The Wrong Man (1956)

True story of an innocent man mistaken for a criminal.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Maxwell Anderson (screenplay), Angus MacPhail (screenplay),

Stars:

Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Henry Fonda	...	Manny Balestrero
Vera Miles	...	Rose Balestrero
Anthony Quayle	...	Frank D. O'Connor
Harold J. Stone	...	Det. Lt. Bowers
Charles Cooper	...	Det. Matthews
John Heldabrand	...	Tomasini
Esther Minciotti	...	Mama Balestrero
Doreen Lang	...	Ann James
Laurinda Barrett	...	Constance Willis
Norma Connolly	...	Betty Todd
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Gene Conforti
Lola D'Annunzio	...	Olga Conforti
Kippy Campbell	...	Robert Balestrero
Robert Essen	...	Gregory Balestrero
Richard Robbins	...	Daniel - the Guilty Man

Storyline

Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero - Manny to his friends - is a string bassist, a devoted husband and father, and a practicing Catholic. His $85 a week gig playing in the jazz combo at the Stork Club is barely enough to make ends meet. The Balestreros' lives will become a little more difficult with the major dental bills his wife Rose will be incurring. As such, Manny decides to see if he can borrow off of Rose's life insurance policy. But when he enters the insurance office, he is identified by some of the clerks as the man that held up the office twice a few months earlier. Manny cooperates with the police as he has nothing to hide. Manny learns that he is a suspect in not only those hold ups, but a series of other hold ups in the same Jackson Heights neighborhood in New York City where they live. The more that Manny cooperates, the more guilty he appears to the police. With the help of Frank O'Connor, the attorney that they hire, they try to prove Manny's innocence. Regardless of if ...

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Plot Keywords:

insurance | innocence | musician | robbery | trial | 

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Taglines:

HITCHCOCK'S FIRST REAL-LIFE THRILLER! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Spanish

Release Date:

26 January 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der falsche Mann

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue subway station, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Visa d'exploitation en France # 19275.

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Goofs

When Manny enters prison, a prisoner shouts "What'd they get you for, Henry?", using the actor's name, Henry Fonda.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Prologue narrator: This is Alfred Hitchcock speaking. In the past, I have given you many kinds of suspense pictures. But this time, I would like you to see a different one. The difference lies in the fact that this is a true story, every word of it. And yet it contains elements that are stranger than all the fiction that has gone into many of the thrillers that I've made before.

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Connections

Referenced in Zodiac (2007)

User Reviews

Hitchcock's scariest film

THE WRONG MAN has to be the scariest film made by Alfred Hitchcock. The driving force is it's realism. Based on a true story, we follow a struggling Queens musician (Henry Fonda) falsly accused of local robberies. We don't have suave Cary Grant dodging cropdusters or Mount Rushmore. There is no darkly funny Robert Walker making quips about murder. It's all frightfully real- the arrest process, the breakdown of Fonda's family (An incredible performance by Vera Miles as his wife) and the grueling courtroom process. The opening hour of unsmiling detectives checking Fonda's story, and watching Fonda become more defenseless is outright chilling.