Few noir tropes are as nerve-wracking as the wrong man desperately fleeing capture. These films pit isolated individuals against a society quick to condemn, exploring themes of injustice, paranoia, and existential dread. The “wrong man” subgenre crystallized noir’s distrust of authority and sympathy for the powerless.

10 Wrong Man Noir Films:

Out of the Past (1947, RKO Radio Pictures)

A former detective on the run from his criminal past is pulled back into danger and betrayal.

The Wrong Man (1956, Warner Bros.)

Alfred Hitchcock’s docudrama about an innocent man arrested for robbery and the toll on his life.

Detour (1945, Producers Releasing Corporation)

A drifter’s unlucky hitchhiking journey leads to murder and false accusations.

On Dangerous Ground (1951, RKO Radio Pictures)

A brutal city cop chasing a suspect in the countryside questions his life choices after meeting a blind woman.

The Narrow Margin (1952, RKO Radio Pictures)

A cop escorting a mob witness becomes the hunted during a claustrophobic train ride.

Cry Danger (1951, RKO Radio Pictures)

After serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, a man seeks revenge and redemption.

Dark Passage (1947, Warner Bros.)

A wrongfully convicted man escapes prison and undergoes plastic surgery to clear his name.

Impact (1949, United Artists)

A businessman survives a murder attempt and must prove his innocence while presumed dead.

The House on Telegraph Hill (1951, Twentieth Century-Fox)

A Holocaust survivor assumes another woman’s identity in America, only to find herself framed and endangered within a wealthy but treacherous household.

The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950, Twentieth Century-Fox)

A police detective covers up a murder committed by his lover but finds himself pursued as a suspect by his own brother.