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The Bedford Incident (1965) Appearing as Ensign Ralston Synopsis from the Columbia Pressbook: Aboard
the U.S. Destroyer Bedford, commanded by martinet Capt. Eric Finlander
(Richard Widmark), on a routine submarine patrol in the Greenland Straits,
are Ben Munceford (Sidney Poitier), topflight news correspondent-photographer,
and Commodore Wolfgang Schrepke (Eric Portman), veteran German submarine
commander assigned to the Bedford as a NATO observer, Seaman Queffle (Wally
Cox), sonar operator. The Bedford, with its multiplicity of electronic
devices and pushbutton missiles, picks up an unidentified submarine. Finlander
initiates a relentless pursuit of the lurking sub, as a training exercise
for his crew, keeping them at battle stations for nerve-tense hours. Schrepke
warns Finlander the harassed sub will strike back; its crew is as worn
down by his war of nerves as is the Bedfords. Munceford accuses
Finlander of being prepared for a kill, and hoping for it.
Even the Bedfords medical officer, Lt. Commander Potter (Martin
Balsam), warns against driving the crew too far, after Queffle collapses
completely. Completely fatigued, young Ensign Ralston (James MacArthur)
misunderstands a Finlander order and the Bedford steams ahead to the incident
that makes inevitable the climax of the film. Additional Information from the Pressbook At first sight of James MacArthur on the screen, mature women want to mother him -- and their daughters want to marry him. But MacArthurs boyish appearance is deceiving, as five minutes conversation revealed recently during the filming of The Bedford Incident, the Columbia pictures release. Behind that youthful appearance is a very determined young man who knows where hes going and how he will get there. In his new film, produced and directed by James B. Harris with Richard Widmark co-producing, MacArthur gets third star billing after Widmark and Sidney Poitier, frank testimony to his professional status rather than to his boyish charm and the fact that his mother is actress Helen Hayes and his father, the late playwright Charles MacArthur. When Mark Rascovichs best-seller first appeared, MacArthur read it and told his agent he wanted the part of the young officer. When it was reported that Harris had bought the novel, MacArthur got the part. |
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