Touch of Evil: Evil Exposed

In the finality of Touch of Evil, the corrupt cop is exposed. It is revealed Quinlan, played by the director Orson Welles, was not only planting evidence to arrest suspects but he was the one who killed Joe Grande. His once trusted sidekick, Pete Menzies, is the one to find Quinlan's cane at the scene of the crime where Grande's body was found along with a drugged Susie. Quinlan framed Susie for being an addict and killing Joe Grande. He had her drugged and left with Joe Grande's strangled corpse hanging above her. Mike knows Susie was framed and is a mess. For him it's personal. Pete finally tells Mike he'll help him after he discovered Quinlan's cane left at the scene of the crime and has discovered that Hank has been drinking again. Pete and Vargas come up with a plan to get a taped confession from Quinlan to clear Susie. Pete wears a wire and chats a drunk Quinlan up about everything, all the cases where he planted evidence and then his cane being left by the body of Joe Grande. Quinlan admits he planted evidence but only on the suspects he knew were guilty. While telling Pete this, Quinlan hears an echo and learns of Menzies betrayal. He calls out for Vargas to come out and face him. Quinlan then shoots Menzies with Mike's gun and once Vargas comes out prepares to shoot him as well. He says he can claim Vargas was resisting arrest but it shot by Menzies before his death. Schwartz arrives on the scene with Susie. Mike Tells Schwartz everything has been recorded it was Quinlan. Schwartz tells Vargas that it turns out the planted dynamite was unnecessary as Sanchez confessed to the crime. Then Quinlan stumbled back into filthy waste-water and died.
The true evil in this film was exposed to be Quinlan, the corrupt cop. Although, I have to wonder if Joe Grande had not pushed him to drinking and thinking that Vargas was a problem that he would've done what he did. I feel that he did what he did not only due to his addiction but also due to his paranoia. Quinlan was corrupt, there's no doubt about it, but I feel the actions he committed were not of his sane mind. Quinlan was evil but he wasn't always, something had to make him tick, snap, lose it. I honestly feel that Quinlan is a poster character for a lot of stereotypes we see today. Sure there's the stereotype about policemen and donuts but there's other stereotypes that his character possesses that really seem to be related to stereotypes we see today, such as corrupt cops and a person in power letting that power get to their head, as well as addictions and losing touch with reality. In this film the evil is truly exposed and taken for what it is at face value, Quinlan is the stereotypical bad guy.