''Incident in an Alley'' is a 1962 American

neo noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Edward L. Cahn Edward L. Cahn (February 12, 1899 – August 25, 1963) was an American film director. Early life and education Cahn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He went to work at Universal Pictures in 1917 while still a student at UCLA. Career ...

and starring Chris Warfield, Erin O'Donnell and

Harp McGuire Henry Herbert "Harp" McGuire (1921–1966) was an American actor who worked for a number of years in Australia, becoming very famous on Australian radio. He reached the height of his fame when he appeared as Randy Stone in the Australian adaptatio ...

. The film's premise rests on a legal precedent that police may use force against fleeing suspects if the suspect has committed a crime and is warned of the officer's intent to shoot. In 1985, the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled in the case of ''

Tennessee v. Garner ''Tennessee v. Garner'', 471 U.S. 1 (1985), is a civil case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that, under the Fourth Amendment, when a law enforcement officer is pursuing a fleeing suspect, the officer may not use deadly force ...

'' that deadly force may be used to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon only if the officer has

probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal or the issuing of a search warrant. There is no universally accepted definition or f ...

to believe that the suspect poses a serious risk to the officer or to others.

Plot

After beat cop Bill Joddy shoots and kills a fleeing suspect, the victim is found to be a 14-year-old boy. Joddy is charged with

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

but is acquitted by a jury. He begins to question his own culpability while trying to prove that the boy was participating in a robbery just before he was shot.

Cast

* Chris Warfield as Bill Joddy * Erin O'Donnell as Jean Joddy *

as Frank *

Virginia Christine Virginia Christine (born Virginia Christine Ricketts; March 5, 1920 – July 24, 1996) was an American stage, radio, film, television, and voice actress. Though Christine had a long career as a character actress in film and television, she i ...

as Mrs. Connell *

Willis Bouchey Willis Ben Bouchey (May 24, 1907 – September 27, 1977) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films and television shows. He was born in Vernon, Michigan, but raised by his mother and stepfather in Washington state. ...

as Police Capt. Tom Brady *

Don Keefer Donald Hood Keefer (August 18, 1916 – September 7, 2014) was an American actor known for his versatility in performing comedic, as well as highly dramatic, roles. In an acting career that spanned more than 50 years, he appeared in hundreds of ...

as Roy Swanson * Michael Vandever as Gussie Connell * Gary Judis as Charlie * Jim Canino as Mushie (as James Canino) *

Clancy Cooper Clancy Cooper (July 23, 1906 – June 14, 1975) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1938 and 1962. He also guest-starred on numerous TV series, such as ''The Rifleman'', '' Lawman'', '' Wanted: Dead or Alive'', ...

as Police Sergeant

Production

The film was based on a television play written by

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

that had aired in 1955 as part of the '' US Steel Hour'' starring

Farley Granger Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his two collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock: ''Rope'' in 1948 and '' Strangers on a Train'' in 1951. Granger was first noticed in a small ...

. It was then announced as a film project by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

Clarence Greene Clarence Greene (August 10, 1913 – June 17, 1995) was an American screenwriter and film producer who is noted for the "offbeat creativity and originality of his screenplays and for films noir and television episodes produced in the 1950s. ...

and

Russell Rouse Russell Rouse (November 20, 1913 – October 2, 1987) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer who is noted for the "offbeat creativity and originality" of his screenplays and for film noir movies and television episodes produced ...

were assigned to produce, with Serling adapting the screenplay, but the film was not made until several years later.

Reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic Howard Thompson wrote: "For all its devious, transparent moralizing about the shooting of a young boy by a policeman, 'Incident in an Alley' belongs in one. The synthetic, floridly hewn little melodrama that opened yesterday on the circuits is strictly pulp stuff, conventionally posing a background of juvenile delinquency and the business of adult 'responsibility.'"

References

External links