starring Jimmy Stewart
directed by Henry Hathaway
112 minutes
P.J. McNeal (Jimmy Stewart), reporter for the Chicago Times, responds to an add in the newspaper asking for information that will prove that Frank Wiecek, who is 12 years into a 99 year prison sentence for murdering a policeman, is innocent. McNeal quickly finds out that the ad was placed by Frank's mother. He also interviews Frank's ex-wife and visits Frank in prison.
Frank Wiecek takes a lie detector test which satisfies McNeal's doubts about Frank's innocence. McNeal writes a number of stories about his investigation. The story starts to get some attention which eventually leads some public officials to try and shut down the journalistic investigation. McNeal is given a deadline to present the evidence he has found to a pardon board.
McNeal is in a bit of a bind because he has yet to find the one eyewitness who claimed that it was Wiecek who killed the policeman. He increases his efforts as time winds down until he finds first the witness and then the crucial piece of evidence that breaks the case open.
Lee J. Cobb played McNeal's boss. I have seen him a number of films including Thieves Highway (1949) and On the Waterfront (1954).
Richard Conte played Frank Wiecek. I have also seen him in Thieves Highway (1949) and The Big Combo (1955).
I've seen Jimmy Stewart in lots of movies. The most recent film I saw him in was Vertigo (1958). Jimmy Stewart gets to do his thing, give an inspirational speech, in this movie as he has done in numerous others.
This movie is based on a true story. The film was shot in Chicago. According to what I have read it is the first Hollywood movie to be filmed in Chicago. There are lots of shots of buildings in Chicago. I am not familiar with Chicago so that part of the movie was kind of wasted on me.
The first hour of this film really dragged. I don't know how else to put it. It wasn't until the government tries to get the newspaper to stop reporting on the story that it felt like some life had been injected into the movie.
I saw this movie as part of the 2023 Noir City DC Film Festival.
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