", warning that his actions will set off a Third World War that will be the end of humanity. [24] Maloney wrote: "The Bedford Incident is remarkably accurate in its assumptions that Soviet submarines were equipped with nuclear torpedoes on a routine basis". A black doctor is assigned to treat two white racist suspects who are brothers, and when one dies, it causes tension that could start a race riot. A vagabond Viking adventurer and a Moor both compete to find "The Mother of All Voices", a legendary golden bell near the Pillars of Hercules. Those fears were very real in people in the era, and this movie plays on those fears. [11] Very much like Captain Queeg of the fictional destroyer USS Caine, Finlander is a career Navy officer in command of a destroyer who has "...lost touch with reality, largely because of the constant frustration and remorseless pressure of command". Also aboard the Bedford are Ensign Ralston, an inexperienced young officer constantly being criticised by his captain for small errors and Lieutenant Commander Chester Potter, the ship's new doctor, who is a recently recalled reservist. KC Hunt , You can't watch this movie without being impressed by the performance of Richard Widmark. Nuclear weapons make playing about at such things too dangerous for everyone. The reporter gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his … EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item tags) Want more? The American historian Stephen Whitfield argued that The Bedford Incident was a rejoinder to The Caine Mutiny. [27] A recurring theme of the writings of the American intelligentsia in the Cold War was the fear of a rogue officer who at very least was acting recklessly in exposing the world to the risk of a nuclear armageddon. [10] The message of both versions of The Caine Mutiny was as Whitfield put it "...that losing a ship in a typhoon is better than challenging a skipper whose powers of command have failed". Naval vessel on a routineNATO patrol that ends up in a freakish showdown with a Russian submarine. This prompts the captain to become openly hostile to Munceford, who he sees as a civilian who is interfering in military matters by questioning the risks involved in continually harrying the Soviet submarine. He does. The Bedford Incident is similar to these films: The Long Ships (film), Alvarez Kelly, Hell and High Water (1954 film) and more. This incident appears to be a family-related dispute and there is no danger to the public, according to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office. However, both Keefer and Munceford have similar short term expectations of the Navy as Keefer is writing a novel abroad the Caine that he intends to publish after he is discharged from the Navy while Munceford is only on the Bedford to write a story about Finlander. Finlander initially gives basic orders to evade but then silently steps outside the bridge. In the novel, the Soviet submarine does not fire back at Bedford before being destroyed. The Bedford detects a Russian submarine lurking in the strait, in Greenland's territorial waters. The Soviet captain, believing that World War III might have started, wanted to launch the weapon but was over-ruled by his flotilla commander, Vasili Arkhipov, who, by coincidence, was using the boat as his command vessel. The film ends with still shots of various crewmen "melting" as if the celluloid film were burning as the Bedford and her crew are vaporised in an atomic blast. Nothing's really going to happen as a result of all this. Harris remained focused on developing a serious nuclear-confrontation film, resulting in The Bedford Incident.[6][7][8]. Check out the full list of winners. The Bedford Incident Wiki & Box office collections are updated regularly. Eric Finlander, the maniacal commander who drives his tense crew to the brink of nervous exhaustion. Poitier noted in his memoir that “the reality of Widmark was a thousand miles from the characters he played. (credited as Glen Beck), Brian Davies as Lieutenant Beckman U.S.N. A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew. This one's grim tension to the end. [19] Maloney argued that the level of technical detail in the novel together with its picture of American naval officers on abroad a destroyer having to obsess over the location of Soviet submarines for every single minute of their patrol is the most authentic picture of the Cold War at sea ever portrayed. No_Favorite. When the submarine is found, it ignores Finlander's order to surface and identify itself. Having detected a Soviet submarine in the same area, Finlander becomes fixated on forcing the sub to surface. [17] Maloney noted that to enter the North Atlantic ocean from their bases on the Arctic ocean in Murmansk and Archangel, Soviet submarines had to cross what was called the "Greenland-Iceland-UK gap", making patrolling the gap a key concern for the U.S. Navy in the Cold War. The film's final image is a mushroom cloud. [a] Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union are not at war, Captain Eric Finlander mercilessly harries his prey while civilian photojournalist Ben Munceford and NATO naval advisor Commodore Wolfgang Schrepke look on with mounting alarm. [9], Keefer, the resident intellectual abroad the Caine, starts out as the likeable voice of reason against the paranoid Captain Queeg, but is gradually revealed to be the most loathsome character in the story, being a cowardly, dishonest and selfish schemer who is admonished for his treatment of Queeg who is praised as an honorable, but misunderstood career Navy officer who was only patriotically serving his country. The Bedford Incident was mostly filmed at Shepperton Studios in the UK, although some shots at sea were used. Is there really such a thing possible as a half-war? In the tradition of The Caine Mutiny, brought up to date by Fail-Safe, here is another novel sparked by the Damocles' sword under which we are living; -machines vs men, and the fallibility of both. He was absolutely outstanding as Captain Eric Finlander - a totally obsessed Cold Warrior in command of an American warship off the coast of Greenland. Listen to music from The Bedford Incident like As It Is When It Was, Ceremony & more. Roy Stephens as Seaman 2nd Class - C.I.C. Perhaps too determined. [15] The scholars Harold R. Troper and Michael J. Strada describe The Bedford Incident as one of series of 1960s films that were "full frontal assaults on military values". Sidney Poitier's initial flypast and landing from a Whirlwind helicopter were filmed aboard another Type 15 frigate, HMS Wakeful, whose F159 pennant number is clearly visible. Richard Widmark is Capt. Sidney Poitier is a reporter given permission to interview the captain during a routine patrol. But the captain has realised his actions have sealed the fate of everyone on board as the ship cannot evade the nuclear torpedoes. At the same time, Finlander becomes intolerant of anyone who questions his tactics including the ship's doctor who advises him that crew are feeling the pressure but the captain will not relent. The shocked Finlander then receives word of his promotion to admiral. Crime. The Bedford Incident presents the fictional story of an intense game of cat-and-mouse between American and … [27], In October 1962, shortly before the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet submarine B-59 was pursued in the Atlantic Ocean by the U.S. Navy. Poitier gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub in the depths and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to the breaking point. I had to buy the book it was based on to see the differences. Unlike the book, the film version ends with the vessels being destroyed by one another. Truman. [22], Maloney has argued that both the book and film versions of The Bedford Incident were inspired by the two actual incidents, the "hold-downs" (forced surfacing) of four Soviet submarines during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962 and another incident in 1959 when an American destroyer staged a "hold-down" of a Soviet submarine off the coast of Greenland. Was this review helpful to you? A tired Ensign Ralston mistakes Finlander's remark as a command to "fire one". Find the latest tracks, albums, and images from The Bedford Incident. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. The film's message-told via the story of Finlander who because of his obsessive anti-Communism and relentless determination to provoke a confrontation with a Soviet submarine that leads to the deaths of everyone abroad both the Bedford and the Novosibirsk-is that Cold Warriors such as Goldwater would had likewise provoked a nuclear war that would had been the end of humanity. The World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers. Uncertainty and frustration can turn into a crippling agony. [19] One Soviet nuclear ballistic submarine carried on average 12-16 ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) armed with hydrogen bombs each capable of destroying an entire city. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? The screenplay by James Poe is based on the 1963 book by Mark Rascovich, which borrowed from the plot of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; at one point in the film, the captain is advised he is "not chasing whales now". EARLIER: One person is dead and another has been injured following a shooting incident in Bedford County Monday. "USS Bedford" was a fictitious guided missile destroyer and the role of Bedford was mostly played by a large model of a Farragut-class destroyer. The American destroyer USS Bedford (DLG-113) detects a Soviet submarine in the GIUK gap near the coast of Greenland. When Munceford presses for more information about what is going on and if anybody gets hurt, Finlander says: "Fear hurts. Munceford is curious whether a comment made by Finlander regarding the American intervention in Cuba is the reason for his lack of promotion. Both Keefer and Munceford are intellectuals who are skeptical of authority figures and are always asking inconvenient questions. The Bedford incident Item Preview > remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. Allison - Executive Officer, Bridge, Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK. [25] The Caine Mutiny is set in World War Two, but its picture of a destroyer commanded by an officer who has lost his mind greatly influenced several novelists in the Cold War who speculated about the possibility of a crazed naval officer trying to start World War Three either intentionally or by accident. Does it not all naturally culminate in the totality of death and destruction?...Look and see what the Cold War really is. Some of the dialog in the movie was taken word for word from the book, and the movie followed pretty closely until the end. [23] In the film, Munceford, talks about how Finlander forced a Soviet submarine to surface during "the Cuban deal". It was not until after the fall of the Soviet Union that the existence of the T-5 torpedo and how close the world came to nuclear conflict was made known.[28]. The vessel portraying a Soviet intelligence ship has the name "Novo Sibursk", written on the hull at the bow in the Latin alphabet, not the Russian language's Cyrillic alphabet; "Novosibirsk" is a more accurate English rendering. share. [9] In contrast to The Caine Mutiny which "...attempted to vindicate the necessity of obedience-even when that leadership is mentally unbalanced-The Bedford Incident, made without Navy co-operation, warns that such deranged authority could unleash nuclear war, which happens accidentally". Sidney Poitier is a reporter given permission to interview the captain during a routine patrol. The screenplay by James Poe is based on the 1963 book by Mark Rascovich, which borrowed from the plot of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; at one point in the film, the captain is advised he is "not ch… Interior scenes were filmed in the British Type 15 frigate HMS Troubridge; British military equipment can be seen in several shots, including a rack of Lee–Enfield rifles and Troubridge's novel, forward-sloping bridge windows. Unrelenting tension becomes a physical pain. The Bedford Incident was an attempt by Columbia Pictures -- which had previously made Dr. Strangelove and released Fail-Safe -- to once more tap the well of public anxiety surrounding nuclear weapons and the Cold War. [27] MacArthur's very public defiance led President Truman to sack him in April 1951, stating that as president he had the final authority over whatever to use nuclear weapons and that he decided not to use nuclear weapons against China. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Richard Widmark is Capt. From Finlander's viewpoint, it is essential that he know the location of Soviet submarines because if World War Three should break out, he would have at most a matter of minutes to sink the submarine before it would fire its ICBMs that would take out 12-16 American cities. Nerve-racking suspense surrounds The Bedford Incident, the tale of a U.S. A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Unlike Keefer, the writer who was reluctantly drafted into the U.S. Navy in World War Two, Munceford is a journalist, being the only civilian abroad the Bedford. The Bedford Incident (777) IMDb 7.4 1 h 42 min 1965 X-Ray 13+ Richard Widmark portrays the captain of a newly launched U.S. Destroyer who is obsessed with hunting down a particular Soviet submarine regardless of the great risks involved. [20] Maloney noted that in the film version of The Bedford Incident that Finlander is portrayed as far more deranged than in the novel, arguing that Finlander's obsession with hunting Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic in the novel is "completely understandable and possibly even legitimate". We're not here in a base area indoctrinating simple-minded peasants into the complex savagery of modern guerrilla tactics; we're not sitting in an air conditioned blockhouse in Florida trying to shoot a bigger hole in the Moon. Can one half-fight with deadly weapons? THE BEDFORD INCIDENT reunites co-stars Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, who worked together on the tense crime drama NO WAY OUT (’50) and the Viking adventure film THE LONG SHIPS (’64). The cast also features Eric Portman, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam and Wally Cox, as well as early appearances by Donald Sutherland and Ed Bishop. The Bed ford Incident is an excellent contemporary sea drama based on a little-known but day-to-day reality of the Cold War, the monitoring of Russian submarine activity by US Navy destroyers. The Bedford Incident was an attempt by Columbia Pictures -- which had previously made Dr. Strangelove and released Fail-Safe -- to once more tap the well of public anxiety surrounding nuclear weapons and the Cold War. flag. (1965). During the Korean War former prisoner of war, Major Harry Cargill admits to having collaborated with the enemy but military investigator Colonel William Edwards wants the details. Police say the suspect in the shooting is a 16-year-old classmate. According to police, the two both attend Bedford High School, but say the incident did not happen on school grounds. The screenplay by James Poe follows the novel fairly closely but Poe wrote a different ending. Munceford, the sole survivor, is found by Novosibirsk, the submarine's mothership. The Bedford Incident (aka Aux Postes De Combat) is a 1965 British-American Cold War film starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier and co-produced by Widmark. Read 12 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The American Captain must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander. Rent The Bedford Incident (1965) starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier on DVD and Blu-ray. Here we clash in the privacy of the black, empty ocean with no audience, but our conscience; both parties want to keep it that way because the stakes are such that no compromise is possible. When the Soviet vessel failed to surface, the destroyers began dropping training depth charges. Finlander exploits the fact that the diesel-powered Russian sub has to surface periodically to replenish air and recharge batteries because it is not nuclear-powered; knowing full well it will make the Soviets more desperate. The Bedford Incident is a 1965 film directed by James B. Harris. Here we have our enemy and more than accepting his challenge, go after him without any inhibitions of containment policies or technical inferiorities". Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Take a look ahead at some of our most anticipated superhero movies coming in 2021 and beyond. That pretty much summed things up - and Widmark captured the description perfectly. How can governments expect their military to guide their actions by such a blatantly sordid euphemism? Sonar then detects four Soviet nuclear-armed torpedoes targeting the destroyer. When a U.S. Title: Once awake, the two of them and his two girlfriends hook up. But sometimes, dreams are better than reality. An American destroyer Captain is determined to confront a Soviet submarine caught violating territorial waters. It's a Cold War thriller set on the high seas. The cast also features Eric Portman, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam and Wally Cox, as well as early appearances by Donald Sutherland and Ed Bishop. Munceford follows frantically pleading with him to do something. A lonely jazz musician buys her. 9 of 9 people found this review helpful. This is a very well done film. [1][2][3][4][5], The film was directed by James B. Harris, who, until then, had been best known as Stanley Kubrick's producer. The Bedford Incident takes as its premise the folly of military aggression within the Cold War context of the mid-’60s. Mark Rascovich, author of ‘The Bed‐ford Incident,” a novel about an Ameri‐can destroyer's tense encounters with Soviet submarine near Greenland, died … Certificate: Passed Use the HTML below. [27] MacArthur's "no substitute for victory" arguments about using nuclear weapons against China and his thesis he was answerable only to God instead of the president inspired the fears of an "out of control" military leader determined to plunge the world into a nuclear war either by design or acting rashly. Crime, Certificate: M [21], The fact that submarines are very difficult to find in the vastness of the ocean has imposed an almost unbearable psychological strain on Finlander. Unlike in The Bedford Incident, the Americans were not aware that the B-59 was armed with a T-5 nuclear torpedo. Richard Widmark plays a hardened cold-warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. He then orders the Bedford to arm weapons and withdraw to a distance to wait for the submerged sub to run out of air and be forced to surface. [20] Maloney argued that should World War Three ever occur, it was crucial have as much intelligence as possible about the opponent in order to both strike hard as possible via nuclear strikes and to deny the opponent the ability to strike oneself as much as possible with their nuclear weapons. [15] The film's message criticizing hawkish, confrontational Cold War policies reflected part of a backlash against militarism after the Cuban Missile Crisis almost caused a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1962. [27] Maloney further noted that many prominent American intellectuals such as Joseph Heller, Harry Harrison, James Jones, and Norman Mailer had been drafted into the military in World War Two and having been exposed first-hand to military life lashed out in the 1950s-1960s by writing novels that portrayed American military leaders as stupid and vicious. Updated regularly fire one '' the brink of nervous exhaustion outside the Bridge Moscow. 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