3. The Wrong Man
Director Alfred Hitchcock once told a story about how, when he was a young boy, his father sent to the police station with a note. He gave it to an officer, who read the note and locked Hitchcock up in a cell for ten minutes. After the officer let him out, he told Hitchcock Thats what we do to naughty boys. It appears Hitchcocks father wanted teach young Alfred a lesson. This incident stayed with Hitchcock his entire life, and, according to Hitchcock, inspired the recurring theme of the wrong man, a man accused of a crime he didnt commit, in many of his films. I think Hitchcocks favourite theme is most powerfully explored in 1956s The Wrong Man. This is probably due to the fact its the first Hitchcock based on a true story, that of Christopher Emmanuel Manny Balestrero, (Henry Fonda), a musician at the New York Stork Club, who is accused of committing a string of robberies. While Hitchcock could have used Mannys story as a jumping point for a more Hitchcockian thriller but instead he treats Mannys story with respect, and tells the story in a grounded, realistic fashion, shooting on location in New York and in several locations from the actual story. While The Wrong Man is usually considered a film noir, Hitchcock is also said to have been inspired by the Italian Neo-realist and French New Wave movement, which ties in to Hitchcock attempting to create a more realistic and gritty feeling film. The realistic aesthetic is somewhat of a departure for Hitchcock, whose films usually exist in a more Hollywood plane of existence. In many ways, The Wrong Man doesnt feel like a Hitchcock film, though there are still a few Hitchcockian shots, such as Manny looking at his house through a police car, with the house in the background, and a cops face in the foreground, looming large. Even before Manny is arrested, the film does a fine job of making us sympathize and relate to him and his wife Rose (Vera Miles). Theyre decent people who have plenty of money worries, and Manny goes to the life insurance policy office to take out a loan to pay for Roses wisdom teeth removal. This leads to him getting fingered by women in the office as the same man who robbed them twice. After Manny is bailed out of jail and he and Rose begin to work with a lawyer, Frank OConnor (Anthony Quayle) to prove Mannys innocence, Rose starts to suffer from mental illness, brought upon by stress and her guilt over sending Manny to the insurance office that day. While what happens to Manny was horrible, the real tragedy of the story is what happens to Rose. When the real criminal is caught, Manny asks him if he has any idea how much pain he caused his wife. Fonda, in his only collaboration with Hitchcock, conveys a devastating sense of vulnerability and fear just in his face and eyes. Miles, who would become Hitchcocks first choice for the female role in Vertigo, until she became pregnant, and who would go on to star in Psycho, gives a beautiful portrayal of a woman slowly coming apart. Her final scene with Fonda shows a woman completely distanced from reality. The Wrong Man is one of Hitchcocks most underrated films and personal films, a film that perfectly captures the fear of that day in young Hitchcocks life that shaped his entire career as an artist.