| Incident in an Alley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Edward L. Cahn |
| Screenplay by | Harry Medford Orville H. Hampton (as Owen Harris) |
| Based on | Rod Serling (from a story by) |
| Produced by | Robert E. Kent |
| Starring | Chris Warfield Erin O'Donnell Harp McGuire |
| Cinematography | Gilbert Warrenton |
| Edited by | Robert Carlisle |
| Music by | Richard LaSalle |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Harvard Film |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Incident in an Alley is a 1962 Americanneo noircrime film directed byEdward L. Cahn and starring Chris Warfield,Erin O'Donnell andHarp McGuire.[1]
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, theSupreme Court of the United States ruled in the case ofTennessee v. Garner that deadly force may be used to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon only if the officer hasprobable cause to believe that the suspect poses a serious risk to the officer or to others.[2]
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 withmanslaughter 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.
The film was based on a television play written byRod Serling that had aired in 1955 as part ofThe United States Steel Hour starringFarley Granger.[3] It was then announced as a film project byUnited Artists.[4]Clarence Greene andRussell Rouse were assigned to produce, with Serling adapting the screenplay,[5][6] but the film was not made until several years later.
In a contemporary review forThe New York Times, criticHoward 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.'"[7]
[Deadly] force may not be used unless necessary to prevent the escape [of a fleeing suspect] and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.
 | This article about a 1960scrime drama film is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | This article related to an American film of the 1960s is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |