cinema history class: the incident (1967)

  

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month (Week 2, Me)
Movie: The Incident (1967)
Directed by Larry Peerce

Plot:

Two violent thugs make their way onto the subway late at night, terrorizing the other passengers.  Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

When I present a movie each year, I write out what I want to say in advance. But I treat my prepared remarks as a roadmap rather than a script. So I always deviate quite a bit. That said, the following is what I prepared.

I think y’all know that I have always been fascinated by the subway. Subways in general, really, but especially the New York City subway system. I went to yeshiva by subway when I was in elementary school, and as an impressionable kid I developed a love for the system. Joe has his buses, but I have the subway.

That love was rekindled when I was in high school. Living in Queens but going to school in Manhattan, I was in the subway again. At that time I was collecting subway memorabilia. I delighted in taking alternate subway routes home just to experience different lines. Sometimes I would set aside an after-school afternoon to take a train to Brooklyn to see a part of the system I hadn’t been to. I remember the occasional Sunday spent riding the trains around – with no particular place to go.

I was part of my high school’s subway club, and contributed to its annual magazine. As a club, we had some great field trips. We arranged a tour of the old City Hall loop. That’s an ornate old station – the original southern terminus of the IRT. It last saw passenger service at the end of 1945, but since then it has been used to turn trains around. And we got to tour it and take pictures. This was a time when it was actually illegal to take photos in the subway system unless you had a permit. We were among the few people who knew of that rule and had permits. The other big trip I remember was to Washington DC. We were interviewing some official from the Department of Transportation. We also planned to ride the entire Washington Metro – that’s what they call their subway – but were thwarted by a breakdown on the red line. I guess they wanted us to feel at home.

Now, as a commuter, I have a more-jaundiced view of the subway, but the boy in me still appreciates it. A couple years ago I set aside a couple weekend days to ride the sections of the system that I’d never been to, and I am planning to take a day to ride the PATH system. Just because. I also get the occasional thrill when I see a work train in the system, or see one kind of car running on a line that I don’t expect it to be on. And one of the thrills of my trip to Prague was riding their subway. That kind of thing.

Despite all the fears about crime on the subway, I have never been robbed or mugged in the system. I’ve been robbed in the street, but not underground. While I have seen plenty of insanity in the system, most of my trips have gone without incident. But you can’t ride the subway without thinking about it. What if you find yourself in the middle of an incident? You’re on the train, minding your own business, and before you know it your car has been invaded by thugs who have you and your fellow passengers at their mercy…

And that’s the subject of tonight’s movie.

Now, for me as a longtime railfan, the unquestionable star of this movie is the New York Subway itself. Specifically, the East Side IRT. The movie contains a remarkable sense of realism. In fact, the producers contacted the St. Louis Car Company, got original blueprints of the IRT Lo-V subway car, and built a full-scale replica. But the subway wasn’t the only big star. This movie featured some big names that really need no introduction or elaboration. Martin Sheen, Tony Musante, Jack Gilford and Beau Bridges are just a few of the big names in this movie. We can see Ed McMahon in a rare performance as an actor. And I want to specially note Brock Peters who, decades later, would be on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Sisko’s father. He’s here as the young angry black guy.

I’ll have more to say after the movie. I have comments on the cast, the plot and the denouement. But I don’t want to risk spoiling anything. So, without further ado, here is The Incident.

I prepared those remarks with the hope of fooling the others into thinking that I was showing The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. They all know that I love that movie, so I figured that if I approached my remarks the right way I could build their expectations. I had fun imagining their minds puzzling things over when I started to list the stars. "Hey, wait," I imagined them thinking, "Martin Sheen wasn't in Pelham. Sadly, I failed at my bait and switch. I had told Keith and Christina what I was showing, and both Ethan and Joe were out for the week. That left Bob-O and Dave. For some reason Bob-O guessed immediately what I was showing. Early in my talk, he asked if Martin Sheen was in it. And I knew he had it figured out. That bastard. I think I got Dave, though, since he wasn't familiar with The Incident. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

It's easiest for me to think of The Incident in comparison to Pelham. In some ways, Pelham is a more entertaining movie. It had a bigger budget, and there's lots of action and intrigue -- not to mention humor. The Incident, by comparison, is a much smaller film. On the other hand, Pelham's high concept allowed it to get away with very little character development. We don't get to know the passengers at all, and two of the hijackers are largely undefined. And the caper begins very early in the movie. The Incident spends a lot of time exploring the passenger/victims. We spend a reasonable amount of time with each of them, seeing their interactions as they make their way onto the train. And a good bit of time goes by before the thugs (Sheen and Musante) make their way onto the train.

Keith put it well when he noted that The Incident is very much an art film, exploring cowardice -- a few years after the infamous Kitty Genovese affair. And, based on his comments, I suspect that he thinks this worked better than Pelham (which I had been considering) would have. So that's a win, too.

Ratings

Bob-O: 10

Christina: 9.8

Dave: 9.8

Keith: 9.8