PAPER 1
DUE: OCTOBER 9, IN CLASS (remember, to hand your paper in you need to hand it to me personally. NO papers in mailbox; no papers to TA)
LIMITS: 1 page, double spaced, no smaller than 10 pitch,
FORMAT: SSN ONLY ON TOP RIGHT. NO NAME ANYWHERE. ALL The paper guidelines noted in the syllabus apply.
BACKGROUND
Christopher Emmanual Balestrero was a bass player at the Stork Club in NYC. In January 1953 he was arrested for a series of holdups in his Queens neighborhood. This really happened. The film The Wrong Man (Warner Brothers, 1956), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, tells his story. You can look at this any of several ways. First, this is not a crime documentary, it is an example of film noir.[1,2] Film noir is a genre of American and European film, produced approximately between 1940 and 1960, in which we find a concern with crime overlaid with a blurring of moral boundaries and character outlines, a particular set of technical features that complement the universe portrayed, and a profoundly dystopian world view. Although there is much parodying now of this film genre (Guy Noir on "Prairie Home Companion"), it is a legitimate and important area of film studies. Secondly, you can see the film as a question about faith lost, and existential questions about God (2, p. 126). Hitchcock was raised a Catholic. Third, you can see it as a film depicting the psychological and family impacts of an arrest on a middle class citizen. Hitchcock when alive, often told a story of how his father had him spend the night in jail when he misbehaved badly as a teenager. Or, fourth, you can see it as a comment on the state of police investigative and arrest powers, and police and witness procedures, circa the mid 1950s.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT. LINK THE FILM TO CHAPTER 5 in Albanese. Tell me specifically how the film illustrates the need for suspect and/or arrestee protections. Make reference to two specific Supreme Court rulings from the 1960s mentioned in that chapter, being sure to say exactly in your own words what those rulings addressed. Refer to one or preferably two specific scenes in the movie that illustrate this need. Specific quotes from the dialogue also would prove helpful. I will NOT tell you what the most relevant rulings are, other than to say they are from the 1960s, and concern police handling of suspects or arrestees and the rights of those suspects or arrestees.
GRADING RUBRIC:
A Correctly summarize and link the two Supreme Court rulings from the 1960s. Correctly state what each ruling said, in your own words. Provide two specific examples illustrating the need for these from the film. Include appropriate descriptions, and quotes from the movie. Include a brief closing comment (a couple of lines, no more) indicating if you think those protections would have been effective or not. Correct reference list for film, and textbook.
B As above, but you only link one of the correct Supreme Court rulings from the 1960s. No brief comment.
C Fail to link the correct rulings, but make reference to another specific ruling, and still have relevant movie quotes and correct references
D/F No quotes, no discussion of specific rulings, no references.