Wichita's Vera Miles in "The Wrong Man" (1956)

Starring Wichita's, Vera Miles

"The Wrong Man" (1956) is a docudrama film by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles, the film was drawn from the true story based on the mistaken identity of an innocent man charged with the crime of robbery drawn from the book, "The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero" by Maxwell Anderson and in a magazine article "A Case of Identity", published in Life magazine in June 1953, written by Herbert Brean.

Plot:
In 1953, an innocent musician named Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero is wrongly accused of armed robbery. The film explores themes of mistaken identity, justice, and the toll it takes on Manny and wife, Rose, his wife.

Cast
Henry Fonda as Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero
Vera Miles as Rose Balestrero
Anthony Quayle as Frank O'Connor
Harold J. Stone as Det. Lt. Bowers
Charles Cooper as Det. Matthews
John Heldabrand as Tomasini
Esther Minciotti as Mama Balestrero
Doreen Lang as Ann James
Laurinda Barrett as Constance Willis
Norma Connolly as Betty Todd
Nehemiah Persoff as Gene Conforti
Lola D'Annunzio as Olga Conforti
Werner Klemperer as Dr. Bannay
Kippy Campbell as Robert Balestrero
Robert Essen as Gregory Balestrero
Richard Robbins as Daniell, the guilty man

This movie is the only Hitchcock film based on a true story and the plot closely follows the real-life events.

Actors appearing in the film but not listed in the credits include Harry Dean Stanton, David Kelly, Tuesday Weld, Patricia Morrow, Bonnie Franklin and Barney Martin. Weld and Franklin made their film debuts as two adolescent girls answering the door when the Balestreros are seeking witnesses to prove his innocence.

Variety called the film "a gripping piece of realism" that builds to a "powerful climax, the events providing director a field day in his art of characterization and suspense".

Manny Balestrero sued the city for false arrest. Asking $500,000, he accepted a settlement of just $7,000. He earned $22,000 from the film (which he reportedly liked), and it went to repaying loans for Rose's care, although she never fully recovered, dying in 1982. Manny died in 1998.

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