Touch of Evil is a 1958 American film noir crime thriller film, written, directed by, and co-starring Orson Welles. The screenplay was loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. Along with Welles, the cast includes Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich.Touch of Evil is one of the last examples of film noir in the genre's classic era (from the early 1940s until the late 1950s).