Coming to an End

Touch of Evil came to a bittersweet end yesterday in my film studies class. In my previous post, I had wondered what was going to happen in the movie. Would Quinlan destroy Vargas's career, or vice versa? I knew that Quinlan was up to something shady, and this rang true throughout the entire film. He was upset that Vargas was taking a close look at his career, and analyzing what he saw. He discovered that Quinlan might have been framing people for years, much like he had done with Susan, Vargas's wife. That scared the long-time captain, provoking him to stop Vargas from looking any further. 

The climax of the movie began when Quinlan and his loyal partner, Menzies, go for a walk. He questions Quinlan about the recent murder that took place: the killing of Grandi. He is wearing a wire so that Vargas can listen to and record their entire conversation. But like most movie and shows that I've seen, someone always finds out that someone is wearing a wire. Vargas got close to the bridge that Quinlan and Menzies were walking across, and it wasn't long before Quinlan heard the echo of Vargas's speaker. Menzies tried to cover it up, but Quinlan wasn't buying it. He shot Menzies, who then shot him before he could kill Vargas. 

The movie comes to a happily-ever-after ending. Vargas and his wife are together once again, and she is out of harm's way. The end. 

One key element that stood out to me with this movie was the foreshadowing. When Tanya told Quinlan, who she once loved, that his future is "all used up", I immediately knew that he would be dead soon. The cinematography hinted to this as well, since it showed his old, tired, defeated face. He didn't look so good, and the fact that he was drunk definitely didn't make him look any better. He ended up floating down a river, and Tanya said he was "some kind of a man". 

The ending was ambiguous to me, because some questions were still left in my mind. Did Menzies actually die? Vargas's time in the movie was cut short too, along with his wife's. But who let her out of jail? No one will ever know.