MovieChat Forums > Touch of Evil (1958) Discussion > Did the village idot 'night man' ruin th...

Did the village idot 'night man' ruin this movie for anyone else???

posted 15 years ago by Karunesh
36 replies | jump to latest

I love film noir, the darker and creepier the better, but the unintentionally comedic stammering and overacting of the "Night Man" at the Hotel (viewers will remember him as such since he repeated that he was "the Night Man" over and over and over and over again) completely ruined the whole dark, creepy ambiance of the film for me. His time on screen was so bad it was painful and embarrassing to watch, a stock "village idiot" charcter that feels like an an unwelcome vistor flown in from a different movie - like a 30's slapstick comedy perhaps? His presence is truly unfortunate since TOE could have otherwise been a good noir tale...Some directors should be banned by law from putting "comic relief" charcters in their movies - Welles is one of them!

JEFF MATHEUS

[–] Ipsissimus 15 years ago

Dennis Weaver didn't ruin the movie for me but if he'd had many more scenes he would have. His performance has been the subject of heated debate here; scroll down and check it out; he has extraordinarily many champions, much to my puzzlement. I mean to me it was a dreadfully bad, hammy performance, a cartoon, not a human being.

" Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."

[–] john6538 15 years ago

I enjoyed Weaver's performance. He provided a welcome counterpoint to the evil Grandis at the motel.

[–] AceDaCes83 15 years ago

I totally didn't realize that that stuttering weirdo night manager was Dennis Weaver. I completely didn't recognize that the future tough-guy star of "McCloud" played that same stammering little tool of a "night man"!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] jerseyboynorth 15 years ago

No.

[–] dalldorfw 15 years ago

Unintentionally funny? I thought he was there to supply comic-relief, kind of like the comedy cops in 'The Last House On The Left.'

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Deluge69-663-991830 15 years ago

"I'm the Night Man!"

Inspired me to go into acting.

"IT STINKS IN HERE!" His secret is in the delivery, and proper intense facial expressions.

Duel, anyone?

[–] coop-16 12 years ago

Actually, that little thing about comic relief in the midst of drama was something Welles and Ford (and Kurosawa.) got from guy named Shakespeare, who got in turn from Medieval "Mystery Plays.)

Joseph Anthony Harder

[–] silkforcalde 11 years ago

lol

[–] xoddie 14 years ago

There are far to many good things about the movie to where I didnt feel like it was ruined for me..however I do agree that Weaver's character and even the hotel sequence as a whole feels largely out of place to me. In my opinion the scenes slow down the rest of the plot and I feel the film would have been served better without them. I don't know why some directors feel the need to incorporate comic relief the way they do. In Touch of Evil in particular I felt some of Quinlan's dialogue was good enough and provided a few moments of "comic relief".

I'm a very big admirer of Orson Welles and think he was a far ahead of his time so I can't knock him to much.

[–] General_Ackbar 10 years ago

I absolutely agree. All of the hotel scenes felt odd in more ways than one. Not only did they not fit the tone of the film at all, they were also WAY too long and could have EASILY been condensed into two short scenes. Also, the Grandi boys looked a bunch of silly dated greasers in their leather jackets. Lol.

When you have to shoot- shoot, don't talk -Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez

[–] namaGemo 14 years ago

I have to admit, he took me out of the film. His character was pretty worthless and the acting was BAD!

[–] DarthBill 14 years ago

Yeah he was a stupid pointless character who didn't fit with the overall tone of the film.