Orson Welles continues his transformation into a human balloon in what’s considered the last great, true film noir from the classic era. Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston in bewildering casting that ultimately works) is a Mexican drug enforcement officer who finds himself in the middle of a potentially international incident by happenstance when a car explodes just outside a border town. Vargas takes a personal interest in the crime, deciding to dig deeper into what soon becomes a shit-storm of corruption. The three minute opening scene has gone down as one of the defining long, uninterrupted shots of film, which was butchered by re-cuts, among other revisions, insisted upon by producers when originally released. Welles’ original vision was finally restored in 1998, proving that an artist can see his labor in its pure form come to light… 14 years after he or she is dead. See this version in wondrous 35MM at the Coolidge.

7PM // Coolidge Corner Theatre // $10.25 Adult/$8.25 Senior, Child