A
group of fourteen passengers from all over the Bronx on a New York City subway
train see their simple trip home transform into a claustrophobic waking
nightmare when two young hoodlums (seen murdering an elderly man earlier) board
the train and proceed to terrorize everyone.
As they commit every crime under the sun, from homophobia to racism,
sexual assault and battery of a homeless man, probably the greatest horror of
all is the terrified group’s collective inability to intervene. Drawing heavily from the recently coined ‘Genovese
Syndrome’ involving the murder of a young woman with allegedly thirty-eight
witnesses failing to respond to her cries for help, director Larry Peerce’s
largely forgotten and still timely 1967 chamber piece The Incident takes the study of this social psychological
phenomenon to its fullest possible extreme.
Based
upon Nicholas E. Baehr’s 1963 teleplay Ride
with Terror with additional characters of varying ethnic backgrounds and sexual
orientations included to intensify the already tense proceedings, The Incident is among the scariest
thrillers that isn’t a horror movie. Boasting
an ensemble cast of characters, one of the film’s greatest strengths is how it
introduces each passenger, already dealing with their own personal foibles and
fears which become splintered when faced by the two thugs. Despite the diversity of the ensemble cast, each
and every one of these people are met with completely unacceptable criminal
behavior yet their mutual cowardice prevents anyone from acting. Like a simmering pot cooking until it’s ready
to explode, the question becomes whether or not someone will find the courage
to stand up to these hoodlums and who will it be?
Minimalist
in size with the cast and much of the film confined to the boxcar yet massive
in sociological scope, you the viewer become just as helpless as the victimized
thanks to Larry Peerce and cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld’s gritty yet
dynamic visual approach. Shot in stark,
grainy black and white by the same man who would give Young Frankenstein its late ‘30s sepia look, the film achieves a
documentary level of realism despite being a clearly theatrical piece on one
stage. Using tight, confrontational
close-ups with the actors often looking directly into the camera, you feel
cornered by these man and find yourself asking how would you respond under
these circumstances?
Reportedly
the New York City Transit Authority with the police denied the filmmakers
permission to shoot on location, balking at the notion of domestic terrorism
occurring on one of their trains, forcing the filmmakers to undertake a mixture
of guerilla style and studio backlot artifice.
Sneaking in shots without permits caught by hidden cameras in bags right
under the noses of watchful police, most of The
Incident takes place on a painstakingly recreated St. Louis Car Co. boxcar
with rear projected screens and carefully placed lights to give the illusion of
the train moving. While at times the
rear projections can stick out like a sore thumb, the energy on the set thanks
to the intensity of the performances is so strong you find yourself not caring
about the budgetary limitations.
It
goes without saying, of course, The
Incident wouldn’t be half as powerful without the crucial casting. Boasting a number of veterans as well as
newcomers, the cast is a smorgasbord of young and old thrown together in an
inescapable rat trap. Reprising his role
from the teleplay and making his big screen debut as vicious thug Joe Ferrone
is Tony Musante (The Bird with a Crystal
Plumage), who flies and twirls about the boxcar bumping into passengers
when he isn’t encroaching on their personal spaces.
From
his boorish mug which flaps about just shy of a drunken slur and eyes that seem
to bulge out of their sockets, Musante is dripping with menace from the moment
we see him, almost like a wild animal with a half-hearted interest in
feeding. Joining his side in his big
screen debut is a very young Martin Sheen, years before becoming one of America’s
most renowned actors. The more
methodical of the two with no shortness on malevolence, paired alongside
Musante the duo exude such danger it manages to render nearly everyone
helpless.
Among
the helpless is an eclectic cast with television personality Ed MacMahon in a
bit of stunt casting as a middle-aged father with a child, veterans Jack
Gilford and Thelma Ritter as a Jewish couple, To Kill a Mockingbird star Brock Peters and Ruby Dee (Mother Sister
in Do the Right Thing) as an African
American couple, Beau Bridges and Robert Bannard as two soldiers and Jan
Sterling with her nebbish husband played by Mike Kellin, and a timid gay man
played by Robert Fields.
Each
performer provides dedicated portrayals of their back histories which are
tested upon boarding the train. As
aforementioned, we’re treated to an introduction to each set of characters before
boarding the train, informing the viewer of their weaknesses before turning
them loose with the thugs. It would have
been very easy to paint everyone as guiltless victims, but The Incident gives each character a checkered past with arguably
the thugs functioning as a catalyst to bring the passengers’ worst tendencies out
into the open air.
Despite
the film’s timeless power and curious relevance when taken into context with
our current political climate, The
Incident nearly died twice. After
shooting began on an independent production, financing fell through after a few
scenes had been shot and the film was shut down for about a month. 20th Century Fox, however, swooped
in and rescued the film, giving the makers carte blanche to finish the film as
originally intended without the preexisting budgetary concerns.
After
premiering, the film’s fate was sealed by the soon-to-be excommunicated New
York Times critic Bosley Crowther whose negative review knocked it off the
Awards circuit and ensured the picture’s eventual fade into obscurity. Decades went by and after Peerce’s film
directing career came to an end with the ill-conceived John Belushi “biopic” Wired, The Incident and its réalisateur were almost
completely forgotten until the film was given new life thanks to a 4K
restoration and limited home video release by Twilight Time, allowing a new
generation of cinephiles to discover this intense little number for themselves.
Seen now, yes certain elements of
the film do show their age, such as a now politically incorrect advertisement
posited in the boxcar concerning working for the mentally disabled. Also moviegoers quick to talk back at the
movie screen when characters in horror movies make dumb decisions will
invariably balk at how long it takes for someone to stand up to these creeps
despite being more than completely outnumbered.
That said, what we have here is a character study which brings various
walks of life with their own respective prejudices and vices put to a fight for
survival while exposing the weaknesses of their convictions. We all would like to tell ourselves we would
act differently than this subset of people in this particular situation, but as
the fierce, psychotic eyes of Joe Ferrone stare into our souls, just what would
you do when faced with that? The Incident doesn’t have all the answers but boldly dares to ask the question.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki