1956 – Alfred Hitchcock
Viewed May 26, 2020
Henry Fonda’s innocence and the injustice of the system are never in doubt in a classic procedural
Hitchcock’s control of basic film technique is never on better display than in The Wrong Man. The film juggles the case of Manny Balestrero with his wife’s plunge into madness as a result of the guilt that she internalizes over not being able to protect her husband from the police’s accusations.
Henry Fonda is often the literal embodiment of human goodness on the screen so when his rights are taken away and he is treated poorly, the resulting situation makes the viewers seethe with righteous fury every time a police officer or attorney insinuates his guilt rather than try to prove his innocence. Hitchcock then parlays the audience’s anger into sympathy for Rose, Manny’s wife, played with a surprising frankness by Vera Miles. Her scene with a concerned psychiatrist is remarkable because her face shows the inner turmoil and darkness that must be swirling around her brain.
This film is the most un-Hitchcock-like of his films because it doesn’t have a gimmick or a macguffin. The Wrong Man is simply the story of a man’s innocence and his struggle to prove that he was indeed the wrong man pinched by the cops.
If you’re interested in the real-life Manny’s story, check out the link below: