San Franciscan underworlds tonight

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Tonight at the Castro Theater (7:00 p.m.): Touch of Evil.

Via the SF Metblog: Justly celebrated for the ways it combines the ridiculous — Welles’ grotesquely rotund figure, Charlton Heston in dark makeup as a Mexican detective, and Dennis Weaver’s bugging-out night shift motel manager — with the sublime — Welles’ direction, including the famous three and a half minute long opening tracking shot running under the titles — the film inspired a generation of filmmakers by making great cinema on a tiny budget and a two-bit script.

The opening tracking shot itself is a cultural reference point — remember Robert Altman’s homage in “The Player” even as the characters themselves refer to it? (”He set up the whole picture with that one tracking shot… My father was key grip on that shoot.”) But the whole film is stuffed full of delights: Heston in brownface exclaiming about an explosion on the border, “This could be very bad for us… for Mexico!” Janet Leigh as his wife, menaced by a drug-dealing biker gang. Marlene Dietrich as the faded proprietess of a bordertown speakeasy. Weaver frantically protesting, “I’m the night man!!” And Welles himself, grumbling, shuffling, sneering, waddling his way through the film. This is a great chance to see it on the big screen.

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Tonight on the History Channel (9:00 p.m.): Cities of the Underworld

Via Laughing Squid: The episode with John is about San Francisco and in his segment they explore San Francisco’s Word War II bunkers and talk about the San Francisco Suicide Club. John, along with assistants John Hell, Katy Bell, CJ Desoda and Simone Davalos, “kidnapped” The History Channel crew taking them on a San Francisco adventure.

Via the History Channel: While most people think of San Francisco as a haven for peace-loving hippies, this city by the Bay is actually one of the biggest military defense installations in America. We’ll take you beneath its picturesque hills and uncover the biggest ammunitions depot on the West Coast before plunging into a deadly arsenal that once stored nuclear missiles with more than six times the destructive power of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. From the secret Civil War fortification buried beneath Alcatraz to the human trafficking tunnels winding below Chinatown, San Francisco’s underground is evidence of its sordid past.

This episode of Cities of the Underworld also airs tomorrow, January 13, at 1:00 p.m.