The Clay Pigeon

The Clay Pigeon
Theatrical release lobby card
Directed by	Richard Fleischer
Produced by	Herman Schlom
Written by	Carl Foreman
Starring	Bill Williams Barbara Hale Richard Quine
Music by	Paul Sawtell
Cinematography	Robert De Grasse
Editing by	Samuel E. Beetley
Distributed by	RKO Pictures
Release date(s)	June 29, 1949
Running time	63 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Clay Pigeon (1949) is an American film noir directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Carl Foreman, based on a true story. The drama features Bill Williams, Barbara Hale, Richard Quine, and others.

Plot

Jim Fletcher (Williams), a former inmate in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, awakes from a coma at a naval hospital, only to be told he's been accused of murder. Fletcher is not quite certain of his guilt so he escapes from the hospital in search of his best friend, another ex-POW.

Cast

• Bill Williams as Jim Fletcher
• Barbara Hale as Martha Gregory
• Richard Quine as Ted Niles
• Richard Loo as Ken Tokoyama aka The Weasel
• Frank Fenton as Lt. Cmdr. Prentice
• Frank Wilcox as Navy Hospital Doctor
• Marya Marco as Mrs. Helen Minoto (as Mary Marco)
• Robert Bray as Gunsel Blake
• Martha Hyer as Miss Harwick, Wheeler's Receptionist
• Harold Landon as Blind Veteran
• James Craven as John Wheeler
• Grandon Rhodes as Naval Intelligence Agent Clark

Critical reception

Time Out film reviews wrote of the film, "Directed by Fleischer with tight, spare energy, although the implausible script and bland leading performances (with Hale as the dead friend's wife, initially hostile but soon losing her heart) make it much inferior to The Narrow Margin.

External links

• The Clay Pigeon at the Internet Movie Database
• The Clay Pigeon at AllRovi
• The Clay Pigeon at the TCM Movie Database