The Bedford Incident
Dir: James B. Harris
1965
***
James B. Harris's 1965 Cold War drama The Bedford Incident is a masterclass in script and performance. Sidney Poitier plays an investigative reporter, keen to know more about the mysterious Captain Eric Finlander who's reputation as one of the best Captains in the Navy but who has been refused Admiralty on several attempts. Richard Widmark's performance as Captain Eric Finlander is suitably chilling and obsessive. It's nice to see a film whereby Sidney Poitier's skin colour isn't the focal point, indeed it's never even mentioned. This is very much about the politics of the Cold War. The power lust, the blood thirst and all the paranoia that comes with it is explored brilliantly by a cutting edge script. The only problem is the direction. It's shot in a grainy Black and White which is both unnecessarily and distracting. The film is overlong which doesn't really help what should have been a more climactic ending, instead the film ends abruptly and without full effect. As much as like it, it's not without its flaws and it is one of the few films I would want to see a remake of.