does the main character go down at the end of the story?

He doesn’t.

The Protagonist

Protagonist technically means ‘leading character’.

In Touch Of Evil I would say this is Mike Vargas. Not only does the movie open and close with him, he leads us into the story and he is played by the biggest star in the movie: Charlton Heston.

Vargas may well be the leading character, he is far from the most interesting character in this movie, in fact he is quite a dull and stereotypical cop.

The biggest and most important character in the movie is undoubtedly Quinlan, terrifically embodied by the director, Orson Welles himself. Quinlan is a character we initially loathe but whom we ultimately get to know and understand so well that we really feel for him when he finds his demise. I would like to call him the Main Character. To me, this character is who the movie is really about.

The Main Character

The tragic character of Quinlan, who fails because of his own actions and moral flaws, is the true film noir center of the movie. I would indeed call him the main character because without him, the movie would have been a standard procedural.

the character who goes down because of his own actions and moral flaws,
is the true Film Noir center of the movie.

In this sense, Touch of Evil is an exception. Most films in het noir genre have a main character who drives the story and who is played by the lead actor, therefore protagonist and main character are the same.

So if Quinlan is the Main Character, then surely Vargas is not only the Protagonist but also The Hero?

He is not.

The Hero

When we speak of a Hero in screenwriting terms, we do this within the context of the Hero’s Journey. This has nothing to do with ‘hero-movies’, let alone the superhero genre. It has to do with the structure of the story and the archetypal functions of the characters within that story.

Because the Hero’s Journey is in essence a transformational model, the Hero character has one essential aspect in addition to the other definitions of central character and that is change. In Touch of Evil, Vargas hardly changes.

One could argue that his final action involves a method he might not have otherwise used but there’s another character who goes through a much greater transformation and this is Pete Menzies, amazingly performed by Joseph Calleia.

The Hero character has one essential aspect in addition to
the other definitions of central character and that is change.

Menzies initially adores Quinlan but he goes through a journey of learning and at the end he chooses Vargas’ side. This is one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the movie and it undeniably labels Menzies as the changing, redeeming Hero of this movie.

It brings us to an interesting conclusion: some movies can have different ‘central’ characters perform functions that are traditionally played by only one character at the centre of the story:

- the Main Character (has most screen time, who the story is about)
- the Protagonist (drives the story, lead actor)
- the Hero (undergoes the greatest change)

Some movies can have different ‘central’ characters perform functions
that are traditionally played by only one character at the centre of the story

The POV Character

Technically we can have a fourth function at the center through whom we experience the story, yet who doesn’t fulfil any of the functions above. We would call this the POV Character.

In Touch Of Evil, I would say that Vargas is the POV character, although the POV does shift quite often in the second half of the story.

Conclusion

No matter how much I love Touch of Evil, I must acknowledge that it was never a success. Not at the time of its original release nor for the re-release in 1998.

The ambiguity around who the story is about may not have helped its commercial success. Check for yourself: most successful films have one main character, who is at the same time the protagonist and the Hero.

When you break up these functions, you are asking the audience to dilute their engagement with these characters. As a result, emotions won’t be as strong as they would be in the case of one central character.

most successful films have one main character,
who is at the same time the protagonist and the Hero.

In the case of Touch of Evil there was no other way of telling the story as Welles’ squarely intended to confuse the audience on the moral level. He didn’t want us to resolutely side with Vargas. On the contrary: he wanted us to love Quinlan.Welles’ squarely intended to confuse the audience on the moral level.

For me personally, he succeeded. He didn’t for the large cinema audience. I am already interested in moral dilemmas. One can ask what the use is of making a movie with a powerful moral dilemma if it doesn’t reach, let alone change the audience it is intended for.

Do you know of other movies where the functions of the central character are split? Does it work? And do you find it useful to make these distinctions as a writer?

- Karel Segers

Karel Segers is a producer and script consultant who started in movies as a rights buyer for Europe’s largest pay TV group Canal+.

Back then it was handy to speak 5 languages. Less so today in Australia.

Karel teaches, consults and lectures on screenwriting and the principles of storytelling to his 5-year old son Baxter and anyone who listens.

He is also the boss of this blog.

 

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