The Bedford Incident ***** (1965, Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur, Eric Portman, Wally Cox, Martin Balsam) – Classic Movie Review 7078

Producer-director James B Harris’s 1965 thriller The Bedford Incident stars Richard Widmark in one of his most satisfying roles as US Naval destroyer commander Captain Eric Finlander, skipper of the American destroyer USS Bedford, who obsessively hunts a Soviet submarine violating territorial waters, while smart-aleck newsman Ben Munceford (Sidney Poitier), granted permission to interview him, gets in the way.

James Poe’s smart, crackling dialogue in his screenplay based on the novel by Mark Rascovich, and the first-class playing by the two stars and their fellow actors combine to set the seal of quality on this really taut, intense, claustrophobic nuclear thriller, powerfully directed without any slack by Harris. The Bedford Incident is great stuff and essential viewing, a Sixties highspot for this popular kind of movie.

The plot is remarkably similar to the one in Crimson Tide (1995).

Also in the cast are James MacArthur as Ensign Ralston, Martin Balsam as Lt. Cmdr. Chester Potter, Wally Cox as Seaman Merlin Queffle, Eric Portman as Commodore Wolfgang Schrepke Deutsche Marine, Phil Brown, Michael Kane, Donald Sutherland, Garry Cockrell, Brian Davies, Edward Bishop, Warren Stanhope, Colin Maitland and George Rubicek.

The Bedford Incident is directed by James B Harris, runs 102 minutes, is made by Bedford Productions, released by Columbia, written by James Poe, shot in black and white by Gilbert Taylor, produced by James B Harris and Richard Widmark, and scored by Gerald Schurrmann.

The exterior and interior live-action images of the fictitious American destroyer USS Bedford are from British frigates. Model-makers created a miniature replica based on the US Navy Farragut class.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7078

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com