The Clay Pigeon is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 directed by Richard Fleischer

Richard Fleischer

-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...

 and written by Carl Foreman

Carl Foreman

Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the notable film High Noon. He was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s.-Biography:...

, based on a true story. The drama features Bill Williams

Bill Williams (actor)

Bill Williams was an American television and film actor. He is best known for his starring role in the early 1950 television show The Adventures of Kit Carson.-Career:...

, Barbara Hale

Barbara Hale

Barbara Hale is an American actress best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street on more than 250 episodes of the long-running Perry Mason television series and later reprising the role in dozens of made-for-TV movies....

, Richard Quine

Richard Quine

Richard Quine was an American stage, film, and radio actor and film director.Quine was born in Detroit. He made his Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Very Warm for May in 1939 and appeared in My Sister Eileen the following year...

, 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
  Bill Williams (actor)
  Bill Williams was an American television and film actor. He is best known for his starring role in the early 1950 television show The Adventures of Kit Carson.-Career:...
  
   as Jim Fletcher
• Barbara Hale
  Barbara Hale
  Barbara Hale is an American actress best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street on more than 250 episodes of the long-running Perry Mason television series and later reprising the role in dozens of made-for-TV movies....
  
   as Martha Gregory
• Richard Quine
  Richard Quine
  Richard Quine was an American stage, film, and radio actor and film director.Quine was born in Detroit. He made his Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Very Warm for May in 1939 and appeared in My Sister Eileen the following year...
  
   as Ted Niles
• Richard Loo
  Richard Loo
  Richard Loo was a Chinese American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. A prolific actor, he appeared in over 120 films between 1931 and 1982....
  
   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
  Robert Bray
  Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...
  
   as Gunsel Blake
• Martha Hyer
  Martha Hyer
  Martha Hyer is an American actress.She attended Northwestern University and was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. After completing her education, she next appeared in The Locket in 1946...
  
   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

The Narrow Margin

The Narrow Margin is a 1952 American film noir directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Earl Felton, based on an unpublished story written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard. Writers Goldsmith and Leonard were nominated for an Academy Award for their story.The picture stars Charles McGraw,...

.