The Wrong Man

THE TRAGEDY OF AN HONEST MAN Alfred Hitchcock's masterly thriller, THE WRONG MAN - based on a true incident - begins in January 1953. It is late at night, and Christopher Balestero (Henry Fonda), a musician at New York's Stork Club arrives home from work. After looking in to his two sleeping sons, he and his wife (Vera Miles) discuss their financial problems - including the need to find serveral hundred dollars to pay for some dental work that Rose needs doing. Balestrero decides to alleviate the situation by borrowing money on his wifes life insurance policy. At the insurance office the following day, three office workers, following a robbery on the premises, believe it was Balestrero who was responsible and, accordingly, notify the police. The next night, as he arrives home, Balestrero - or 'Manny' as he is known to his family - is arrested. The tragic chain of events that follow are given a documentary-like urgency by Hitchcock, whose intense study of a family on the brink of destruction, is one of the master of suspense's finest achievements in the cinema. © Warner Bros. Inc