The Bedford Incident

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source: The Bedford Incident

SPOILERS. This is an above average doomsday movie, starting with the effective model work and special effects. The destroyer Bedford looks real against its background of sea and ice bergs. They couldn't use a real destroyer because the U. S. Navy would not lend its cooperation to a film in which an American skipper is a bloodthirsty cold warrior. The story is compelling and I won't bother outlining it here. If there is a problem with the script it's a minor one. The dialog is occasionally klutzy. A character is described by another as having spoken "laconically," without having actually done so. It's as if someone had stuck the word "laconically" into the script hoping it would somehow fit. And why would a journalist use a word like "commendatory" when he means "commendable." And there is an awkward confrontation between Poitier and Widmark in the latter's cabin. Poitier, the journalist, seems to be trying to draw Widmark into making a fascist speech, and Widmark argues that the press is always putting words in his mouth and "interpreting." It's clumsily done. They say things like, "You're interpreting again!" and "That's YOUR interpretation." Widmark was producer on this and his wife Jean, a writer, was called in to add some uncredited gloss to the script but who knows? The acting is about what you'd expect from pros. The film was made in England and some of the actors do a reasonably good job of disguising their British accents. Poitier -- I can't remember a film in which he did a bad job, though his range was limited. Widmark is subtly nuts. We can sense pretty much from the beginning what he is about. But he's human too. His condescending affection towards Wally Cox (as a mere seaman who is the best sonarman on the ship!) is nice. And when he has an argument with Poitier and Poitier gets in the last logical word, Widmark assumes a hurt expression before abruptly turning away. (I'm not so sure that's proper in the sort of authoritarian that Widmark represents.) Martin Balsam is his reliable self as a recycled doctor who is routinely humiliated by the captain. So much technology is involved in the story that it seems at times as if it's science fiction. Some of the procedures shown are a little sloppy. Hospitalmen having a smoke in sick bay? During General Quarters? Men saluting officers indoors? (I had to live with that chicken**** for four years, and in the movies they throw it out the porthole!) Yet incidents involving confrontations, I understand, do happen. An American and a Soviet submarine went through an underwater collision at the height of the cold war while playing games with one another. And as for violating territorial waters, a Soviet boat found itself trapped in a Norwegian fjord some years ago, if I remember. Holy mackerel, I'm glad that whole period is behind us, when a few screwballs or screwups here and there could begin a nuclear exchange. I am in hopes that it stays behind us but I'm not certain we have more control over our nature than the skipper had over the antisubmarine device once it was launched.

Richard Widmark portrays the iron-willed captain of a United States naval vessel, the Bedford, on a patrol mission in the Arctic waters off Greenland. Sidney Poitier is a reporter sent by a national news service to cover events aboard the Bedford during a typical mission, which ultimately develops into anything but. Widmark finds the presence of the reporter a distraction, and also feels that the high command did his ship and crew a disservice by sending along a replacement doctor. The captain chances upon a Russian submarine operating inside the territorial waters of Greenland and intends to make the sub come to the surface, using any tactic possible. The dogged chase puts the crew under extreme tension, adding to the suspense and causing the viewer to wonder which is going to break first. Both vessels are armed with atomic weaponry, and the movie features the question--Who fires first?

Sidney Poitier's role here as the journalist doesn't have the usual racial component attached to it. Unfortunately, this is not a very good film, even with Richard Widmark and Martin Balsam headlining it. Widmark plays a tyrannical captain of an American vessel searching for Soviet submarines in a post-war submarine. Widmark, as always, gives it his all playing a Captain Bligh or Queeg like figure. The man acts as if we're at war and he will hold the crew, not only to the highest standards, he is ready to blame them for anything that may go amiss. The film begins where Balsam and Poitier come on board the ship as the doctor and journalist, respectively. The film falls into the problem of being scenery stagnant. All of the action is on deck and you never see anything else. There is an interesting interview between Poitier and Widmark, where the former reveals his real reason for wanting to interview the Captain. The film's tragic ending can easily be predicted as it essentially goes nowhere.

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 saw this film when it was released in the mid 1960s, again on VHS over the years and finally on satelite television. It holds up very well. The theme of obsession in the line of duty is as relevant today as it was when Melville wrote "Moby Dick". The acting is excellent. Hats off to Eric Portman as the West German Navy commodore advisor in submarine warfare. He sort of reprises his roles in the "49th Parallel" and "We Dive at Dawn". He is one Englishman who portrays a great German. Martin Balsam does his usual excellent work as the under appreciated ship's doctor. This also contains yet another of Sydney Poitier's race neutral rolls. Very revolutionary for the mid 1960s ("Lillies of the Field" being another). The ship model and iceberg scenes seem a bit dated in this digital graphics era but I shudder with cold every time I there is an exterior scene. I sailed in Greenland waters once and I know what is feels like on that grey ocean under that grey sky. Clearly, this is British production. One interior shot of the ship shows a rack of Enfield rifles, already obsolete by the time this film was made. Not a problem really. The suspense and tesnion hold up well after several viewings and the inevitable ending is, well, inevitable. If you did not grow up during the Cold War this film will have less impact than living with the bomb ("The bomb, Alexi, the Hydrogen bomb..." oh, that was another cold war film).

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)

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.

One of the best movies I have ever seen. I love war movies and I love sub movies more. This movie proves that you don't need budget busting effects to make a great movie. I first saw this movie when it first came out, I was around 7 at the time. I remember the cold war craziness because every week in school we had to get under our desks just in case the big bomb was dropped by those bad bad soviets. And I still see those old "fallout shelter" signs on some buildings. This movie along with Fail Safe did nothing to alleviate the fears of a 7 year old. Now of course I see the foolishness of sitting under a desk. But visions of those days came back to me when Mr Bush mentioned a "big mushroom cloud" while trying to make a case for the Iraqi war. Now there are SPOILERS AHEAD but I will not tell the ending! Widmark plays a Capt Ahab type but instead in chase of a whale his obsession is a Soviet Sub. Portier plays a Life magazine reporter trying to get a interview with the Captain. Portier knows that the Captain was passed over for promotion and soon we find out why. Martin Balsam plays a career Navy doctor who Widmark reminds us had a drinking problem, we never see that though. When I first saw the movie as a 7 year old all I remember is the ending. But with numerous viewings it is clear that Balsam is right about the Captain and his crew. They are not normal, something is wrong. They are being worked too much. But of course the Captain is so successful in diminishing the doctor the viewer doesn't even pay attention to what he is saying. This is a great movie. I still do not know what the ex Nazi sub captain was doing on the ship, but he is the voice of reason. There is a interesting supporting cast, Wally Cox and James MacArthur who are important to the movie plot. I understand that Richard Widmark and Sidney Portier are best of friends starting from their first movie together "No Way Out" no not that terrible Costner movie. And I can see that with their scenes. See this movie and see how a good action thriller is made without spending 200 million dollars.