Weak alibi

Movie
German title	Weak alibi
Original title	Naked alibi
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1954
length	78 minutes
Rod
Director	Jerry Hopper
script	Lawrence novel
production	Ross Hunter for ; Universal Studios
music	Joseph Gershenson
camera	Russell Metty
cut	Al Clark
occupation
	Sterling Hayden : Chief Joe Conroy; Gloria Grahame : Marianna; Gene Barry : Al Willis; Marcia Henderson : Helen Willis; Max Showalter : Lt. Parks; Billy Chapin : Petey; Chuck Connors : Capt. Owen Kincaide; Don Haggerty : Matt Matthews;

Weak Alibi is an American crime film directed by Jerry Hopper from 1954. The film with Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame in the leading roles is classified as film noir .

action

The family man Al Willis is taken to the police station, drunk, where he and the officers fight. Angry, Willis threatens the policemen with revenge, before he recovers and then makes an apology. He is released from prison.

A few days later a policeman was shot dead from behind near Willis' house. The investigator of the police murder is the hardened Chief Conroy, who immediately suspects Al Willis because of his threat to the police. Conroy has Willis arrested in spite of little evidence, but Willis has an alibi - albeit a weak one. In addition, Willis is the friendly owner of a bakery, married family man and churchgoer, and completely unpunished - can someone like that be a police murderer? After public pressure, Conroy has to let his suspect go, but allows his officers to keep him under surveillance. Shortly afterwards, two more police officers are killed by a car bomb. Conroy learns from the policemen under surveillance that Willis left his bakery at midnight and could have installed the explosive device on the car. Conroy interrogates Willis and is furious about what reporters record with the camera. In the photo, it looks like Conroy is about to hit his suspect. Conroy is then fired by his superiors and replaced by a “gentler” colleague.

Together with colleague Lt. Parks, the ex-commissioner continues to obsess over the suspect. Conroy desperately wants to catch the murderer of his subordinate police officers. Willis grows angry with Conroy and therefore travels in the hope of shaking off the stubborn police officer. He ends up on the Mexican border, where his double life is revealed: Willis is the leader of a seedy gang of gangsters and has a lover, the bar singer Marianna. You and other people are beaten up here by Willis as they please. But Conroy is still on his heels. During his investigation he is robbed and seriously injured. Conroy is found by the bright boy Petey, who takes him to the hotel where Marianna is also quartered. She takes care of him and soon learns that Conroy is looking for her lover for murder, and she also hears about Willis' other wife in his middle-class existence. This aroused her interest in the investigator, which Willis also notices. Willis soon learns that Conroy is still pursuing him on the Mexican border. He suspects an affair and beats up Marianna. Willis offers Conroy a truce, but is already planning to kill him and Marianna in the background. However, both of them can flee by car, with the dejected Willis in their luggage. The police interpret this as a kidnapping on the part of Conroy and pursue him through half of California .

Chief Conroy suspects the weapon of the first murder in the hometown church of himself and Willis. Conroy is arrested first, but is able to convince the police to go to church. Marianna has followed Willis into church, but the gangster spots her and shoots Marianna as she tries to escape. Then Willis exchanges fire with the police, is shot and falls from the roof. Marianna succumbs to her injuries in Conroy's arms and regrets meeting Conroy too late in her life. Conroy's reputation is cleared, he leaves the church alone.

background

Universal Studios hired director Jerry Hopper from Paramount Pictures for the B-movie directed crime film. Parts of the film were shot in Tijuana , Mexico .

reception

"An experienced crime film that is realistically staged, but uncritically justifies violent police methods."

- Lexicon of international film

“What makes this rarely shown Fim Noir exciting is its ambivalence: Whether Willis is guilty remains unclear for a long time, Conroy himself seems disturbed at times. - Little cop thriller with clever psychology. "

- Cinema.de

Web links

Individual evidence

[1] TCM Notes

[2] Weak alibi. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .