In establishing this matrix of
border crossings, Touch of Evil «s celebrated
opening shot — mercilessly parodied in Robert Altman's The Player and sometimes vilified as mere Wellesian exhibitionism — is in fact an
entirely appropriate bit of audacity, and one that earns its place, more so than such progeny as the
opening shot of John Carpenter's Halloween, the tracking shot from the sidewalk to the stageside nightclub table in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, the elbow - to - the - ribs
opening of The Player.