The Incident (film)
Encyclopedia
The Incident is a 1967 American film written by Nicholas E. Baehr (based his teleplay, "Ride With Terror"), directed by Larry Peerce
and starring Beau Bridges
, Tony Musante
, Brock Peters
and Martin Sheen
in his first film role. It tells the story of two young punks who, after mugging a man at knifepoint, board a New York City
subway
train and terrorize the passengers.
) and Artie Connors (Martin Sheen
) after giving a hard time to a pool hall owner for closing early interrupting their game, then briefly harassing a passing couple on the street and finally mugging an old man for his eight dollars and beating him into uncounsciousness, they board the last car of a New York City subway
train and psychologically terrorize the passengers (it would later be shown that the door at the other end of the car is stuck closed). As they make their way to the nearby elevated station No. 4 IRT Jerome Avenue Line
170th Steet station
, we see in flashback the passengers begin to board, starting at the downtown side (toward Manhattan) of the Bronx Mosholu Parkway
where Bill Wilks (Ed McMahon
) and his wife, Helen (Diana Van der Vlis
), with a child boarding the train at approximately 2:15 AM after Bill refuses to take a cab home in Flushing, Queens
due to cost. The other passengers board each station sequencially between Mosholu Parkway stop and 170th street: At Bedford Park Boulevard teenage virgin Alice Keenan (Donna Mills
) and her sexually pushy date Tony Goya (Victor Arnold); at Kingsbridge Road an elderly Jewish couple, Sam and Bertha Beckerman (Jack Gilford
and Thelma Ritter
. Sam was the second person to really stand up to their tormentors. They tried to get off at the 86th street stop but was prevented by the thugs; at Fordam Road, two soldiers, Pfc.
Phillip Carmatti (Robert Bannard) and Pfc. Felix Teflinger (Beau Bridges
), the latter of whom has a broken arm; at Burnside Ave., a middle-aged wife, Muriel Purvis (Jan Sterling
), who resents her mousey husband, Harry (Mike Kellin
), because he is a teacher who earns less than many of their friends; at the 176th St. station, a recovering alcoholic Douglas McCann (Gary Merrill
), who would be the first to attempt to stand up to the punks; Kenneth Otis (Robert Fields), a gay man who earlier made an unsuccessful attempt at befriending McCann and got on at the same station McCann did; and finally an African-American couple who boarded at the Mt. Eden Ave. stop, Arnold and Joan Robinson (Brock Peters
and Ruby Dee
). They had a chance to get off the train at their stop the 125th Street station at Joan's urging but Arnold, being of a militant bent actually enjoyed the spectical of white people tormenting each other and made them stay; and the punk's first victim, an asleep/unconscious derelict
(Henry Proach) who was on the train always and remains totally oblivious to everything around him during the entire incident, including when the thugs seemed to be trying to set fire to him.
Joe is the more aggressive and sociopathic
of the two punks, humiliating and degrading the passengers one by one. Artie is passive, docile, and more of a follower.
After Joe finally terrorizes all of the adult train passengers, he is finally challenged when he turns his attention to a young child. Joe gets on his knees and tries to convince the child’s parents to allow him to speak to her directly. The mother and father are frantic and afraid. Joe tries to touch the child. The father holds his child close to his chest in a protective grip while trying to hide her from Joe’s sight. Joe is persistent, causing the desperate parents to keep slapping Joe’s hands away as he tries to touch the child.
Only then does Pfc. Teflinger engage and directly challenge Joe with “Stop! Or I’ll put you down!”. This is when Joe pulls out his switchblade
knife. Teflinger engages the punk in hand-to-hand combat. Despite his broken arm and a stab wound from Joe's knife, Teflinger manages to overpower Joe, mostly using his cast to beat the man into submission; Then subsequently Artie drops his tough-guy facade and cowers when Joe is disarmed and overpowered.
The film ends at the 42nd street Grand Central station with the police finally entering the train and without asking any questions and in reflection of the racial climate of the time, start to arrest the only black man in the car, Arnold who was just standing several feet away from the prone Joe, staring at him. Passengers cry out “That’s not the guy!” so the cops instead help the almost dead Artie off the floor and out, while a train conductor picks up and helps the other hoodlum off the train.
No one bothers to help the wounded heroic Teflinger, except for his scared Army buddy Phillip who’s only contribution was to finally yell out for the police which brought them in the first place. Phillip did nothing until it was over when Phillip goes over to an injured Felix. Felix, weakly but disgustedly asked "Where were you buddy?". As Phillip helps him off the train Felix looks at the rest of the passengers who does not even acknowledge any gratitude in subduing the tormentors at the risk of his life.
The passengers, still frozen in their seats, are stunned, their personal views of themselves and their companions, if they had any, altered. Only when the sleeping drunk sprawled over the seats, rolls over and falls to the floor, do passengers finally awake and slowly exit the train by stepping over the drunk’s unconscious body with Helen Wilks being the last off.
All scenes in the subway car were filmed in a studio mockup of IRT World's Fair Lo-V #5674. The producers contacted St. Louis Car Co. for original blueprints of the car and painstakingly reproduced it. Lights were mounted along the car exterior and illuminated sequentially to simulate a speed of 30 mph. Subway footage was filmed by concealing the cameras inside bags. Police became suspicious when they heard whirring sounds inside the bags.
The outdoor scenes of the train were filmed on and around the Bronx section of the No. 4 IRT Jerome Avenue Line
. The actual tran trip takes longer in the film than in real life, particualry the elevated scenes after the punks get on at 170's street since it is only two short stops before the line goes underground after the 161st station.
Larry Peerce
Larry Peerce is an American film and TV director whose work includes the theatrical feature Goodbye, Columbus, the early rock and roll concert film The Big T.N.T. Show, and One Potato, Two Potato , the first U.S...
and starring Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
, Tony Musante
Tony Musante
Anthony Peter Musante is an American actor.Musante was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Natalie Anne , a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant. He attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University.Musante has acted in numerous feature films, in the United States...
, Brock Peters
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
and Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
in his first film role. It tells the story of two young punks who, after mugging a man at knifepoint, board a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
train and terrorize the passengers.
Plot
It is Monday morning in the Bronx; two deadbeat punks: Joe Ferrante (Tony MusanteTony Musante
Anthony Peter Musante is an American actor.Musante was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Natalie Anne , a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant. He attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University.Musante has acted in numerous feature films, in the United States...
) and Artie Connors (Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
) after giving a hard time to a pool hall owner for closing early interrupting their game, then briefly harassing a passing couple on the street and finally mugging an old man for his eight dollars and beating him into uncounsciousness, they board the last car of a New York City subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
train and psychologically terrorize the passengers (it would later be shown that the door at the other end of the car is stuck closed). As they make their way to the nearby elevated station No. 4 IRT Jerome Avenue Line
IRT Jerome Avenue Line
The IRT Jerome Avenue Line, also unofficially known as IRT Woodlawn Line, is a New York City Subway Line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. It was opened on June 2, 1917 as a shuttle service between Kingsbridge Road and 149th Street. This was in advance of through service to the IRT Lexington Avenue...
170th Steet station
170th Street (IRT Jerome Avenue Line)
170th Street is a local station on the IRT Jerome Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 170th Street and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, it is served by the 4 train at all times....
, we see in flashback the passengers begin to board, starting at the downtown side (toward Manhattan) of the Bronx Mosholu Parkway
Mosholu Parkway (IRT Jerome Avenue Line)
Mosholu Parkway is a local station on the IRT Jerome Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Mosholu Parkway and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, it is served by the 4 train at all times....
where Bill Wilks (Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
) and his wife, Helen (Diana Van der Vlis
Diana Van der Vlis
Diana Van der Vlis was a Canadian stage, screen and television actress best known for her characters ‘Dr. Nell Beaulac’ on the ABC soap opera "Ryan's Hope" and 'Kate Hathaway Prescott’ on the CBS soap opera Where the Heart Is...
), with a child boarding the train at approximately 2:15 AM after Bill refuses to take a cab home in Flushing, Queens
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
due to cost. The other passengers board each station sequencially between Mosholu Parkway stop and 170th street: At Bedford Park Boulevard teenage virgin Alice Keenan (Donna Mills
Donna Mills
Donna Mills is an American actress, most well known for her role as Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing.-Early years:...
) and her sexually pushy date Tony Goya (Victor Arnold); at Kingsbridge Road an elderly Jewish couple, Sam and Bertha Beckerman (Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford was an American actor on Broadway, films and television.-Early life:Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn...
and Thelma Ritter
Thelma Ritter
Thelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:...
. Sam was the second person to really stand up to their tormentors. They tried to get off at the 86th street stop but was prevented by the thugs; at Fordam Road, two soldiers, Pfc.
Private First Class
Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...
Phillip Carmatti (Robert Bannard) and Pfc. Felix Teflinger (Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
), the latter of whom has a broken arm; at Burnside Ave., a middle-aged wife, Muriel Purvis (Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
), who resents her mousey husband, Harry (Mike Kellin
Mike Kellin
-Early life:Kellin was born Myron Kellin in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Sophia and Samuel Kellin, Russian Jewish immigrants. He was educated at Boston University and Trinity College...
), because he is a teacher who earns less than many of their friends; at the 176th St. station, a recovering alcoholic Douglas McCann (Gary Merrill
Gary Merrill
Gary Fred Merrill was an American film and television character actor whose credits included more than fifty feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances....
), who would be the first to attempt to stand up to the punks; Kenneth Otis (Robert Fields), a gay man who earlier made an unsuccessful attempt at befriending McCann and got on at the same station McCann did; and finally an African-American couple who boarded at the Mt. Eden Ave. stop, Arnold and Joan Robinson (Brock Peters
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
and Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...
). They had a chance to get off the train at their stop the 125th Street station at Joan's urging but Arnold, being of a militant bent actually enjoyed the spectical of white people tormenting each other and made them stay; and the punk's first victim, an asleep/unconscious derelict
Derelict
Derelict or dereliction commonly refers to:* Abandonment of property, then referred to as a 'derelict'* Derelict , property which has been abandoned and deserted at sea by those who were in charge without any hope of recovering it...
(Henry Proach) who was on the train always and remains totally oblivious to everything around him during the entire incident, including when the thugs seemed to be trying to set fire to him.
Joe is the more aggressive and sociopathic
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
of the two punks, humiliating and degrading the passengers one by one. Artie is passive, docile, and more of a follower.
After Joe finally terrorizes all of the adult train passengers, he is finally challenged when he turns his attention to a young child. Joe gets on his knees and tries to convince the child’s parents to allow him to speak to her directly. The mother and father are frantic and afraid. Joe tries to touch the child. The father holds his child close to his chest in a protective grip while trying to hide her from Joe’s sight. Joe is persistent, causing the desperate parents to keep slapping Joe’s hands away as he tries to touch the child.
Only then does Pfc. Teflinger engage and directly challenge Joe with “Stop! Or I’ll put you down!”. This is when Joe pulls out his switchblade
Switchblade
A switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...
knife. Teflinger engages the punk in hand-to-hand combat. Despite his broken arm and a stab wound from Joe's knife, Teflinger manages to overpower Joe, mostly using his cast to beat the man into submission; Then subsequently Artie drops his tough-guy facade and cowers when Joe is disarmed and overpowered.
The film ends at the 42nd street Grand Central station with the police finally entering the train and without asking any questions and in reflection of the racial climate of the time, start to arrest the only black man in the car, Arnold who was just standing several feet away from the prone Joe, staring at him. Passengers cry out “That’s not the guy!” so the cops instead help the almost dead Artie off the floor and out, while a train conductor picks up and helps the other hoodlum off the train.
No one bothers to help the wounded heroic Teflinger, except for his scared Army buddy Phillip who’s only contribution was to finally yell out for the police which brought them in the first place. Phillip did nothing until it was over when Phillip goes over to an injured Felix. Felix, weakly but disgustedly asked "Where were you buddy?". As Phillip helps him off the train Felix looks at the rest of the passengers who does not even acknowledge any gratitude in subduing the tormentors at the risk of his life.
The passengers, still frozen in their seats, are stunned, their personal views of themselves and their companions, if they had any, altered. Only when the sleeping drunk sprawled over the seats, rolls over and falls to the floor, do passengers finally awake and slowly exit the train by stepping over the drunk’s unconscious body with Helen Wilks being the last off.
Subway locations
The New York Transit Authority denied permission to film even background shots on its property, but the filmmakers shot them anyway. Cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld and an assistant rode the subway with a hidden camera, and when its sound was noticed, they stopped and came back later to finish the job. Hirschfeld said in an interview that he filmed in black and white in order to get "the most realistic style of photography possible"; test shots were taken in muted color but they were deemed a distraction from the desired "somber" effect.All scenes in the subway car were filmed in a studio mockup of IRT World's Fair Lo-V #5674. The producers contacted St. Louis Car Co. for original blueprints of the car and painstakingly reproduced it. Lights were mounted along the car exterior and illuminated sequentially to simulate a speed of 30 mph. Subway footage was filmed by concealing the cameras inside bags. Police became suspicious when they heard whirring sounds inside the bags.
The outdoor scenes of the train were filmed on and around the Bronx section of the No. 4 IRT Jerome Avenue Line
IRT Jerome Avenue Line
The IRT Jerome Avenue Line, also unofficially known as IRT Woodlawn Line, is a New York City Subway Line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. It was opened on June 2, 1917 as a shuttle service between Kingsbridge Road and 149th Street. This was in advance of through service to the IRT Lexington Avenue...
. The actual tran trip takes longer in the film than in real life, particualry the elevated scenes after the punks get on at 170's street since it is only two short stops before the line goes underground after the 161st station.