An American Dream (1966)

There has always been an imbalance in Stephen and Deborah Rojack's ten year marriage, they now separated with Stephen never having lived in the luxury penthouse apartment purchased for them by her father, Barney Kelly, the eighth richest man in the US. While he did love her when they married, Stephen, a decorated war hero and now a well known local television personality crusading against organized crime, believes Deborah's neuroses stem from she thinking no one could ever love her for her, and not her money. Conversely, Deborah takes whatever opportunity to demean, belittle and thus emasculate him while she openly has casual affairs in the two living their separate lives. In a physical altercation between Stephen and Deborah at the penthouse, Deborah falls to her death off the terrace to the pavement thirty stories down. In the resulting investigation led by Police Detective Roberts, Stephen has to deal with the onslaught coming from many different angles. One is Roberts and his team, who all believe that Deborah's death was not suicide as Stephen says - Stephen's story to protect Deborah from stories about the truth about her neurotic nature - but that he murdered her. Two is Barney, Deborah who poisoned his mind against his son-in-law, who, if he didn't push her off the terrace, contributed to her death. Three is Stephen's business partner Arthur Kabot, who wants to capitalize on the notoriety to advance Stephen's career, not thinking that Stephen may actually be grieving his wife's death regardless of how she died. And four stems from Stephen being reunited with club singer Cherry McMahon, a former serious girlfriend, the two coming to the realization that there are still feelings between them. The issue is not only her current boyfriend Nicky not taking too kindly to Cherry taking up with someone else, but that Nicky is the nephew of violent mob boss Eddie Ganucci, a frequent target in Stephen's public anti-crime crusades.