The Bedford Incident

Channel surfing, I stumbled across this movie on TCM and must say, "Wow!" As a child during the Cold War, I remember the tension between America and Russia, which this film captures well -- at least from the U.S. perspective. Richard Widmark's performance tops that of Humphrey Bogart in "The Caine Mutiny," strawberries or not. Sidney Poitier fits his role like a glove -- the scene between Poitier and Widmark in the latter's cabin is splendidly acted, allowing the viewer to get inside Widmark's head while not giving away too much -- and Martin Balsam gives another example why he was one of the screen's greatest supporting actors. It's better than "Fail Safe," sparing us Henry Fonda's hysterics as president. The tension builds aboard ship until a breathtaking climax. One worth watching.

I must confess I'd not heard of this film as it was off my radar (no pun intended) despite starring those two fine actors Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark in the leads and the solid Martin Balsam in support. More fool me as it proved to be a fine, gritty Cold War thriller, highlighting explicitly then and still, I'd contend, now, that one wilful or accidental action in the heat of the moment could lead to catastrophe for the world. The film skilfully combines a study of men under pressure with the wider political picture, at the same time cleverly invoking the classic story of Moby Dick, with Widmark's Captain Freelander as obsessed with catching a fleeing Russian submarine as old Captain Ahab was his pesky whale.

All the action takes place on Freelander's US navy destroyer encompassing a gradually increasing character examination of the wilful Captain, driving his crew to exhaustion and the end of their wits by keeping them constantly at attention or GQ as it's called here, so that in the end a simple misunderstanding by a pressurised, even terrorised young officer of a phrase used by the captain in conversation leads to disaster. The abrupt ending is particularly memorable, the better for being so inevitable and brutal.

Widmark as the crusty old captain is excellent in his portrayal of this particular single-minded sailor, while Poitier is also fine as the journalist who by questioning the captain's methods effectively acts as the conscience of the film, for once his skin colour having no bearing on his character''s relevance to the plot. Balsam too steps up as the passed over new medical officer who yet predicts the climactic outcome from way back.

Tautly directed in black and white, the tension is palpable as the American ship closes in on its prey and nerves become frayed to breaking point on the bridge, in so doing making an early case for greater psychological consideration due to crew members as advocated by Balsam's character.

Topical and relevant, especially with recent events echoing even today in Syria, this is an unflinching and superbly acted contemporary thriller which deserves to be better known.

The Bedford Incident is a Cold War Navy story with the captain of the destroyer, USS Bedford playing a game of cat and mouse with a Soviet submarine which has strayed inside the territorial waters of Greenland.

These kinds of things happened quite a lot during those tension filled days of the Cold War. Fortunately neither we or the Soviets had a captain like Richard Widmark who is determined to push the envelope all the way if he can.

On the voyage that this game of nuclear tag takes place, Widmark is saddled with a pair of outsiders and he doesn't like it at all. First is Sidney Poitier a photojournalist who constantly keeps getting underfoot as Widmark sees it. The second is a medical officer Martin Balsam whom he didn't request.

Widmark is a frightening man. He keeps everything and everyone on the ship so tense he's even got Eric Portman concerned. Portman is a NATO adviser and a former German U-Boat commander. As Poitier says, 'Hitler's Navy to which he's corrected, 'no Admiral Doenitz's Navy.

Under his command, young ensign James MacArthur is afraid to breathe wrong and sonar man Wally Cox suffers a nervous breakdown. The lack of relief for both of these guys has tragic results.

The Bedford Incident remains a curiously forgotten film while such work as Dr. Strangelove and Failsafe people remember better. That's not right, The Bedford Incident is in some respects superior to both of those classics. It's about the strain of command as much as anything else and it's also about the dangers of a truculent attitude in the person with the command.

Hopefully this forgotten classic will get more recognition one day.

Having served aboard this very class of ship during the late 60's and early 70's, I can attest that the events, from a technical standpoint, are frighteningly real. The Queeg-like personality of the Captain is a bit of a stretch, but the events in the movie come right out of the battle plans of the Navy (at the time).

The tension of the situation is palpable. Even at the time, the outcome was in doubt, but the outcome was believable. It still is.

You can't watch this movie without being impressed by the performance of Richard Widmark. He was absolutely outstanding as Captain Eric Finlander - a totally obsessed Cold Warrior in command of an American warship off the coast of Greenland. Having detected a Soviet submarine in the same area, Finlander becomes fixated on forcing the sub to surface. It might be "peacetime" (even if it is the Cold war) but Finlander wants to prove to the world that the Soviets were where they shouldn't be. The best moment of the movie probably came when the West German commodore and former U-Boat commander in World War II (played by Eric Portman) aboard Finlander's vessel the Bedford described Finlander as "frightening." That pretty much summed things up - and Widmark captured the description perfectly. There's a strong supporting cast in this (it includes Sidney Poitier as a reporter on board and Martin Balsam as the Bedford's new medical officer) but it's Widmark's movie from start to finish.

This would be best described as a tense and suspenseful movie but there are scattered times throughout when you start to wonder if this is all worth it. It is, after all, depicting the COLD War. Nothing's really going to happen as a result of all this. It looks like an interesting depiction of a cat and mouse game between the Bedford and the sub, but really it comes across as more of a psychological study of Finlander himself and you do wonder if the tension and suspense are going to lead up to unrealized potential and leave the viewer frustrated. They don't.

The end of this movie is quite shocking, and captures what the fears of a lot of people during the Cold War were - the fears of a nuclear accident or even an accidental nuclear war. Those fears were very real in people in the era, and this movie plays on those fears. The end actually is quite stunning. It grows out of the psychological study - Finlander having ridden a young officer (played by James MacArthur) so hard that he was so afraid of doing something wrong that you almost knew he would have to do something wrong. He does. This is a very well done film. (7/10)