The Wrong Man (1956)

Featured Audience Ratings

• moon r

  
  In this very somber Hitchcock offering Henry Fonda is a everyman musician for an exclusive nightclub accused of a series of petty crimes. The effect on him and his family is the focus, as their lives, just above poverty to begin with, begin to unravel. Several scenes are noteworthy,… More
  In this very somber Hitchcock offering Henry Fonda is a everyman musician for an exclusive nightclub accused of a series of petty crimes. The effect on him and his family is the focus, as their lives, just above poverty to begin with, begin to unravel. Several scenes are noteworthy, like the booking in the police station and the courtroom scene, the sense of entrapment very palpable. Not a popular film, still worth your time.

• Graham J

  
  A minor work for Hitchcock during his greatest period is far better than most films made today.

• Anthony L

  
  I think The Wrong Man is overlooked among Hitchcock's great films. First of all, Fonda's performance is brilliant, in that it is perfectly subtle with just that right balance of sinister, fear and bewilderment. The story itself is a fairly accurate account of the true story,… More
  I think The Wrong Man is overlooked among Hitchcock's great films. First of all, Fonda's performance is brilliant, in that it is perfectly subtle with just that right balance of sinister, fear and bewilderment. The story itself is a fairly accurate account of the true story, with even a few real witnesses cast as themselves. For me though, it's the masterful direction that I love the most about this film, there are some beautiful shots of New York and the scenes where Fonda is taken to jail are brilliantly handled, close up shots used to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia. One of my many favourites of Hitch's, wouldn't it be nice if every film had an introduction from its director!

• familiar s

  
  (It) May have been extra-ordinary in its time or/and for Hitchcock fans, but if you ask me.........

• AJ V

  
  Yet another brilliant film of Hitchcock's from the fifties, I highly recommend this one.

• Michael G

  
  At the beginning of The Wrong Man, Alfred Hitchcock informs (more like warns) his audience this movie is a departure from his other movies. What follows is a beautifully photographed and incredibly dull story about a case of mistaken identity. Hitchcock spends most of the first hour… More
  At the beginning of The Wrong Man, Alfred Hitchcock informs (more like warns) his audience this movie is a departure from his other movies. What follows is a beautifully photographed and incredibly dull story about a case of mistaken identity. Hitchcock spends most of the first hour introducing Henry Fonda and Vera Miles as a struggling family thrown into a tedious nightmare based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence. While Fonda and Miles' performances are great, their characters are boring despite the fact that Hitchcock gets you to sympathize with them. And speaking of Hitchcock, his direction is fantastic (that nervous courtroom scene and the shot of Fonda in the holding cell were brilliant) even if the story is far from. The Wrong Man is definitely worth the watch for fans of Hitchcock but there's definitely a reason you don't hear this title thrown around in the same breath with his name too often.

• Conner R

  
  It’s a really simple movie, but I love it anyway. How can you lose with Henry Fonda, he’s the ultimate do-gooder. The person you can always count on to be the best natured human being since Jesus (well, until he met Sergio Leone). It’s ultimately a story about a nice guy getting… More
  It’s a really simple movie, but I love it anyway. How can you lose with Henry Fonda, he’s the ultimate do-gooder. The person you can always count on to be the best natured human being since Jesus (well, until he met Sergio Leone). It’s ultimately a story about a nice guy getting tortured by the judicial system. If anything, you just feel really bad for the family in the film because of what it does to them. It’s extremely powerful and certainly the most overtly political Hitchcock ever got. It’s a great examination of the American family and value system of the 50s. Then to add to its effectiveness, it’s brilliantly shot and directed.

• jay n

  
  Any Hitchcock is worth a view but this one shot in an almost documentary fashion is not among his best. Good acting though.

• danny d

  
  one of hitchcocks more average films. it certainly wasnt bad, vera miles was beautiful in the film and fonda turned in a typically serviceable performance, but the story was slow and unengaging. this film would have been a full star better with better pacing and about 20 minutes… More
  one of hitchcocks more average films. it certainly wasnt bad, vera miles was beautiful in the film and fonda turned in a typically serviceable performance, but the story was slow and unengaging. this film would have been a full star better with better pacing and about 20 minutes knocked off. hitchcocks stab at the telling of a true story.

• Cassandra M

  
  After sitting through The Wrong Man, it puzzles me greatly why this film isn't seen by more, or rated as highly as some of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpieces. True, he does seem to be subverting his style slightly for the story, which is at the core a tragedy of a man falsely… More
  After sitting through The Wrong Man, it puzzles me greatly why this film isn't seen by more, or rated as highly as some of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpieces. True, he does seem to be subverting his style slightly for the story, which is at the core a tragedy of a man falsely accused (and maybe not with the same tension we'd expect like in Strangers on a Train or Psycho). But to me it shows him really with an experimental edge that just seemed to really strike me. This is Hitchcock going for something Kafkaesque ala the Trial, and on that level the film is downright scary at times. Though Henry Fonda's Manny Balestero is told of his charge after being arrested, the whole 'procedural' nature of the film's story, of how the system can be the damnedest thing, makes it downright gripping. Like with the Master's other films, one can see the suspense at times almost sweating through the frame, and the kind of Cold-War era paranoia that works magnificently (like when Manny is at the insurance office, where the plot thickens), along with the sort of Joseph K. quality to the lead of being presumed guilty more than being presumed innocent. But there is also something very powerful, and challenging, about the casting of the lead. In a sense Hitchcock was one step ahead of Sergio Leone, who would do something similar with Once Upon a Time in the West (though Leone was going for a lot more twisting the genre screws). It's a filmmaker saying, 'look, I'm giving you Henry Fonda, maybe the most, if not one of the most, good-hearted movie stars from the 40's- Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, The Lady Eve, etc- but I'm putting him in a situation where he's in this strange scenario of not playing himself, or rather being in a society that is brutal and unflinching'. Fonda was the perfect choice considering the material, and while it is based on a true story and Fonda is terrific at his role, that Hitchcock leaves out certain details of his innocence adds a certain level to the subject matter. Maybe he is guilty and we just are too gullible to think it? How long can all this doomed atmosphere continue? On an existential level almost Hitchcock delivers a kind of very recognizable world with the terror on a different but just as engaging level as his 'popular' films. If Fonda is our fatefully unlucky protagonist, Vera Miles is equally compelling as his wife, who can't seem to take what has been going on with her husband. If there is some sense of pitch black satire amid the "true-story" drama of the story, she is the representation of paranoia affecting a seemingly good person. Why this happens exactly to Rose Ballestero, her descent into a kind of closed-off madness, isn't made entirely clear (again, Kafka), and the conclusion to the film brings something that I was hoping would happen, and did, and makes for something far more challenging than if a standard Hollywood director would've tackled the material. Using real locations in NYC, the great many character actors that make up the police and everyday people (there is some very good casting in the insurance office scene), and a musical score that is decidedly vintage Herrmann, Hitchcock uses this sort of documentary realism to heighten his own subjective approach (all the images of prison bars, the film-noir type lighting and staging, the use of space in the rooms). It all works to help the story, which goes against the grain of the 50's era thriller, and it works extremely well. In fact, for my money, I would rank this among my top five or so favourites in Hitchcock's whole oeuvre. It's a bold statement to be sure, but for the particular cinema fan, this brings on entertainment on a truly dramatic scale and, until a certain point I won't mention, is unrelenting.

• Lady D

  
  The appeal of this one of course is that is based on a true story. Wrongly accused stories always play on the fears of the viewer in a 'what if?' kind of way, but when it's backed up by a true story, then thoughts and fears are realised and make great, yet… More
  The appeal of this one of course is that is based on a true story. Wrongly accused stories always play on the fears of the viewer in a 'what if?' kind of way, but when it's backed up by a true story, then thoughts and fears are realised and make great, yet uncomfortable watching. Not quite one of the best in my Hitchcock marathon, but certainly very watchable.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Perhaps Hitchcock's more serious, realistic and touching drama about mistaken identity. Robert Burkes' noirish documentary-like photography it's one of the highlights, as well as Henry Fonda and Vera Miles in natural and believable roles of common people living in an… More
  Perhaps Hitchcock's more serious, realistic and touching drama about mistaken identity. Robert Burkes' noirish documentary-like photography it's one of the highlights, as well as Henry Fonda and Vera Miles in natural and believable roles of common people living in an anguishing kafkian nightmare.

• Ken S

  
  Good...Not Hitchcock's best though

• Matthew Y

  
  Very different tones and styles than what we typically expect in a Hitchcock film, The Wrong Man is a deadly serious story about a man, or rather the wrong man, who is accused and convicted of a bank robbery. We as an audience do not even know if the man is really innocent or not… More
  Very different tones and styles than what we typically expect in a Hitchcock film, The Wrong Man is a deadly serious story about a man, or rather the wrong man, who is accused and convicted of a bank robbery. We as an audience do not even know if the man is really innocent or not because the robbery occurred before the start of the film. Eye witnesses, lack of an alibi and a few holes in his story (heck he didn't think he was going to need one!) make the case against this possibly innocent man. How is a regular guy supposed to prove his innocence if he's been pegged as the criminal? The Wrong Man is based (I've heard fairly accurately) on a real life event and it concludes with the real-life aftermath when the mans wife suffers a sever mental breakdown because of the stresses of the entire ordeal. An unusual Hitchcock film that can be a bit jarring for fans at first. Never-the-less the films quality emotes off screen and it is a borderline classic in the Hitchcock canon.

• Danny R

  
  A frightening, brutally honest film that surely rates as one of Alfred Hitchcock's darkest and the first one to be based on actual events. Henry Fonda is brilliant and delivers one of the finest performances as Manny Balestrero, a financially strapped musician who's average… More
  A frightening, brutally honest film that surely rates as one of Alfred Hitchcock's darkest and the first one to be based on actual events. Henry Fonda is brilliant and delivers one of the finest performances as Manny Balestrero, a financially strapped musician who's average life with his beautiful wife and two sons is about to become a living nightmare; when he is wrongly accused of being the man who has committed a series of hold-ups, his faithful yet fearful wife Rose played wonderfully by Vera Miles has been driven to near madness by this ordeal. We feel the deep unspoken rage of this innocent man as he is carted off to jail by the police. This film paints one of the most disturbing examination of authority, society and humanity thanks to Hitchcock's masterful direction and documentary like precision. Shot on location in New York City, with excellent black & white cinematography by Robert Burk and a moody effective score by Bernard Herrmann. It's a dark paranoid nightmare come true, a must-see. Highly Recommended.

• Chris B

  
  "The Wrong Man" is a solid Suspense Drama film with some deeply personal issues at it's core and the injustice ironically of the justice system. Hitchcock explores the procedures involved and really captures the feeling of helplessness from the wrongly accused. The… More
  "The Wrong Man" is a solid Suspense Drama film with some deeply personal issues at it's core and the injustice ironically of the justice system. Hitchcock explores the procedures involved and really captures the feeling of helplessness from the wrongly accused. The despair he feels and ultimate loss of his wife to psychosis is one any person with a family can understand and feel for. The film keeps you guessing as to what is going to happen and if it's possible for the wrongly accused to catch a break with all his bad luck. While it may not be as known or critically acclaimed as say "Psycho", "Vertigo", "Rear Window" or "North By Northwest" it's deeply profound and one of the very few Hitchcock films that is solely a true story and just as weird if not more so than his many other films!

• Mike T

  
  Hitchcock's stark, humorless presentation of disturbing true events ranks among his most polished movies, but its execution is so subdued that a lot of people are inclined to overlook its mastery. Played out in a grim, documentary-esque fashion and acted with assurance by the… More
  Hitchcock's stark, humorless presentation of disturbing true events ranks among his most polished movies, but its execution is so subdued that a lot of people are inclined to overlook its mastery. Played out in a grim, documentary-esque fashion and acted with assurance by the entire cast, I think this is one of the most impressive films Hitchcock ever made. By refraining from excessive use of technical experimentation, the movie imbeds the audience in the hopeless scenario of its protagonist.

• nathometer

  
  amusingly old school

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