Synopsis
In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
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Cast
- Henry FondaManny Balestrero
- Vera MilesRose Balestrero
- Anthony QuayleFrank D. O'Connor
- Harold J. StoneDetective Lt. Bowers
- Charles CooperDetective Matthews
- John HeldabrandTomasini
- Esther MinciottiMama Balestrero
- Doreen LangAnn James
- Laurinda BarrettConstance Willis
- Norma ConnollyBetty Todd
Recommendations
- 100
Slant Magazine
The sense of moral responsibility in Hitchcock’s films may have never felt more imperative and succinct. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
The bleakest of Hitchcock's films, this stark, deliberate probing of a man wrongfully accused is almost wholly based on fact, creating its drama from a celebrated New York City case. - 90
Chicago Reader
This is a highly personal and even religious expression of Hitchcock concerning the vicissitudes of fate, predicated on his lifelong fear that anyone can be wrongly accused of a crime and placed behind bars. - 90
Variety
Alfred Hitchcock draws upon real-life drama for this gripping piece of realism [from the Life magazine story The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero by Maxwell Anderson]. He builds the case of a NY Stork Club musician falsely accused of a series of holdups to a powerful climax, the events providing director a field day in his art of characterization and suspense. - 80
The New Yorker
Hitchcock’s ultimate point evokes cosmic terror: innocence is merely a trick of paperwork, whereas guilt is the human condition. - 80
Empire
Hitchcock's coldest, hardest movie until its controversial ending. - 80
Time Out
Hitchcock's most sombre film, unrelieved by his usual macabre humour; the black-and-white photography and the persecuted Fonda's sharply chiselled features lend an impressive documentary feel. - 63
LarsenOnFilm
Suspense mechanics and psychological horror don’t meld quite as seamlessly here as they do in the best Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, but The Wrong Man has more than its share of masterful moments.
