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What true event inspired the story of The Wrong Man?
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Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock's talent as both filmmaker and storyteller is abundantly evident in a film catalog that includes Dial M for Murder, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds.
The 1956 film The Wrong Man was based on the true and nationally publicized story of Manny Balestrero, a musician from Queens.1
In 1953, Balestrero was wrongfully arrested for robbing an insurance company and faced significant difficulty in proving his innocence. To capture the reality of the situation, Alfred Hitchcock utilized a quasi-documentary approach and filmed the movie in many of the actual New York City locations where the events originally unfolded.1