A Great film; Why is this not out on DVD?, December 8, 2000
Reviewer:
TUCO HUMILITY "BABYLON13" (Los Angeles, CA) -
See all my reviewsThis film was the motion picture debuts of Martin Sheen (who had only acted in soaps previously), Tony Musante (later of TV's Toma, and Dario Argento films) and Donna Mills (later of Knots Landing). It's one of the classic American films of the late `60s (although not generally recognized at such by `mainstream' critics). It goes for a level of realism that was completely non-existent, or at most melodramatic and laughable in most Hollywood films of the period. And best of all, it's one of those films that provokes endless discussions.
No---there are no Bruce Lees, Charlie's Angels, Steven Seagals, Schwarzeneggers, or Clint Eastwoods with .357 magnums on this ride. Nor is there Bernard Goetz, the subway vigilante. There are two soldiers though, just to prove to the audience how easily two `fighting men' can also be manipulated by the divisive forces paralyzing the other passengers. What would YOU do, as a respectable citizen, if you were locked in a subway train with two drunken hoods determined to find a way to insult and humiliate you, and who could possibly stab you if you tried anything? Would you consider it a duty to put yourself on the line for the others or would you wait until the threat came directly knocking? Most people find it easy to pay lip service to heroism when they see this film: how they wouldn't stand for any of the BS dished out by the two punks before reacting, blah, blah, blah... Still, the overwhelming likelihood is that, unprepared, most `regular people' would think twice before going head to head with a couple of drunken psychos and would probably react much the same as the people in this film. In other words, unless they were backed up by at least one other person, they would refuse to stand up to the two thugs and risk getting a shank in the gut. And that's what this film exposes in the end: the alienation of people that serves to defeat them.
Musante delivers one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema. In his thick New York accent, thicker sideburns and crazy face with two moles, he crafts an urban psychopath who is truly menacing because of his `common' qualities; people like him are definitely NOT a rarity and especially not so in New York City! Sheen is also quite electrifying, although a little too boyish looking to be truly menacing. You can understand Ed McMahon and the homosexual young man being afraid of these guys; but why would two soldiers, a big and very angry black man, a greaser-gang-member type and a semi-tough former-boozer? Because united these two thugs represent power while divided and apathetic the passengers all represent individuals and thus, relative weakness. Even the two soldiers, Beau Bridges and his friend are divided, Beau wanting to do something but his friend (with the `big lawyer ambitions') determined to stay out of trouble (and in the end being the only one on the train who isn't directly humiliated).
Incredible as it may seem, given the level of realism achieved in "The Incident," because of the negative-publicity the film's subject was likely to generate, the filmmakers were not allowed to shoot on New York subways and had to build an exact replica of a subway car on a New York soundstage. The car was mounted on ball bearings to allow tilting and shaking, and rear projection was used for the window back grounds. Sections of the car were made removable to allow mounting of the camera outside the car, but this option was never used, Peerce and his DP Hirschfeld deciding to maintain a claustrophobic feel by always shooting inside the subway from the point of view of one of the passengers. Not allowed permission even to shoot backgrounds, the cinematographer, Gerald Hirschfeld, smuggled out the shots he needed, using only available light, with a hand-held Arriflex camera hidden in a cardboard carton pointed out of the windows as he traveled on subways for 4 days. To mask the grainy quality of the backgrounds the windows of the car were made as dirty as possible in the film, which, this being a New York subway, further added to the film's realism!
The film had to stop production after 4 days when the original financial backers pulled out. But the cast and crew were so dedicated to this project that they stuck around without pay for two and a half weeks, while Peerce armed with only 4 days of dailies made the studio rounds. Luckily Richard and Daryl Zanuck were very impressed at the possibilities of promotion the film offered and agreed to provide the funding necessary to complete the project. ."The Incident" is a great film because, even if somewhat campy in parts, it lays bare the everpresent hypocrisy, alienation, and supressed rage characteristic of American life (viewers instantly recognize this to their profound discomfort and usually seek to repress and deny it) by the device of having a whole cross-section of people ruthlessly interrogated and humiliated by two drunken punks out for `kicks.' The result becomes much more than just horrifying--provided you can overlook certain minor faults (like you would those of Sam Fuller's best films), it reaches the level of a true urban tragedy a la Taxi Driver.
http://www.amazon.com/Incident-Victo.../dp/6301551990