The third and final film Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier made together was the 1965 Cold War Thriller The Bedford Incident. This time race is not the issue - Photojournalist Ben Munceford (Poitier) boards Captain Eric Finlander's (Widmark) ship the Bedford in pursuit of a story about Finlander's gung-ho pro war proclivities, but Finlander has no time to chat as he is busy pursuing a Russian submarine. The movie is directed by James Harris who was Stanley Kubrick's producer before they parted ways the year before (1964, the year Kubrick made Dr. Strangelove)
Widmark's Ahab-like determination to get the sub results in Nuclear Armageddon. I find this movie even scarier that the great Dr. Strangelove because Finlander at heart is just another dumb stubborn son-of-a-bitch who is incapable of seeing that his action plan is only going to get everyone killed. What's even scarier is how everyone else plays along. To the end.
I love love love this movie. I remember seeing it on TV as a little kid and wondering why adults were stupid and why wouldn't anybody listen to the reporter-man and HOLY CRAP THERY JUST STARTED WWIII!
I had no idea Harris and Kubrick worked together - but then I guess The Bedford Incident is the not-funny version of Dr. Strangelove. I suppose they could have titled it The Bedford Incident: Or Why You Should Start Worrying And Learn To Fear The Bomb.
Posted by: El Payo | March 05, 2008 at 02:23 PM