Universal, 1958. Mimeographed manuscript by Orson Welles, 111 pp, January 24, 1957 (blue revision pages dated as late as 2/4/57), here titled Badge of Evil, bound in brads in red Universal-International wrappers, signed ("Albert Zugsmith") on the title page. Together with a copy of the film's pressbook, 8 pp.

Though Orson Welles was originally hired only to act in Touch of Evil, through star Charlton Heston's intervention the film became Welles's final completed directorial effort for a major Hollywood studio. Welles heavily rewrote the original screenplay by the uncredited Paul Monash and Franklin Coen, refashioning the Southwestern crime melodrama into a film noir masterpiece. Set in a Mexican border town, newlywed cop Mike Vargas (Heston) investigates a local politician's explosive murder, which leads him to discover a trail of evidence-tampering by local bigwig detective Hank Quinlan (Welles).

Producer Albert Zugsmith had his own "B" unit at Universal, where he had recently produced the crime film Man in the Shadow, starring Welles, and The Incredible Shrinking Man (for which Welles had narrated the trailer). Though heavily associated with exploitation fare like High School Confidential and Sex Kittens Go to College, Zugsmith wound up distinguishing himself with a few films like Touch of Evil, which remains the most lauded of his films.

This is an earlier version of the script containing various altered and deleted scenes. Most notably, the pivotal character of Tana is not present in this draft—Welles' old friend Marlene Dietrich later agreed to play the part as a favor to him. In one incredibly gruesome scene, an assassin's splash of acid, meant for Vargas, hits an alley cat instead, which the police shoot—in the film, the acid hits a poster. The film's central town, Los Robles, is referred to as "San Vicente" throughout, and there is a one-page printed notation about the name change. The aftermath of the film's climax is totally different: instead of the iconic scene of Tana mourning Quinlan, there is light-hearted banter between Vargas and his new bride, Susie (Janet Leigh) as they head off on their honeymoon, which includes several lines of expository dialogue which were reworked for actor Richard Deacon's character in the finished film.

Touch of Evil was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993.