Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A common theme in Alfred Hitchcock's movies is a man accused of a crime that he didn't commit (Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest)*. "The Wrong Man" makes it clear that this is the topic. Henry Fonda plays a musician incorrectly identified as the man who held up an insurance office. Many shots of him feature either him alone - in the jail cell - or surrounded by people whose faces you can't totally see - in the car - to emphasize how his world has caved in. As much as the movie focuses on the protagonist, it also focuses on his wife (Vera Miles) and how she slowly descends into clinical depression.It only adds to the suspense that this movie is based on a true story, the only time that the Sultan of Suspense used a true story as the basis for one of his movies. Like his more famous works, it goes to show that few people knew how to tell a story like Alfred Hitchcock did. It's not his best movie, but I recommend it.*Conversely, another one of Hitch's themes was the guilty woman (Psycho, The Birds).

Alfred Hitchcock directed 1950s film noir thriller based on actual events rather than the escapism thrillers so often associated with Hitchcock. The film is one of his last shot in black and white and uses actual New York City location photography. The screenplay concerns a jazz musician Manny Balestero (Henry Fonda) wrongly accused of holding up an insurance office. The film is almost like a documentary due to its true events. Fonda plays Balestero with a bewildered look throughout. I mean his world is literally falling down around him. A musician, happily married with two young sons.. The procedure of Balestero's ridiculous arrest at the police station, indictment and trial are excellently conveyed by Hitchcock. The best acting in the film probably goes to Vera Miles as Balestero's psychologically effected wife Rose who actually suffers a breakdown and ends up being treated for two years in a mental institution. Hitchcock conveys the indignity and shock of the whole process. The black and white images probably adding to the gloom. Little known and underrated Hitchcock film if I am being honest. I found it as entertaining as his more well known thrillers I have watched. The cameo that Hitchcock usually makes in his films is sensibly omitted as the great director delivers a prologue at the beginning explaining the outline of the true life events.

A Kafkaesque narrative, based on a story that actually happened, starring the highly expressive and excellent Henry Fonda along with a very good, and particularly beautiful Vera Miles alongside him. The classic theme: a man wrongfully accused, his trial and tribulations, and the lingering question, seemingly forever - is he even really innocent at all ? What a man can lose when he is being convicted, often far more than just material loss. His perseverance in this personal battle against what seems to be the entire world. The glimmers of hope, the devastating news, and Fonda's character's world that seems to come apart bit by bit, something almost of a Job's parallel from the Bible.Very well made, constantly compelling and suspenseful in its own way. And an ending worthwhile.

Henry Fonda is a bass player for a band in the Stork Club in New York City. The club is real and they filmed scenes inside the actual club. Vera Miles is his loving wife and they have two boys. He is wrongfully accused of a crime and we share his experience. That's the basic premise of this movie. It's all based on a true story and as I understand, it's quite accurate. This movie is very different from Hitchcock's other films. He even introduces it himself in person, speaking directly to the audience explaining so.Normally, Hitchcock films revolve around murder, intrigue, suspense, the anticipation of disaster, deception, extreme human emotions like paranoia and obsession, characters doing risky things and hoping to not get caught. The Wrong Man is unique among his films that I've seen. We simply go through the motions of a man being mistakenly arrested. It's a scary concept but one that is obviously realistic. Many innocent people have been put to death or spent years in jail. And this movie delves into the kinds of emotions such a disturbing turn of events could provoke.I think it works because it focuses on Henry Fonda's point of view. We put ourselves in his shoes and feel his growing frustration and apprehension. The cops seem more like mean mob gangsters than righteous police officers. They treat him the way perhaps a violent criminal might deserve. But knowing he's innocent turns the crime back on the police. They take him through some tests and assure him that an innocent man has nothing to worry about. But they are increasingly brusk and it seems clear that they quickly find his innocence laughable.I recognised Herrmann's style early on. It's such great music. I love his motifs. Little slices of melody repeating with harmonic tension coming and going. It just works so well. It really enriches the movie and adds to the atmosphere.I love Hitchcock's direction. It really brings out emotion. We get quiet, close shots. Low angles, shadows. But mainly in key parts, not constantly. The film suddenly becomes dream-like but not in an obvious way. We feel as though time slows down and we meditate on this moment that lasts an eternity. Is that the killer? I can't bear to look. He focuses on what the characters are seeing and how they feel about it. The camera-work reflects their mental states.Fonda's innocent, fearful face is haunting. His wide open eyes. His confused, concerned expression. How is this possible? Is this really happening? He is so calm under the circumstances. They casually deny him the right to first speak to his wife. He's always on time and doesn't want her to be concerned. When he finally gets a temporary break from his ordeal, a relief from having his freedom abruptly taken away, he nearly collapses. Suddenly the weight of it hits him. He didn't have time to feel anxious, he was in survival mode. It reminds me of Tom Hanks at the end of Captain Philips or even the way you seem to sweat more *after* you finish running than during.There is a scene with a lawyer where Vera Miles visibly withers during a shot. It's subtle but powerful. You feel this cold hopelessness fall upon her. Resignation to her husband's fate. Any sane person would go insane in such a situation. There is no way to rationally accept that your loved one will be wrongfully put away in jail and there's nothing you can do about it. We want to feel hope and probably she does as well. But subconsciously she knows the chances are slim. And such thoughts can consume you.The Wrong Man may seem like a simple movie. No complicated plot or side-plots or too many characters. Not many twists really. Its suspense is in the slow torture of everything going wrong for an innocent man with a nice family. It can be hard to watch at times. But it observes the human emotions involved so honestly. We enjoy it because we really feel something and connect with the characters.It raises some moral questions as well. What kind of a legal system allows such errors, such injustices? The unnecessary stress and pain caused could be incalculable. I admire the way this film was made and it was every bit as tense and engaging as Hitchcock's other masterpieces. It is also quite moving and I even feel like I developed a love for the characters. I wanted to hug them and comfort them. I don't know how I would cope in such a situation.